The Noordoosterlinie (Dutch for “North-Eastern Line”) was the north-eastern of the four lines of the concentratie-linie around Kota Radja in Atjeh, including the missigit Lambada which was the object of a Dutch échec on 12 October 12 October 1876. After the inspection by Van Lansberge in March 1877 the line was reinforced, and on 25 January 25 January 1877 its extension to Kwala Loë and Kroëng Raja was undertaken under the personal direction of the commander-in-chief.
The Missigit Lambada
The most important action on the Noordoosterlinie was the storming of the missigit Lambada on 12 October 12 October 1876, which was repulsed. The échec was a setback for the Dutch, who were already in 1876 reducing their offensive operations in expectation of the Governor-General’s visit in April 1877.
The Closure of the Coast, January 1877
In January 1877 the troops resumed operations for the completion of General Pel’s program: the occupation of the coast from Kwala Gighen to Kroëng Raja, by which the enemy still maintained communication with the sea. On 25 January 25 January [1877] the operations began under the commander-in-chief’s personal direction with a simultaneous landing at Kwala Loë and Kroëng Raja. The latter place was not deemed suitable for a settlement; the troops returned along the beach to Ladoeng and thence over the mountains to Lambaroe Angan to join the other column, which had landed at Kwala Loë under Colonel Van der Heyden. After the junction, the strong Lamnga was occupied, abandoned by the enemy. On 30 January 30 January [1877] the missigit Lambada, from which the troops had been repulsed in October, was stormed. “With this the objective was in essence attained, and although no post was set up at Kroëng Raja, the occupation of the coast from Kwala Gighen to Kwala Loë had in fact cut the enemy off from the sea.”
The Operations of September 1876
In September 1876 after the arrival of new reinforcements, the Dutch troops again took more offensive action. The object of the operations was to better secure the Noordoosterlinie, which was continually threatened by the enemy’s attacks, and to obtain a better boundary line by the occupation of the lagune Kroëng Tjoet. By diversions in the Zuidoosterlinie the enemy’s attention was diverted, and on 4 September 4 September operations began in the XXVI Moekims.
Account from H. F. Meijer (1883) — the north-east line of 1876
H. F. Meijer, in Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876 (1883), gives the northern works of the consolidation year as the line then called the north-east line (noordoosterlinie): Koewala Gigiëng, Kota-Pohama, Moesapi, and, in the marshes along the Kroeëng Titi Pandjang, Tibang, Lamara Northeast and Southeast, Langkroek and Langkroek East. Its posts watched the great lagune and its only open mouth — holding away the enemy’s fish catching and salt making, and guarding the great settled ground of Penajoeng and the moors along the river mouths — the most isolated of all the lines, where for long even an instruction book for the officers and the watch-holding of the works gave place to the fear of the night. In it the officers read most distinctly the law of the Atjehnese guerilla post war: fire on every work most nights, wakeful watches against prowling enemies around the fort between dusk and dawn, and, for the whole chain, the waterway over the lagune by which every load for the north must go.
See Also
- Concentratie-linie
- Westerlinie
- Noorderlinie
- Zuidoosterlinie
- missigit Lambada
- Kwala Loë
- Kroëng Raja
- Kwala Gighen
- Lambaroe Angan
- Lamnga
- Kroëng Tjoet
- J. L. J. H. Pel
- K. van der Heyden
- Aceh War
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 79-85.