Missigit Longbatta operation (31 December 1874 – 13 January 1875)

Properties2
tagsevent, military, aceh-war, dutch, colonial, engineers, fortification
aliasesMissigit Longbatta, Longbatta-Missigit operation, Missigit Longbattah operation, Battle of Longbattah-Missigit

7 min read

The Missigit Longbatta operation (31 December 31 December 1874 – 13 January 13 January 1875) was a Dutch engineer operation of the Atjeh-oorlog in which Kolonel PEL, civil and military governor of Atjeh, ordered the capture of the mosque (missigit) of Longbatta — stronghold of the Iman Longbatta, “een van de voornaamste verzetslieden” — and its conversion into a fortified redoubt enclosing the mosque. The redoubt was constructed under continuous Atjehese rifle and gun fire by a detachment of the Compagnie Mineurs en Sappeurs commanded by Tweede-Luitenant C. J. Snijders, with a working party of about 100 vrije koelies, at a cost of three dead and twelve wounded among the workers; the work was largely completed in two weeks and was visited and approved by Majoor der Genie W. J. C. Leers on 13 January 13 January 1875.

Context

By the end of 1874 the Dutch perimeter at Kota Radja was being progressively widened by Kolonel PEL. After the Benting Kota Alam operation of 13 November had secured the eastern flank, PEL turned to the south-east, where the kampong Longbatta — headed by the Iman Longbatta — was one of the most bitterly contested strongholds in the immediate neighbourhood of the Kraton. The 31 December 31 December 1874 action was intended “de Atjehers tot op grooteren afstand van onze hoofdstelling terug te drijven en de Atjeh-Rivier tot oostelijke beveiliging daarvan te maken.”

The Action of 31 December 1874

In the morning of 31 December 31 December 1874 PEL launched an action against Longbatta. Snijders was held ready at Kota Radja with 200 vrije koelies and a large quantity of materials and tools to follow one of the columns and, on success, to put the captured ground in a state of defence. Toward midday he received orders and marched his workers, under a covering infantry detachment, up the left bank of the Atjeh River. At about 2 p.m. he joined PEL and the reserve at some distance from the Missigit, which the troops had by then taken. While PEL was beginning to give Snijders his instructions, the action took an unfavourable turn, and the proposed engineering work had to be abandoned for the day. Snijders was ordered back to Kota Radja without loss.

The Fortification, 1–13 January 1875

On New Year’s Day 1875 Snijders marched again, with a detachment of mineurs and sappeurs and about 100 vrije koelies, accompanying an infantry column escorting the guns to arm the Missigit and a convoy of food, ammunition, and building materials. The column was repeatedly fired on, especially crossing the open sawah north of the kampong. Around noon the Missigit was reached and work began.

The redoubt was traced as a langwerpige redoute about 50 × 60 metres enclosing the mosque. The east front was given a wet ditch fed by an existing water conduit. The first work was a sandbag breastwork along the perimeter, with the Missigit itself fitted up as officers’ quarters; the rest of the garrison and the coolies bivouacked in the open. Once the parapet was closed and raised, the construction of bamboo barracks (covered with asphalt-felt), kitchens, latrines, and so forth outside the work was begun.

The technical detail is preserved in the eyewitness lecture of Eerste-Luitenant T. W. G. Merz:

“De Luitenant der Mineurs SNIJDERS […] maakte middelerwijl een begin met het tracé der borstwering. Longbatta-Mesigii had bij de inname een lage, aarden omwalling, die nagenoeg de gedaante had van een regthoek, waarvan de langste zijde ongeveer 30, de kortste 25 strekkende meter vuurlijn telde: daarom werd besloten nagenoeg in de richting van de bestaande wal een langwerpige redoute te traceeren, terwijl de Zuid-Oostelijke en Noord-Westelijke saillant tot een cirkel-bastion zouden worden uitgebouwd. […] de toegang tot de versterking of benteng kwam aan de N.O.-zijde […] en werd met een travers, waarvoor Friesche ruiters werden geplaatst, gesloten. De keukens en latrines zouden geplaatst worden aan de Noordzijde in een vorig Atjineesch voorwerk van de versterking Longbatta-Mesigit […] Verder zou de versterking omgeven worden door een horizontale draadversperring waarom een twee meter breede ranjoebeplanting, welke laatste natuurlijk gaandeweg moest worden aangemaakt, door voor te schrijven, dat iedere man per dag in zijn vrijen tijd 30 ranjoe’s moest leveren.”

The Atjehese Counter-attacks

The Atjehers refused to accept the loss of their sanctuary. From three sides, day after day, they kept the Missigit and the working parties under small-arms fire of varying intensity, with occasional artillery fire that daily produced wounded. The occupation of the post Longbatta Zuid by Dutch troops brought little relief. The opening of the foreground and the felling of the many palms Snijders needed for his work drew heavy fire, the Atjehers building new works on the right bank of the Atjeh River at distances as short as 600 metres. On 9 January 9 January 1875 the post was so heavily bombarded that one officer and three men were severely wounded. In the night of 10/11 January 11 January the enemy pressed to within 50 metres of the parapet before being driven off by a case-shot and infantry volleys; at dawn the infantry cover of the corvée in the foreground had to drive the Atjehers back at bayonet-point after several volleys.

Completion and Hand-over

Despite losses of three dead and twelve wounded among his workers, Snijders in two weeks largely completed the redoubt. When Majoor Leers visited on 13 January 13 January 1875 — the same day on which a point in the kampong Blang Tjoet was occupied and fortified — he judged the work could be finished under an NCO of the mineurs, and Snijders was sent back to Kota Radja. He remained in general charge, visiting the Missigit every two or three days with the daily convoy.

Eyewitness Appraisal

Merz concluded his account of the work:

“De Luitenant SNIJDERS der Genie, een braaf officier, kweet zich uitmuntend van zijn plicht; het vijandelijk vuur in het minst niet schuwende, altijd opgewekt en vroolijk, ging hij de zijnen voorbeeldig voor, zoodat binnen drie weken de wallen uit zandzakken bestaande, voltooid en de gebouwen gereed waren, waardoor ten minste iedereen behoorlijk onderkomen had. Waarna hij met zijne Mineurs en werklieden naar Kota Radja terugkeerde; ieder onzer speet het, dat deze brave, trouwe makker van ons ging; iedereen waardeerde hem in hooge mate om zijn moed en warmen kameraadschappelijken geest.”

Significance

The Missigit Longbatta operation is one of the best-documented engineer actions of the Atjeh-oorlog in its middle phase, thanks to the survival of Merz’s eyewitness lecture and its preservation by Bannink and Van den Berg. It illustrates the characteristic Dutch method of the period — the rapid construction of a benting enclosing a captured strongpoint, the use of vrije koelies and dwangarbeiders under fire, the integration of ranjoe plantings and wire entanglements, and the daily struggle against an enemy who could put fire on the work from less than 600 metres. The conversion of a mosque into a fortified redoubt also illustrates the religious-cum-military character of the resistance: the Atjehers “wilden niet lijdelijk in het verlies van hun heiligdom berusten” — a wording that captures the dual nature of the Missigit as both a strategic landmark and a sacred site.

See Also

Source

Lecture by Eerste-Luitenant T. W. G. Merz, Orgaan der Officiersvereeniging, October 1935, as cited in C. A. Bannink, “Grepen uit den Atjeh-oorlog,” Orgaan der Officiersvereeniging (1936), and in D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 28–32. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.

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