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

- 431 -
Yet the armed forces could not demobilise completely: the Annistice may have
signalled the end of the war, but it was not a peace treaty. Hostilities could resume at any
time, and between November 1918 and June 1919, when Ge1111any signed the Treaty of
Versailles, an armed presence was necessary in case of unexpected neutrality violations or
military threats. Nevertheless, neutrality breaches were scaled down in magnitude. For
example, rather than shooting at foreign aeroplanes entering Dutch air space, troops raised
warning flags instead. 130 Anything and everything was done to avoid a messy international
incident at such a late stage. To smoothen the course of the demobilisation without
interrupting necessary military responsibilities, Pop assigned specific tasks to each of the
Field Anny divisions: Division I became responsible for maintaining public order in the
cities; Division II guarded the borders in Drenthe, Groningen, Overijssel and Gelderland;
while the other two divisions took charge of the borders in Limburg, North Brabant and
Zeeland. 131
After demobilising troops between 14 and 19 November 1918, High Command
sent the rest of the landstorm, landweer and military conscripts on indefinite leave at
regular intervals. The next major departure came in February 1919 when the entire militmy
and landstorm intake year 1917 left, followed by the intakes from year 1918 two months
later. 132 By late May 1919, only the conscripts in training and any volunteers remained in
service. Within the space of seven months, the entire anned forces moved from a war
footing to a peace setting.
The demobilisation process involved a huge organisational and administrative
effort.133 Soldiers going on leave took their clothing, bedding, weapomy and other
equipment to peace garrisons from where certain items, such as clothing and bedding, were
distributed to pre-assigned military warehouses and the rest, including weapons, lighting
equipment and automobiles, found their way to so-called "demobilisation parks"
130 Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant-General W. F. Pop, to military authorities, 14 November 1918, in ARA,
"Archiefvan het Hoofdkwartier Veldleger" entry no. 2.l3.l6, inventory no. 323.
131 Commander-in-Chief to Field Army commanders, 11 December 1918, in ARA, "Archief van het Hoofdkwartier
Veldleger" entry no. 2.13.16, inventory no. 312.
132 Commander-in-Chiefto Minister of War, 29 January 1919, in ARA, "Archiefvan het Hoofdkwartier Veldleger"
entry no. 2.l3.l6, inventory no. 312; Commander-in-Chiefto Minister of War, 18 March 1919, in ARA, "Archieven
van Divisies, Regimenten en andere eenheden van de Infanterie van Koninklijke Landmacht, 1814 - 1940" entry no.
2.l3.52, inventory no. 454 (also in ARA, "Archiefvan het Hoofdkwartier Veldleger" entry no. 2.l3.l6, inventory no.
312).
133 See: the plethora of documents in ARA, "Archiefvan het Hoofdkwartier Veldleger" entry no. 2.13.16, inventory
no. 312.