Capture of Kota Ba Teuē (28 October 1896)

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descriptionThe Capture of Kota Ba Teuē on 28 October 1896 — the inname van de sterkte, genaamd Kota Ba Teuē — was the Dutch storming of the Acehnese fortification called Kota Ba Teuē in the XXII Moekims of Groot-Atjeh, undertaken in cooperation with the Blang Bintang (Tjot Mantjang) garrison as part of the temporary occupation of Indrapoeri. The capture was the most significant Dutch military victory of October 1896 and opened the way for the trip to Ladoeng and Kroeng Raja of 30–31 October 1896 and the second Selimoen expedition of 3–6 November 1896.
tagsevent, aceh-war, 1896, capture, storming, kota-ba-teue, indrapoeri, xxii-moekims, groot-atjeh, stemfoort, kruisheer-vol3, hoofdstuk-iii, military-victory
aliasesinname van de sterkte Kota Ba Teuē, the capture of Kota Ba Teuē, the fall of Kota Ba Teuē, the storming of Kota Ba Teuē

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The Capture of Kota Ba Teuē — inname van de sterkte, genaamd Kota Ba Teuē — on 28 October 1896 was the Dutch storming of the Acehnese stelling (fortification) called Kota Ba Teuē in the XXII Moekims of Groot-Atjeh, undertaken in samenwerking met de bezetting van Tjot Mantjang — cooperation with the garrison of Tjot Mantjang (Blang Bintang) — as part of the temporary occupation of Indrapoeri. The capture was the most significant Dutch military victory of October 1896, and opened the way for the trip to Ladoeng and Kroeng Raja of 30–31 October 1896 and the second Selimoen expedition of 3–6 November 1896. The stelling (fortification (stelling)) Kota Ba Teuē — a strong Acehnese fortification which controlled the approach to Indrapoeri — had resisted earlier Dutch probes, and its capture was a critical step in the Dutch forward movement of the second semester of 1896.

The Stronghold of Kota Ba Teuē

The stelling (fortification (stelling)) Kota Ba Teuē — literally “Fort of the Father of the Flag” — was a strong Acehnese fortification in the XXII Moekims, which controlled the approach to the kampong of Indrapoeri. The stelling (fortification (stelling)) had been constructed by the Acehnese resistance as part of the defensive system of the XXII Moekims, and its capture was a critical objective of the Dutch forward movement of the second semester of 1896. The name Kota Ba Teuē — combining the Malay Kota (fort) with the Acehnese Ba Teuē (Father of the Flag) — reflects the syncretic linguistic character of the Acehnese resistance, and the stelling (fortification (stelling)) itself was a typical Acehnese fortification, constructed of earth and timber with a vertical barbed-wire entanglement — the same type of fortification which had been encountered at the benteng of Ana’ Galoeng on 29 June 1896.

The Cooperation with the Tjot Mantjang Garrison

The capture of Kota Ba Teuē was undertaken in samenwerking met de bezetting van Tjot Mantjang — in cooperation with the garrison of Tjot Mantjang (Blang Bintang). The Blang Bintang garrison — which had been established on 7 September 1896 and which had served as the base for the first Selimoen expedition of 6–11 September 1896 — provided the southern arm of the operation, while a colonne from the geconcentreerde linie (concentrated line) provided the northern arm. The two forces converged on the stelling (fortification (stelling)) Kota Ba Teuē, and the cooperation of the two forces was the key to the capture of the stelling (fortification (stelling)) on 28 October 1896. The capture of Kota Ba Teuē opened the way for the trip to Ladoeng and Kroeng Raja of 30–31 October 1896 and the second Selimoen expedition of 3–6 November 1896.

Significance

The Capture of Kota Ba Teuē on 28 October 1896 is significant in the documentary record of ATJEH ‘96 — Tweede Deel as the most significant Dutch military victory of October 1896. The capture — undertaken in cooperation with the Blang Bintang garrison as part of the temporary occupation of Indrapoeri — opened the way for the trip to Ladoeng and Kroeng Raja of 30–31 October 1896 and the second Selimoen expedition of 3–6 November 1896, and represented the slow, methodical extension of Dutch forward positions which characterised the pacificatie (pacification) of the second semester of 1896 under Stemfoort’s second tenure. The capture of the stelling — a strong Acehnese fortification which had resisted earlier Dutch probes — demonstrated the increasing effectiveness of the Dutch forward movement, and the cooperation of the Blang Bintang garrison with the colonne from the geconcentreerde linie (concentrated line) established the operational pattern which would be repeated in the November operations.

See Also

Source

ATJEH ‘96. Tweede Deel (2c Deel), door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 3 kaarten en 6 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-90-Atjeh_96_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_3_kaarten_en_6_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt., pp. 8, 124, 128.

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