The Landing at Pedro-punt (6 December 1873) was the amphibious landing of the second Aceh expedition under opperbevelhebber van Swieten on the coast east of Gigieng on 6 December 1873, which Borel describes as “uitstekend bedacht en zeer goed uitgevoerd” — admirably conceived and superbly executed — and which culminated in the occupation of the kampong of Penajoeng on the right bank of the Atjeh-rivier, the base from which all subsequent operatiën against the Mesigit and the Kraton would be conducted. It is one of the very few operations of the campaign that Borel praises unreservedly.
Strategic Choice
The decision to land at Pedro-punt rather than at the obvious mouth of the Atjeh-rivier was, in Borel’s account, a genuine piece of operational imagination. The spot lay east of Gigieng, “waar de vijand ons stellig niet verwacht had.” The enemy had presumably concentrated his defenses around the river-mouth and the approaches to the Kraton, and the displacement of the landing-place took the expeditionary force completely by surprise. The choice also avoided the muddy and exposed river-mouth, where the kwade moesson would soon begin to make debarkation “hoe langer hoe moeilijker” — a consideration that would, only months later, prove how shortsighted was van Swieten’s failure to build a proper zeehoofd at Oeleh Leh.
The Operation
The troops were rowed ashore in good order. Once a beachhead had been secured, the columns began their victorious march along the strand toward the Atjeh-rivier. The Atjehneezen, taken in flank and unable to bring their prepared defences to bear, suffered what Borel calls “zware verliezen.” The Dutch columns pressed forward, and after a short advance the kampong of Penajoeng on the right bank of the river was occupied without serious resistance. The choice of Penajoeng as the new bivouak was dictated by the river, by the open ground of its sawahs, and by its proximity to the Mesigit — only some 1200 passen of open veld separated the new bivouak from the great fortified mosque that guarded the northern approach to the Kraton.
Significance
The landing marked the true opening of the campaign. From Penajoeng the Dutch would, within three weeks, conduct the bloody reconnaissances of Lemboe on 25–26 December 1873, launch the disastrous frontal storm of the Mesigit on 6 January 1874, endure the daylight raid on the bivouak of 13 January, and finally prepare the nineteen-day bombardment of the Kraton and the omtrekkende beweging that would carry it on 24 January 1874. Yet the same Penajoeng, Borel would later note, became a “pesthol” of cholera during the kwade moesson, and the entire bivouak was so poorly sited against the boschrand that the Atjehneezen were able to burst into it at two o’clock in the afternoon of 13 January 1874 — reaching the very tent of the opperbevelhebber. The brilliancy of the landing thus stands in telling contrast to the operational errors that, in Borel’s account, would follow.
See Also
- Second Aceh Expedition (1873–1874)
- Pedro-punt
- Penajoeng
- Kwala Gigieng
- Atjeh-rivier
- Battle of Lemboe (25–26 December 1873)
- Acehnese attack on Penajoeng bivouak (13 January 1874)
- Jan van Swieten
- 1873
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 12–13.