The Conquest of Kota Alam (13 November 1874) was the operation by which overste Ruempol, at the head of a half-battalion and an artillery section, carried the south-eastern part of Lemboe known as Kota Alam — at the bend of the Atjeh-rivier where the stream turns eastward — and established a post which, armed with two 12 c.M. voorlaadkanonnen, enfiladed the river upstream and brought the enemy stelling of Longbatta and the densely populated III Moekims under shellfire.
The object
Ruempol’s aim was threefold: to take the kampong of Kota Alam at the river bend, to enfilade the Atjeh-rivier upstream from it, and to shell the enemy stelling of Longbatta and the III Moekims on the right bank. The Atjehneezen had had a full week since the fall of Lemboe to prepare, and the Dutch expected stiff resistance.
The assault
On 13 November 1874 Ruempol marched out. Contrary to expectation, the enemy offered only weak resistance. Kota Alam itself cost little; but during the fortification work the Dutch were fired on from all sides, and a column again had to be pushed out on 14 November 1874 to drive the Atjehneezen back. By evening the post was defensible; a company was left as garrison, and two 12 c.M. voorlaadkanonnen were mounted.
Borel’s verdict
The day’s cost — more than twenty dead and wounded — was, in Borel’s view, slight for what was gained. Kota Alam, once armed, gave the Dutch command of the river bend and a platform against Longbatta, which Pel had long meant to attack. The conquest is also notable as the first appearance in the Atjeh theatre of Ruempol, who would later take Blang Tjoet on 18 January 1875. Borel notes, however, that the voorlaadkanonnen mounted at Kota Alam were of the same obsolete pattern that van Swieten had allowed to remain in Atjeh after recalling the achterlaadkanonnen to Java, and whose tijdbuis-shells too often failed to burst on the wet, covered Atjehnese terrain. The post at Kota Alam would form an eastern link of the stelling-Pel completed in May 1875.
See Also
- Kolonel Ruempol
- Generaal Pel
- Kota Alam
- Lemboe
- Longbatta
- III Moekims
- Voorlaadkanonnen in Atjeh
- Achterlaadkanonnen van 12 c.M.
- Conquest of Lemboe (7 November 1874)
- Conquest of Blang Tjoet (18 January 1875)
- Stelling-Pel
- Jan van Swieten
- 1874
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 211–214.