Redelong was a Dutch theeonderneming (tea plantation) north-east of Takengon in the Alas valley of central Atjeh, which served — first as the stafkwartier of the Dutch troops at Takengon, and after the capitulation of Takengon as the base of Lt lieutenant H. van Zanten’s post-capitulation Dutch resistance. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Redelong is the principal Dutch civilian onderneming of the Atjeh campaign, and the staff history’s principal narrative instance of the theeonderneming as a wartime resistance base.
The stafkwartier phase (1941 – March 1942)
In the pre-invasion period Redelong served as the stafkwartier of the Dutch troops at Takengon. The choice of a theeonderneming as a military stafkwartier reflects the broader Dutch colonial practice of using civilian plantations as military-administrative centres in the inland hoogvlakte — a practice the staff history treats as the structural context for the close cooperation between the Dutch military and the civilian administrateurs of the Atjeh ondernemingen.
The Van Zanten resistance base (March – November 1942)
When, on 19 March 19 March 1942, Palmer van den Broek ordered the capitulation of the Takengon garrison, the recently vacated Redelong theeonderneming still contained a handful of officers, Lt Van Zanten among them. Although his older colleagues “probeererden hem hiervan terug te houden,” Van Zanten “zette evenwel door” and announced he would hold out “zo lang mogelijk.” He established a bosbivak “enige tientallen kilometers ten noordoosten van Takengon,” with Redelong as his intelligence and supply base.
The administrateur of Redelong, S. A. Liezenberg, provided “veel hulp” in the form of voedsel and medicijnen. He also acted as a relay for the correspondence between Van Zanten and the geneesheer of the Takengon hospital — correspondence that was carried by the Ambonese sergeant Kalatu, who moved between Redelong and Takengon, and was relayed in turn by “de vrouw van een Menadonees militair, die bij één der Nederlanders werkzaam was” who worked at the Dutch hospital.
The chain — Van Zanten at Redelong via Liezenberg via Kalatu via the Menadonese vrouw to the geneesheer at Takengon — was eventually detected by the Japanese, and “op den duur kon deze organisatie voor de Japanners niet geheim blijven.” On 24 November 24 November 1942 the Japanese arrested fourteen released militairen working on the Redelong onderneming, “vastgebonden, waarna zij aan de bekende Japanse mishandelingen werden onderworpen.” On 26 November 26 November 1942 a Japanese force of about 100 men attempted to take Van Zanten’s bivak but was foiled by an informer; the bivak was burned. From this point the supply of food and medicines from Redelong was cut off.
Significance
Redelong is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the principal Dutch civilian onderneming of the Atjeh campaign, and the staff history’s principal narrative instance of the theeonderneming as a wartime resistance base. The staff history’s emphasis on Liezenberg’s hulp — and on the exposure of the Liezenberg–Kalatu–Menadonese vrouw chain — frames Redelong as the staff history’s principal illustration of the impossibility of sustaining a Dutch clandestine network in Atjeh under Japanese occupation. The theeonderneming was at once the staff history’s principal instance of Dutch civilian-military cooperation and the staff history’s principal instance of the structural exposure of such cooperation to Japanese detection.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- H. van Zanten
- S. A. Liezenberg
- Van Zanten’s resistance (March 1942 – March 1943)
- Takengon
- 1942
Source
Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), Bijzondere verrichtingen na de capitulatie — Het verzet van luitenant H. van Zanten, pp. 150–152.