Corps Colonial Reserve
Corps Colonial Reserve | |
---|---|
Korps Koloniale Reserve | |
![]() Royal Netherlands East Indies Army coat of arms | |
Founded | 24 august 1890 |
Disbanded | 11 march 1951 |
Service branches | Recruitment and training |
Headquarters | Nijmegen, Netherlands |
Leadership | |
Lieutenant-Colonel | J. Slagter (Last) |
Minister of Colonies | Charles Welter (Last) |
Manpower | |
Conscription | No |
Reserve personnel | 1000 |
The Colonial Reserve Corps was an arm of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and an important recruitment depot. The Corps existed from 1890 to 1951 and was located in the Prins Hendrikbarracks in Nijmegen.
History
Before the Colonial Reserve existed, there was the colonial recruitment depot in Harderwijk that was founded around 1830. Initially the recruitment and training for the Royal Dutch East Indies Army took place here. In general, that went without too many problems. It was not until after 1870 that it became more difficult for the military authorities to recruit sufficient military personnel, because countries such as France and Germany were going to counter the recruitment of military personnel by foreign powers. The Ministry of Colonies and War was forced to focus on recruiting 'volunteers' from their own soil, who, like foreign volunteers, were usually of small numbers.
![](../I/m/Prins_Hendrikkazerne_facade%2C_Koloniale_Reserve_KNIL%2C_Hengstdal%2C_Nijmegen.jpg)
The Koloniaal Werfdepot was also popularly known as the 'gutterhole of Europe', because volunteers from all over Europe were recruited. Enlistment among the colonial troops contributed for some time to the stigma of social damnation, something that had a negative effect on the recruitment results. At the end of the nineteenth century the awareness gradually arose at the Ministry of Colonies that the quality of the military personnel destined for the Dutch Indies had to improve.[1]
In 1890 Lieutenant Colonel Josephus Fredericus Dominicus Bruinsma became the first commander of the Royal Corps Colony Reserve, established by Royal Decree of 24 August 1890, with Captain Johannes Rudolph Jacobs as his adjutant. The Corps was under the command of the Minister of Colonies and was set up to replace the Indian brigade, which had been authorized by Royal Decree of 9 March 1874, number 32, but never got off the ground. There was a need for such a reserve corps for the Colonies because the constitution prohibited the use of the Royal Netherlands Army for wars outside Europe. The corps was also intended as a countervalue corps for military personnel from the East and West Indies who had temporarily become unfit for service in their function. In the initial period, the staff of this corps was located in Zutphen, but the staff quickly moved to Nijmegen and from 1911 the Prins Hendrik Barracks was the home base. Bruinsma was succeeded in April 1895 by Gijsbertus Godefriedus Johannes Notten as the second commander of the Colonial Reserve Corps. After first having involved the Waal Barracks in the Lower Town (Benedenstad), the corps left for the newly built Prins Hendrik Barracks in 1911. The soldiers of the (KNIL) were popularly called colonials. During their months of training, they were thoroughly prepared for the tropical Indies. They trained with spicy field marches and practiced a lot of gymnastics and also got lessons in fencing. They learned Malay and were given food from the Indies twice a week. The Corps was dissolved one year after the KNIL.[2]
International Four Days Marches Nijmegen
For the corps, remote mating was of great importance. In recruitment, for example, they could be used as a propaganda tool. The corps members, in fact, walked in striking exotic uniforms and showed themselves in different places to the population. On the other hand, the marches could also be used in the training of soldiers so that they would be well prepared for the long patrols in the Dutch East Indies. The Colonial Reserve was the basis of the Nijmegen Four Days Marches. The first edition, which was organized in 1909 by the Dutch Association for Physical Education (NBvLO), had a different design than today. During that edition, Nijmegen was only the end point of one of the routes. Three years later the Four Days Marches departed from Utrecht. On the third day, the participants then walked from Ede via the Betuwe to Nijmegen to spend the night there in the Prins Hendrik Barracks, home of the Colonial Reserve. On the last day there was a walk through the surroundings of Nijmegen and the barracks were again the end point. This pleased the organization so well that the barracks from 1925 up to and including 1946 were the starting point of the trip.
Indies Nijmegen
In the period between 1910 and 1930 several prosperous Nijmegen families who had become rich in the Dutch East Indies had built villas. Beautiful examples of mansions where retired KNIL officers have lived can be found at the Oranjesingel and the Groesbeekseweg. The KNIL soldiers were entitled to leave every six years and then returned to Nijmegen, the place where they had left. Depending on their grade, their leave lasted for six to twelve months. It was customary that people would come across accompanied with the whole family during their leave. In Nijmegen there are holiday homes at various places, including the Fransestraat, Javastraat and Burghardt van den Bergstraat in Nijmegen.
Gallery
- Grave of Josephus Fredericus Dominicus Bruinsma
- Instruction meeting for soldiers of the Colonial Reserve in the Prins Hendrik barracks (1939)
External links
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