Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army
The commander of the Royal Netherlands Army is the highest-ranking officer of the Royal Netherlands Army and reports directly to the chief of defence. The commander of the Royal Netherlands Army is statutorily a three-star general. The current C-LAS is Lieutenant General Jan Swillens.
History of the C-LAS
The position of C-LAS was created on 5 September 2005 as part of a thorough reorganization within the Dutch Ministry of Defence in which the staffs were reduced in size and an entire organizational layer was dropped. prior to the reorganization the commanding officer of the Army was the "Bevelhebber der Landstrijdkrachten".Officeholders
Commanders of the Royal Netherlands Army (''pre-2005'')
- 1954 - 1957 General Ben Hasselman
- 1957 - 1962 Lieutenant General Gillis le Fèvre de Montigny
- 1962 - 1963 Lieutenant General A.V. van den Wall Bake
- 1964 - 1968 Lieutenant General Frans van der Veen
- 1968 - 1971 Lieutenant General Willem van Rijn
- 1972 - 1973 Lieutenant General Gerrit IJsselstein
- 1973 - 1977 Lieutenant General Jan van der Slikke
- 1977 - 1980 Lieutenant General Cor de Jager
- 1980 - 1985 Lieutenant General Han Roos
- 1985 - 1988 Lieutenant General Peter Graaff
- 1988 - 1992 Lieutenant General Rien Wilmink
- 1992 - 1996 Lieutenant General Hans Couzy
- 1996 - 2001 Lieutenant General Maarten Schouten
- 2001 - 2002 Lieutenant General Ad van Baal
- 2002 - 2005 Lieutenant General Marcel Urlings
Deputy Commanders
- Major General Lex Oostendorp
- Major General Marcel van den Broek
- Major General Mart de Kruif
- Major General Marc van Uhm
- Major General Martin Wijnen
- Major General Kees Matthijssen
- Major General Rob Jeulink