The Occupation of the ooster-benteng (17 August 1874) was the surprise seizure by kapitein van Randwijk of a grafheuvel (burial mound) east of Pakan Atjeh, at double-quick pace, and its conversion under heavy enemy pressure into the new fortified post named the ooster-benteng (eastern fort) — a post which, Borel laments, had to be won by a hard fight “seven months after the capture of the Kraton” for a scrap of ground within rifle-shot of the Dutch parapet.
Background
For several days the Dutch had noticed extraordinary enemy activity east of Pakan Atjeh, on the right bank of the Atjeh-rivier: gatherings, lilla-fire, and movements across the river from Lemboe, Langkroek and Pinang. Van Randwijk, commandant at Pakan Atjeh, proposed a dawn dash for the mound.
The seizure
At first light on 17 August 1874 van Randwijk marched out with his company and seized the mound in draf (at the double-quick), taking the enemy completely by surprise. Sandbag parapets were at once thrown up. The Atjehneezen, realising the Dutch meant to stay, raised the alarm on gongs and gathered from every side — including across the river from Lemboe, Langkroek and Pinang. The little garrison on the mound was caught in a crossfire; one detachment after another had to be sent from headquarters. The whole garrison of K. Radja stood to arms; the artillery on all bastions opened up, and kartetsen (canister) was used at Pakan Atjeh itself. By six in the evening the mound was defensible. The day’s cost was more than twenty dead and wounded.
Borel’s verdict
Borel’s lament is double-edged. He praises van Randwijk’s initiative and the new post’s immediate worth: once the ooster-benteng was established, the Atjehneezen “could do nothing more against Pakan Atjeh,” which enjoyed a quiet unprecedented since the landing. But he insists that the fight itself was a scandal: seven months after the Kraton’s capture a hard struggle had been needed for a scrap of ground within rifle-shot of the parapet. The same lesson — that the afwachtende houding merely postponed fights and made them bloodier — would be repeated in the battle outside the ooster-face two months later.
See Also
- Kapitein van Randwijk
- Pakan Atjeh
- Generaal Pel
- Lemboe
- Langkroek
- Kota Radja
- Lilla
- Benteng
- Battle outside the ooster-face (13 October 1874)
- Fall of the Kraton (24 January 1874)
- Afwachtende houding
- 1874
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 183–186.