The Advance from Penajoeng to the Kraton (14 December 1873 – 24 January 1874) was the main inland campaign phase of the Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874). It began after the Dutch success at Tiban and ended with the Dutch occupation of the Kraton on 24 January 1874. In later debate, especially in Open Letter by Brutus to General Knoop, this whole phase became the main example used to argue that the Dutch moved too slowly after each success.
From Tiban to Penajoeng
After the victory at Tiban on 14 December 1873, the Dutch had broken the first strong line that blocked the road inland. According to Brutus, the army should then have used the same afternoon and the next day for hard reconnaissance and immediate preparation for a quick move forward. Instead, he argued, valuable time was lost before the Dutch pressed on toward Penajoeng.
The issue was not only speed for its own sake. In Brutus’s view, every day of delay in Atjeh gave the defenders more time to strengthen the next line of earthworks, bamboo obstacles, and firing positions.
The concentration at Penajoeng
By 18 December 1873, Dutch forces had reached Penajoeng. Over the next few days more brigades gathered there, and by 23 December 1873 the force was large enough for new action. Brutus later argued that too many days passed with little more than camp organization. While the Dutch settled in, the Acehnese used the pause to prepare stronger defenses ahead.
The move on Lemboe
Only on 25 December 1873 did a stronger reconnaissance move toward Lemboe. Brutus believed this happened too late. In his reading, earlier movement might have prevented the fortification of Lemboe and the next line around the Great Missigit. Instead, the Dutch had to attack positions that were already stronger than they would have been a few days earlier.
The road to the Missigit
By 3 January 1874, Dutch batteries were ready, but the ground between Kampong Djawa and the Missigit had still not been fully cleared. Brutus used this to argue that the command was again losing time. The Dutch finally took the Great Missigit on 6 January 1874, which brought them much closer to the Kraton.
After the Missigit
Even after the Missigit fell, Brutus argued that the Dutch did not press forward quickly enough. Important ground west of the Kraton was not occupied until 12 January 1874. He counted these lost days carefully and treated them as proof that the command kept pausing when it should have kept moving.
The Kraton falls
On 24 January 1874, the Dutch finally enclosed the Kraton and found that it had been abandoned. The royal center was now in Dutch hands, but Brutus argued that the slow advance had already shown a deeper weakness in the campaign. The expedition had reached its visible goal, yet it had not broken Acehnese resistance enough to end the war.
Significance
The Advance from Penajoeng to the Kraton mattered because it linked several famous places and dates of the early war into one continuous story: Tiban, Penajoeng, Lemboe, the Great Missigit, and finally the Kraton. In later criticism, this campaign phase became the main factual basis for the claim that the Dutch command moved too slowly and relied too much on the hope that taking the capital would bring automatic submission.
See Also
- Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874)
- Battle of Tiban (14 December 1873)
- Penajoeng
- Battle of Lemboe (25–26 December 1873)
- Third Conquest of the Great Missigit
- Capture of the Kraton (24 January 1874)
- Brutus
- Afwachtende houding
- 24 January
- 1873
- 1874
Source
Open brief aan den Generaal Knoop over de Atjeh-kwestie (naar aanleiding van den brief van Generaal Van Swieten in Het Vaderland), door Brutus (L. van Bakkenes en Co., 1874), pp. 7–19.