The Recapture of bentengs Glé Broë and Koeta T. Rajoet (4 August 1895) was the Dutch recovery of two Achehnese fortifications at Glé Broeë and Koeta T. Rajoet east of Kroeng-Kali, which the colonial forces had previously been compelled to abandon and which the Achehnese had re-fortified as part of the defensive stellingen covering the eastern approaches to Pidië and the Gle-Broeë massif. As described in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, the operation of 4 August 1895 was a typical late-1895 column expedition: a short, sharp descent on a known objective, the storming of the works, the destruction of the benteng, and a return march before the enemy could concentrate superior forces. It prefigured, in miniature, the much larger Ladoeng Landing and Glé Broeë Attack of 22 June – 23 June 1896, which would revisit the same theatre.
Background
By the summer of 1895 the Atjeh-oorlog had entered its long second stalemate, in which the Dutch held the buitenlinie around Koeta Radja and Oleh-leh but could not break the Achehnese interior. The colonial command — under Gen.-Maj. Deykerhoff as Civiel en Militair Gouverneur — had reverted to the policy of small excursieën, mounted to keep the enemy off-balance, to demonstrate the Government’s reach, and to test the political temperature of the eastern mukims. Two Achehnese benteng — at Glé Broeë on the slopes of the eponymous hill, and at Koeta T. Rajoet east of Kroeng-Kali — had become symbols of Achehnese defiance after their earlier abandonment by the Dutch. Their recapture became a matter of prestige.
The benteng at Glé Broeë in particular occupied a position of considerable tactical importance. From its parapet the defenders could observe the plain of the XXVI Moekims and the lower reaches of the Kroeng-Kali river; its loss to the Achehnese had been felt as a humiliation. The benteng at Koeta T. Rajoet formed a complementary work on the eastern bank, its flanks covered by the river and its approaches obstructed with bamboo-thorn abatis in the customary Achehnese manner. Together the two works constituted the outer crust of the stelling that would, in the spring of 1896, be the target of the three-day Dutch offensive.
The Operation of 4 August 1895
On 4 August 1895 a Dutch column — Kruisheer does not specify the composition in detail but places it among the typical late-1895 excursie columns combining infantry, mountain artillery, and a detachment of maréchaussée — advanced from the buitenlinie against the two benteng. The approach march was contested in the usual Achehnese fashion: scattered fire from the kampong edges, sniping from the low hills, and a gradual withdrawal of the defenders into the main works as the column closed. The artillery was brought into action against the parapets, and after a short bombardment the infantry stormed the breaches. Both benteng were carried; the works were then systematically demolished by the engineers to prevent their re-occupation by the Achehnese.
The casualties on the Dutch side appear to have been light, and Kruisheer records no Achehnese casualty figures. The political effect, however, was disproportionate: the recapture demonstrated that the Government could still reach into the eastern mukims at will, and it briefly rattled the confidence of the local hoeloebalang. The success of 4 August 1895 encouraged Deykerhoff’s optimism about the trajectory of the war — an optimism that the defection of Teuku Umar less than eight months later would cruelly expose.
Significance
The recapture of Glé Broeë and Koeta T. Rajoet was, in its way, the last success of the pre-1896 phase of the Atjeh-oorlog. It confirmed the operational pattern — short excursie, demolition of works, return march — that the Dutch would continue to employ through the spring of 1896, and it established Glé Broeë as a theatre to which the colonial command would return, with much greater force, in the Ladoeng landing of 22–23 June 1896. The operation also exemplified the liprovided that of Deykerhoff’s strategy: the benteng could be stormed and razed, but the Achehnese would simply rebuild them once the column withdrew. The cycle of conquest, abandonment, and reconquest would only be broken after Lt.-Gen. Vetter’s arrival as Regeeringscommissaris and the sustained campaigns of May–June 1896.
See Also
- Glé Broeë
- Koeta T. Rajoet
- Ana’ Galong
- Kroeng-Kali
- C. Deykerhoff
- Ladoeng Landing and Glé Broeë Attack (22–23 June 1896)
- Three-day Dutch offensive of 23–25 May 1896
- Buitenlinie
- 1895
- Aceh War
Source
ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, p. 970.