The guerilla inside the concentration line of 1885 was the series of surprises, ambushes, attacks on watches and workers, and destructions of tramway and telephone, which the Atjehnese resistance kept up throughout 1885 against the Dutch troops inside their own concentrated position — the line which the government had promised the public would, once for all, restore safety. The fullest contemporary record is the list kept by majoor Perelaer and read by him at the Burgerpligt meeting of 26 January 1886 (Bijlage A to Verstege’s pamphlet), supplemented there by the government’s journal reports for Atjeh; it shows that there was no safety within the line for goods and troops, “zelfs niet voor onze troepen, zelfs niet in de onmiddellijke nabijheid van Kota Radja” (“not even for our troops, not even in the immediate neighbourhood of Kota Radja”).
The first incidents (February-April 1885)
According to the journal of the Governor of Atjeh the line was closed in February 1885. Even before it was actually completed the enemy began his daily game: on 25 February 1885 — in the middle of the day — apparently friendly Atjehers surprised the watch at Penditi, close by Kota Radja; nine men were wounded (three mortally) and two rifles stolen (also mentioned by Verstege in his lecture: “schijnbaar bevriende Atjehers, op het midden van den dag, overvielen onze wacht te Penditi”). At the ground-clearing in the VI Moekims the workers were fired upon: four wounded, among them luitenant Nyland. On 25 February 1885 the Atjehnese broke up the Décauville tramway inside the line and carried off the rails. In the night of 24 to 25 March 1885 the workers and their cover at the clearing were fired upon: three wounded, among them luitenant Colenbrander. Luitenant Tuinenburg was wounded at Lampermej, close by the tramway bridge. On 6 April 1885, clearing the ground between Lambaroe and Siroen, the Dutch lost two dead and ten wounded.
May and June
On 13 May 1885 the same kind of attack was repeated; on 16 May 1885 a patrol of 21 men under luitenant Nyland, between Lamara and Kota Radja, fell upon the enemy: two dead and seven wounded, of whom three of the wounded died afterwards. In the night of 5-6 June 1885 the sentry behind the encampment at Panteh Perak, in the immediate neighbourhood of Kota Radja, was attacked, severely wounded and robbed of his rifle. In the night of 6-7 June 1885 a band of twenty men fired upon the kampong Blang-Oe, situated between Oleh-leh and Kota Radja. On 9 June 1885, at the making of a dyke near Siroen, luitenant Veerman and two workers were wounded; on 17 June 1885 a patrol of 25 men, on the way from Tjot-Goe to the line, fell upon the enemy: two dead and four wounded, the enemy carrying off two rifles.
August and September
On 9 August 1885 a reconnaissance patrol six men strong, near the benteng Lamrong, was attacked: six wounded; the enemy carried off three rifles. On 11 August 1885 the night watch of six men, returning from Lamara to Ketapang Doewa, was attacked: six wounded, of whom three died the same day; two rifles were lost. On 14 August 1885 a reconnaissance patrol of the main guard of Kota Radja was fired upon in the shop-street of Gedeh: two dead, and the enemy took two rifles. On 17 August 1885 a patrol 30 men strong was surprised by Atjehnese who had laid an ambush behind the tramway in the eastern sector of the line: six wounded, among them luitenant de Jong. According to the Governor’s report of 6-18 August, Oleh-leh, the Dutch harbour place, was repeatedly fired upon. On 25 August 1885 the blockhouse near the Kali Lengkar was fired upon: three wounded. In the night of 12-13 September 1885 the tramway near Lampermej was dug out so that the rails hung in the air — discovered luckily in time, the enemy lying in ambush. In the night of 20-21 September 1885 the tramway at Lampermej was again damaged and the telephone connection destroyed; on 25 September 1885 the fortification of Lamdjame was fired upon with a loss of one man; and in the night of 27-28 September 1885 the telephone connection between Lamrong and Lampeneroet was destroyed.
October-December
On 7 October 1885 the watch at the bridge by the Atjeh-passer at Oleh-leh was attacked in the evening: one man mortally wounded; on 15 October 1885 the navy had to fire its guns to secure the roadstead of Oleh-leh; on 24 October 1885 the enemy barred the tramway between Oleh-leh and Kota Radja with iron wire and beams; the watch at Nesooh, close by Kota Radja, was attacked (one wounded); on 27 October 1885 a tram between Oleh-leh and Kota Radja, close by the latter place, was fired upon: two wounded; on 8 November 1885 an escort of seven men between Oleh Karang and Tjot Iri was attacked: one dead and one wounded; and Perelaer’s notes close at 17 November 1885. After his speech, a Batavia telegram of 16 December 1885 reported that engineers had repaired a damaged stretch of the tramway between Lamara and Lampeneroet: two dead and four wounded, among them the engineer lieutenant Krol van der Hoek.
The judgment
“En nu vraag ik: is dat niet eene treurige lijst?” Perelaer exclaimed — a state of things of which the reality came into irreconcilable collision with the assurances that had resounded in government circles; one from which, month by month, the stillness, the demoralisation of the garrison troops — constantly relieved and returning to Java with their tale — spread over the whole army; and one for which Verstege could declare, in January 1886, that no army had ever been placed in such a position of unlimited duration, and that for any other army, too, such a position would be untenable in the long run.
See Also
- M. T. H. Perelaer
- Concentratie-stelsel (1884-1896)
- 1000-meter strook
- Kuta Raja
- Oleh-leh
- 1885
- Penditi
- Siroen
- Lamara
- 1886
Source
Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 84, 108-110. OCR-filename: 20260801_235605_DLP-158-Een_beroep_op_het_Nederlandsche_volk_in_zake_het_Atjeh_vraagstuk_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.