Crossing of Blankala Pass was a decisive mountain maneuver executed in late December 1875 and early 1876 during General Pel’s Campaign in Aceh, in which a mobile column of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army under Lieutenant Colonel Meijer traversed the rugged Blankala Pass to invade the IV Moekims.
Narrative of the Mountain March
Following the successful Attack on Mibouw on 26 December 1875, General J. L. J. H. Pel ordered an advance across the coastal mountain barrier separating Kotta Radja from the interior valley of the IV Moekims.
Column commander Lieutenant Colonel Meijer assembled a strike force comprising the 3rd Infantry Battalion, one company of the 8th Infantry Battalion, the Marine Corps in Aceh, one barissan company, and two artillery sections, accompanied by General J. L. J. H. Pel and his staff.
Navigating steep, muddy jungle defiles under constant harassment from Acehnese snipers, Dutch infantry and forced laborers (Forced Labor in Aceh Military Campaigns) hauled mountain guns across the pass, descending triumphantly into the fertile valley of the IV Moekims.
Strategic Consequences
The successful Crossing of Blankala Pass severed communications between Acehnese coastal resistance forces and interior bases, establishing permanent Dutch garrisons in the IV Moekims and preparing the staging ground for the subsequent March through the XXII Moekims in February 1876.
See Also
- 1875
- 1876
- Lieutenant Colonel Meijer
- J. L. J. H. Pel
- 3rd Infantry Battalion
- 8th Infantry Battalion
- Marine Corps in Aceh
- General Pel’s Campaign in Aceh
- Attack on Mibouw
Source
Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier, Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876, pp. 12-16.