The Capture of Peunayong took place on 18 December 1873 when Dutch flank columns cleared a passage through coastal nipa swamps to occupy the strategic settlement of Peunayong.
Detailed Narrative
On 18 December 1873, Colonel G. Wiggers van Kerchem and Lieutenant-Colonel Jacobus Pel led two infantry columns through dense, waterlogged nipa palm forests south of the Tiban Line. Simultaneously, Captain-Lieutenant Bunnik led 19 armed naval sloops carrying 600 marines up the Aceh River.
Overcoming heavy resistance and river obstacles, the infantry columns emerged from the swamps at 3:30 PM, occupying the deserted village of Peunayong on the eastern bank of the river. During the occupation, the grand residence of Teuku Kadli, supreme judge of Aceh, caught fire, destroying the royal state archives.
Naval marines stormed an Acehnese earthwork along the river, establishing the permanent Marinebenteng post. The capture of Peunayong secured an inland river supply line for the Second Aceh Expedition.
See Also
Source
De expeditiën naar Atjeh 1873-1874, W.W.F. Herfkens, Koninklijke Militaire Academie, 1900, pp. 41-43.