The Battle of Garouw (28 June 1874) was the action by which Majoor Romswinckel carried the strongly fortified kampong of Garouw, north-east of Lampoeloe, and broke the Atjehnese hold on the Pedir-dijk between Penajoeng and K. R. Bedil — the first permanently held Dutch advance beyond the right bank of the Atjeh-rivier since the fall of the Kraton. Borel calls 28 June 1874 “een zeer belangrijk en roemrijken dag.”
Background
Intercepts of Atjehnese messages revealed that the chiefs assembled at Garouw were resolved to cut the river communication between K. Radja and Penajoeng once more, and were trying to persuade Toekoe Nek of Marassa — the only Dutch ally — to turn against the orang belanda. Pel decided to strike first. In the early morning of 28 June 1874 Majoor Romswinckel attacked.
The assault
The fortification at Garouw was well laid out, but Romswinckel’s half-battalion surrounded it and, after dapperen tegenstand, carried it. The cost was four dead and about thirty wounded, three of them officers severely. Two of those officers — the lieutenants von Massow and Zwager — died of their wounds shortly after. The enemy was so shaken by the loss that he abandoned, in succession, his other positions on the right bank, the entire Pedir-dijk, the road to Koeala, and the fort of K. R. Bedil at the downstream end of the dike, all of which the Dutch occupied at once.
Borel’s verdict
Borel calls 28 June 1874 “een zeer belangrijk en roemrijken dag” — for the first time the Atjehneezen had been permanently driven from the right bank below Penajoeng. He contrasts the result with Romswinckel’s échec at Lampoe Oek on 16 April 1874, which had been laid by van Swieten at Romswinckel’s door, and which Borel treats as van Swieten’s own fault for recalling the vesting-artillerie and the achterlaadkanonnen to Java. Garouw repaired that stain and opened the way for the westward push on Soerian a month later. Toekoe Nek, who had refused the enemy’s overtures, kept his loyalty to the Dutch and was rewarded by a quiet Marassa frontier.
See Also
- Majoor Romswinckel
- Generaal Pel
- Garouw
- Pedir-dijk
- Kota Radja Bedil
- Toekoe Nek
- Marassa
- Penajoeng
- Battle of Lampoe Oek (16 April 1874)
- Battle of Soerian (26 July 1874)
- Achterlaadkanonnen van 12 c.M.
- 1874
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 162–164.