The Conquest of Mandarsa Poeti (28 January 1875) was the three-column operation by which kolonel Pel finally occupied the old stone gebedenhuis (prayer-house) of Mandarsa Poeti — already a ruin since being destroyed by 12 c.M. fire on 5 October 1874 — as a Dutch post, an action whose sudden initial success was nearly undone when the Atjehneezen streamed back in from the IX Moekims in the course of the afternoon.
The plan
Three columns marched simultaneously from K. Radja. The middle, or main, column under van der Meer marched straight on the stone gebedenhuis and took it without resistance. The other columns moved left on Nesoch and right on Setee to cover the flanks. Since the walls of the gebedenhuis had already been shot to rubble by 12 c.M. achterlaadgeschut the previous October, and the interior was too small for a garrison, a suitable nearby point was chosen and construction of a new fortification begun.
The afternoon counter-attack
The conquest was so sudden that the Atjehneezen had no time to resist. Later in the day, however, when it became clear that the Dutch meant to stay, the Atjehneezen streamed in from all sides, especially from the IX Moekims. They occupied the south-west kampong-rand toward Lamlagan and opened fire. The day’s cost was three dead and ten wounded; one man was killed in the western flank column under kapitein Sutherland.
Borel’s verdict
For Borel the operation illustrates both the strength and the limitation of Pel’s method. A well-planned multi-column advance could carry the object in minutes; but, unless the enemy was pursued and broken, he would return within hours, from the surrounding Moekims, in numbers that the small Dutch garrison could barely hold. The post at Mandarsa Poeti would be the base from which kapitein von Ende, on the night of 14–15 February 1875, launched his unauthorized but brilliant surprise of Lamara Olejlo. Mandarsa Poeti also became a southern anchor of the stelling-Pel completed in May 1875.
See Also
- Generaal Pel
- Majoor van der Meer
- Mandarsa Poeti
- IX Moekims
- Setee
- Kapitein von Ende
- Achterlaadkanonnen van 12 c.M.
- Surprise of Lamara Olejlo (14–15 February 1875)
- Stelling-Pel
- 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. 202, 245–246.