The Expedition to Samalanga of 10 August 1877 – 21 August 1877 was the Dutch military expedition against the coast-state of Samalanga on the north coast of Atjeh, led personally by Colonel K. van der Heyden, who was at the time charged provisionally with the civil and military government of Atjeh during the illness of General Diemont. The expedition — undertaken because the radja of Samalanga still refused submission and with his people fought the Dutch in Great Acheh — culminated in the storming of the fortified mosque of Temoelit on 26 August 1877, during which Van der Heyden was struck in the left eye by an enemy bullet, an injury that gave him the epithet “the one-eyed general” in the Hikajat Prang Kompeuni. The submission of the radjas of Samalanga and Merdoe followed, and on 13 October 1877 and 20 October 1877 the Dutch flag was hoisted at Samalanga and Merdoe.
Background
In the summer of 1877 the most important of the expeditions against the coast-states was that against Samalanga on the north coast, in August. It was led personally by Colonel Van der Heyden, who was provisionally charged with the civil and military government of Atjeh when General Diemont departed for Batavia on 30 June 1877 on grounds of illness. The expedition was considered necessary because the radja still refused submission and with his people fought the Dutch in Great Acheh. It was known that the expedition would present many difficulties, because the surf on the coast made a landing very difficult and the inhabitants were known as very brave.
The Landing, 10 August 1877
After everything had been prepared as thoroughly as possible by preliminary investigations, the fleet with the expeditionary force left the roadstead of Oleh-leh on 8 August [1877]. On 10 August [1877] the landing took place east of the Kwala Tamboea:
“In the morning of 10 August the swell was so heavy that the order among the sloops in which the troops had taken place was somewhat lost. Under the continual fire of the warships and of the armed sloops they had at last approached to within about 60 metres of the beach, and had thereby come into the heavy surf, which made the situation for a moment rather delicate and tore the lines entirely out of their formation. Each sloop now rowed, without troubling itself further about the others, as quickly as possible to the shore. Almost all the sloops were stove, six were crushed; but the troops jumped into the water in time and so all reached the beach. True, a number of rifles and other weapons were thereby lost, but soon everything was washed ashore. With this surf it proved impossible to land the section of artillery; it therefore returned aboard.”
The Night Attack, 10-11 August 1877
The bivouac was pitched a little south of the landing-place at the edge of the wood, while meanwhile a favourable opportunity was awaited for the landing of further troops and necessities. In the night of 10-11 August [1877] a band of 200 to 300 Atjehers succeeded in creeping up to the bivouac before alarm was given, in penetrating it, and especially among the dwang-arbeiders making a terrible slaughter. “This unexpected and so strongly sustained attack in the dark night; the groaning and screaming of the wounded and dying; the fanatical allah-il-allah of the fighters, caused consternation and fright among the troops, and those of the northern and eastern wood’s edge already gave way. The column-commander, supported by the other officers, however, succeeded in bringing them to a halt, in uniting his troops, and in taking position in the plain, about 50 paces from the bivouac; there the break of day was awaited in carré. This surprise cost 22 persons their lives, among whom two captains, while 85 of our men were wounded.”
The Storming of Temoelit, 26 August 1877
After further troops and artillery had been landed — not without great difficulties, which for a moment had brought even the desirability of a re-embarkation into consideration — and after preliminary reconnaissances, among them a great reconnaissance on 19 August [1877], had taken place, the troops advanced on 20 August [1877] in a westerly direction, to make themselves master in the first place of both banks of the Kwala Tamboea. The one column went along the beach, occupied the Roema Sentot, a residence of the radja, the second moved through the great sawah plain south of the wood. At Roemah Sentot a fortification was erected and made the point of departure for further operations.
On 26 August [1877] the operations were continued, with the object of conquering the kampongs Tamboea and Temoelit, and thence to advance on the Balei and the kampong Aroengan, the residence of the radja. Tamboea was taken by an impetuous attack of the third bataljon with little loss. While after that the one column advanced without any serious opposition across the plain to the Balei, the other, with which the supreme commander was, became engaged in a fierce fight with the fortifications of Temoelit. All attempts at omtrekking failed, and one storming after another was repulsed. Already at the beginning of the fight Van der Heyden had been struck in the left eye by an enemy bullet, whereupon the chief of staff took over the command. The column-commander too was wounded by bullets in the head and right leg, of which he later died. The situation became continually more critical:
“The troops, now all standing along the berms of the northern and eastern face, did not seem to be moved any more to storming, in consequence of the stubborn defence of the enemy, which cost our men repeatedly losses. When, however, the enemy’s fire diminished somewhat through the shots of the artillery, Van de Pol thought he should yet make an attempt to climb the wall at various points. Encouraged by him and the other officers, some soldiers worked themselves up, preceded by Lieutenant Kalis, on the wall and jumped into the fortification, whereupon a stubborn fight took place within. With his revolver Kalis shot one of the enemies who attacked him; another he disposed of with the bayonet. Almost at the same time as he and his men, officers and soldiers came up at other points of the parapet, and soon the enemy sought his safety in flight.”
27 corpses of the enemy were found within, among which that of the son of the radja of Merdoe; further many weapons and ammunition.
The Submission of Samalanga and Merdoe
The next morning, as the troops again set out, envoys of the radja came to negotiate submission. The chief of staff demanded that Dutch troops should first be led to Tangsoer on the Samalanga river, where the market-places were, and that the negotiations should take place there. The negotiations led to the desired result: the radjas of Samalanga and Merdoe submitted, and on the Samalanga river a fortification was to be erected and occupied by the Dutch. On 13 October [1877] the Dutch flag was hoisted at Samalanga, and on 20 October at Merdoe; on 21 August [1877] the troops returned to Oleh-leh.
Significance
The expedition to Samalanga made a good impression both in the Onderhoorigheden and in Great Acheh itself; but the resistance of the enemy was not yet broken, and the beginning of 1878 seemed to give the signal for a revival of hostilities, both in some of the Onderhoorigheden and in Atjeh itself. The injury to Van der Heyden’s eye gave him the epithet “the one-eyed general” in the Hikajat Prang Kompeuni, where the epos reports: “When the one-eyed king was gone, the rest ended.” By Indies decree of 15 January 1878 Van der Heyden was appointed governor of Atjeh and Onderhoorigheden.
See Also
- K. van der Heyden
- A. J. E. Diemont
- Samalanga
- Kwala Tamboea
- Temoelit
- Tamboea
- Roema Sentot
- Aroengan
- Tangsoer
- Merdoe
- Oleh-leh
- Hikajat prang Kompeuni
- Aceh War
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 85-93.