The Conquest of Blang Tjoet (18 January 1875) was the operation by which overste Ruempol, at the head of a column of 150 bayonets and an artillery section with a reserve infantry company, permanently drove the Atjehneezen from the kampong of Blang Tjoet on the left bank of the Atjeh-rivier between Pendetti and Longbatta-Mesigit, and built there a post — using the abandoned Atjehnese benteng — that made transport between Mesigit and Pendetti “practically safe” by day.
Background
The battle of Longbatta of 31 December 1874 had ended in the disastrous retreat of van der Meer’s column, but the fortified Mesigit had remained in Dutch hands, garrisoned by two companies. On 4 January 1875 Pel, with two columns, had reconnoitred and cleared the terrain south of Pendetti and the kampongs Lampoe Idjoe, Lampoe Oek, Longbatta and Blang Tjoet, without resistance; the houses were burned. On 7 January 1875 a convoy had been heavily attacked near Blang Tjoet, and Romswinckel had been sent to its aid; sharp fighting followed, with several Dutch dead and wounded, and the Atjehneezen could not be dislodged from positions in the dense brush.
The conquest
On 18 January 1875 Ruempol marched out. The enemy was permanently driven from Blang Tjoet. At a suitable point near the river bank, about four to five hundred paces from Longbatta-Mesigit, work immediately began on a fortification, using the abandoned Atjehnese benteng as its core. After a few days of clearing, the Atjehneezen could be prevented from crossing the river by day. Transport between Mesigit and Pendetti was now “practically safe” — a small but, in Borel’s view, important gain, since the route formed the left-bank spine of the future stelling.
Borel’s verdict
Borel praises the economy of the operation — a small column, a careful choice of ground, the reuse of an enemy work — but notes that Blang Tjoet, like so much else in Atjeh, had to be conquered twice: once briefly in the wake of Longbatta, and once definitively on 18 January 1875. The new post formed, with Poengej Blang Tjoet (established 23 January 1875), the western anchor of the ring completed in May 1875.
See Also
- Kolonel Ruempol
- Generaal Pel
- Blang Tjoet
- Pendetti
- Longbatta-Mesigit
- Longbatta
- Majoor Romswinckel
- Lampoe Idjoe
- Lampoe Oek
- Stelling-Pel
- Benteng
- Battle of Longbatta (31 December 1874)
- Completion of the defensive ring around Kota Radja (May 1875)
- 1875
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 228, 238–240, 243.