The marine landing at Kroeng Raja of 29 December 1896 was a Dutch combined army-navy operation mounted against the hostile bands of Teuku Umar at Kroeng-Raja in the XXVI-Moekim federation of Groot-Atjeh on the night of 28–29 December 1896. The operation — the closing military action of the 1896 campaign — was the immediate prelude to the 1 January 1897 column under Lt.-Kol. Soeters that opened the 1897 campaign against Umar.
The operations (28–29 December 1896)
The operation was mounted on the night of 28–29 December 1896. The Tweede Deel of ATJEH ‘96 records that een derde colonne werd aangeduid om, des nachts, ter hoogte van Kroeng-Raja te landen, en eene zoodanige positie in te nemen, dat een ontsnappen naar het zuiden, in de richting Lam-Toba, uitgesloten was — a third column was designated to land, by night, at Kroeng-Raja, and to take up a position such that an escape to the south, in the direction of Lam-Toba, was excluded. The column was composed of the 4th company of the 12th Battalion under Kapitein Weustmann, reinforced by a detachment of marines under Luitenant der Mariniers P. Groen — strength 1 officer and 52 men, 1 medical officer, and 5 stretcher-bearers. The company embarked on the evening of 28 December at five o’clock and landed at Kroeng-Raja at six o’clock the following morning, taking up the position that had been assigned to it.
The Dutch encountered enemy positions at Kroeng-Raja; the enemy was engaged and dispersed. The marine landing was supported by the guns of the Dutch navy, and the operation was the principal combined army-navy action of the closing weeks of 1896. The Dutch losses were slight; the enemy’s losses were not recorded.
The prelude to the 1897 campaign
The marine landing at Kroeng Raja was the immediate prelude to the 1 January 1897 column under Lt.-Kol. G. F. Soeters that opened the 1897 campaign. Kruisheer records that Den 1en Januari vertrok deze, onder aanvoering van den Luitenant-Kolonel G. F. Soeters, en ter sterkte van het korps-marechaussee, 6 compagnieën infanterie, I sectie mortieren van 7 c.M., genietroepen — on 1 January [1897] this [column] departed, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. Soeters, and at the strength of the marechaussée corps, 6 companies of infantry, 1 section of 7 cm mortars, engineers. The Soeters column was the first major Dutch operation of the new year and the direct continuation of the operations of December 1896.
Significance
The marine landing at Kroeng Raja of 29 December 1896 was the closing military action of the 1896 campaign and the immediate prelude to the 1 January 1897 column under Lt.-Kol. Soeters that opened the 1897 campaign. The operation demonstrated the Dutch capacity for combined army-navy operations and the Dutch intention to maintain pressure on Teuku Umar in the new year. The operation also illustrated the continued use of the Korps Mariniers in the Atjeh campaigns — a tradition that extended back to the first Aceh expedition of 1873.
See Also
- ATJEH ‘96 (book by A. Kruisheer)
- 1896
- 1897
- Kroeng Raja
- Weustmann
- P. Groen
- 12e Bataljon Infanterie
- Korps Mariniers
- XXVI Moekims
- G. F. Soeters
- Teukoe Oemar
- Cholera Epidemic in Atjeh (December 1896)
- Aceh War
- First Aceh Expedition (1873)
Source
ATJEH ‘96. Tweede Deel (2c Deel), door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L. (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913), Hoofdstuk IV, pp. 154–156: De compagnie Weustmann en het detachement schepelingen onder den luitenant der mariniers P. Groen; p. 155: Den 1en Januari vertrok deze, onder aanvoering van den Luitenant-Kolonel G. F. Soeters.