The punitive expedition to Batoe-Mengkoerah of 19 November 1896 was a Dutch field operation mounted under the command of Kapitein A. E. van Kappen of the marechaussée corps against the grottoes of the Batoe-Mengkoerah hill in the XXII-Moekim federation of Groot-Atjeh on 19 November 1896. The expedition was one of the principal marechaussée operations of the second semester of the 1896 campaign and the principal Dutch attempt to break the hostile bands that had gathered in the grottoes of the Batoe-Mengkoerah hill.
The operations (19 November 1896)
The expedition was launched on 19 November 1896. The Tweede Deel of ATJEH ‘96 records that the marechaussée corps under Kapitein Van Kappen advanced to the top of the Batoe-Mengkoerah hill in the early morning of 19 November, where a new pondok (hut) was found but no enemy. At about six o’clock the enemy opened fire from a neighbouring hilltop, and the marechaussée returned fire. The marechaussée then explored the grottoes of the hill, in which a quantity of arms and ammunition was captured.
Kruisheer records that uit de grotten der Batoe Mergati bracht men tal van voorladers en donderbussen te voorschijn. T. Tjoet-Banta haalde er zelfs — from the grottoes of the Batoe Mergati many muzzle-loaders and blunderbusses were brought out. T. Tjoet-Banta even fetched — confirming that the grottoes had been used as an arms cache by the hostile bands. The collaboration of T. Nja Banta — the sagihoofd of the XXVI-Moekim federation and one of the most co-operative of the hoeloebalangs — illustrates the combined Dutch-Acehnese operation against the resistance caches.
Significance
The tuchtiging of Batoe-Mengkoerah of 19 November 1896 was one of the principal marechaussée operations of the second semester of the 1896 campaign and the principal Dutch attempt to break the hostile bands that had gathered in the grottoes of the Batoe-Mengkoerah hill. The expedition demonstrated the marechaussée’s capacity for operations in the broken country of the interior; it captured a quantity of arms and ammunition; and it confirmed that the grottoes of the Batoe-Mengkoerah hill had been used as an arms cache by the hostile bands.
See Also
- ATJEH ‘96 (book by A. Kruisheer)
- 1896
- Batoe Mergati
- A. E. van Kappen
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- XXII Moekims
- Teukoe Nja Banta
- Uleebalang
- Aceh War
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, p. 150: In den vroegen morgen van den 19den November doorzocht het korps marechaussée de Batoe-Mengkoerah; p. 151: uit de grotten der Batoe Mergati bracht men tal van voorladers en donderbussen te voorschijn. T. Tjoet-Banta haalde er zelfs.