Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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called any day. 8 Both men feared the possible repercussions of a Gelman retreat through
Dutch territOlY.
The decision to remove all leave was one step too many for some conscripts. Ever
since soldiers had rioted in Utrecht in May 1918 on the grounds of inadequate rations, other
food-related complaints and instances of unrest had erupted in barracks throughout the
country.9 It would be no exaggeration to say that conscripts were entirely fed up with the
war, the mobilisation and their particular situation. Their frustrations combined into an
explosive mix after the recall of leave. On 24 October, in separate and unrelated incidents
in Zwolle, 's Hertogenbosch and Middelburg, soldiers complained to their superiors. Most
of the complaints were made peacefully, and the officers in charge dealt with them sensibly.
On all three occasions, order was restored relatively easily and quickly. 10
However, for one regiment stuck in Harskamp's isolated barracks, the largest of its
kind in the country, a combination of factors, among which foodstuffs and leave were
extremely impOliant, resulted in a violent outburst on Friday 25 October. 11 Around
dinnertime, a group of soldiers began singing boisterously, throwing stones and threatening
officers. Commanders of particular battalions tried calling their troops to order, with little
success, principally because their efforts were unco-ordinated, which, in tum, helped to fuel
an already flammable situation. One officer even fired his revolver in the air, but this only
led to further violence and plundering by the conscripts. Within a couple of hours, the
disquiet settled. While the camp commander posted extra guards that evening, he did not
take any other action to either punish or arrest offenders, nor did he try uncover the reasons
for their frustration.
8 Commander-in-Chief to Commander of the Field Army, 22 October 1918, in ARA, "Archief van het Hoofdkwartier
Veldleger" entry no. 2.13.16, inventory no. 372.
9 See: Chapter 11, pp. 381 - 396.
10 SMG/DC, "Verslag van de Commissie tot onderzoek naar de ontevredenheid in het Leger. Alg. Landsdrukkerij,
1919" 91A1-, pp. 9 -12; Territorial Commander in Overijssel to Commander-in-Chief, 30 October 1918; Commander
of the Fortified Position of the Mouths of the Maas River and the Schelde, 6 November 1918, both in ARA,
"Archieven van de Generale Staf' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 784.
11 The following details of the Harskamp mutiny are based on: "Rapport van de Commissie tot onderzoek van de
ongeregeldheden in de Legerplaats bij Harskamp, ingesteld ingevolge aanschrijving van den Opperbevelhebber van
Land- en Zeemacht van 27 October 1918, Afd. G. S. No. 20827 Geheim" [Report of the commission of enquiry into
the disturbances in the Army position near Harskamp, instituted by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy
on 27 October 1918] 2 November 1918, in ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Staf' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no.
5; SMG/DC, "Verslag van de Commissie tot onderzoek naar de ontevredenheid in het Leger. Alg. Landsdrukkerij,
1919" [Report of the Commission of investigation into the dissatisfaction in the Army] 91A/-; correspondence in
ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Staf' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 784. See also: Kleijngeld, Gemobiliseerde
711ilitairen in Tilbllrg p. 144.