The Reconnaissance of Kaloet (23 August 1892) was a Dutch reconnaissance operation against the Atjehnese fortification of Kaloet in the XXV Moekims of Groot-Atjeh, undertaken on 23 August 1892 by a verkenningcolonne (reconnaissance column) under Captain Jhr. Graafland of the Militaire Willems-Orde, with Lieutenant Brant of the maréchaussée as guide. The reconnaissance destroyed the Atjehnese fortifications in the Kroeng Tandjong and approached to within 50 metres of Kaloet’s vóórwal (front wall) before withdrawing. It was the first Dutch operation against Kaloet, and it established the topographical and tactical knowledge that would inform the subsequent battle of Kaloet (1 October 1892) and the eventual capture of Kaloet by Toekoe Oemar (August 1893).
The night-patrol of Brant
The Atjeh-Album of 1896 records that the reconnaissance of 23 August 1892 was preceded by the night-patrol of Lieutenant Brant of the maréchaussée on the night of 22-23 August 1892. The patrol — a detachement maréchaussées — lay in ambush tegenover Kaloet (opposite Kaloet) in the dry bed of the Kroeng Kali, with the intention of catching the Atjehnese garrison as they came in the morning. The Atjehnese, however, versliepen zich (overslept), and the patrol — having been hevig beschoten (heavily fired upon) but having gestoord zich daarvan weinig (been little disturbed by it) — nestelde zich te 4 uur ‘s nachts in eene der versterkingen in de bedding van het riviertje de Kroeng Kali — nested at 4 a.m. in one of the fortifications in the bed of the river Kroeng Kali. The patrol returned to Lamreng at 7 a.m. without having caught anyone.
The reconnaissance column
The Atjeh-Album records that, directly na terugkomst te Lamreng van de patrouille Brunt (immediately after the return to Lamreng of the Brunt patrol), a verkenningcolonne — consisting of a gemengde compagnie (mixed company, of European and native soldiers), mijnen (miners) and maréchaussées — set out under Captain Jhr. Graafland of the Militaire Willems-Orde. Lieutenant Brant — die reeds een half etmaal nachtelijke patrouilledienst achter den rug had (who had already half a day of night-patrol duty behind him) — went along as guide. The reconnaissance column trok de Kroeng Tandjong in (entered the Kroeng Tandjong) — the river that ran eastward from Kaloet — and de versterkingen in en nabij deze rivier werden geslecht (the fortifications in and near this river were destroyed).
The approach to Kaloet
The Atjeh-Album records that the reconnaissance column, kort vóór Kaloet (shortly before Kaloet), trok oostwaarts en déboncheerde in het front daarvan, misschien op 50 M. afstands van den nog onzichtbaren vóórwal (turned eastward and debouched in its front, perhaps at 50 m distance from the still-invisible front wall). The terrain was tamelijk open (rather open) over a breadth of approximately 30 to 40 metres: links had men struikgewas, rechts randjoe-aanplantingen, daarachter eenige rijen wolfskuilen, en dan een 5 M. breede comboeri-aanplanting, waarna de hoofdwal door struikgewas heen schemerde — on the left was shrubbery, on the right randjoe plantings, behind that several rows of wolf-pits, and then a 5-m-broad comboeri planting, behind which the main wall loomed through the shrubbery.
Significance
The Reconnaissance of Kaloet (23 August 1892) is significant in the documentary record of the Atjeh-oorlog as the first Dutch operation against the Atjehnese fortification of Kaloet — the operation that established the topographical and tactical knowledge that would inform the subsequent battle of Kaloet (1 October 1892) and the eventual capture of Kaloet by Toekoe Oemar (August 1893). The reconnaissance also established the pattern of night-patrol and day-reconnaissance that would characterise Dutch operations against Kaloet throughout the late concentratie period — and it produced the first detailed Dutch account of the Atjehnese defensive works around Kaloet.
See Also
- Kaloet
- XXV Moekims
- Groot-Atjeh
- Lamreng
- Kroeng Kali
- Kroeng Tandjong
- Battle of Kaloet (1 October 1892)
- Capture of Kaloet by Toekoe Oemar (August 1893)
- Jhr. Graafland
- Brant
- Concentratie-stelsel (1884-1896)
- Geconcentreerde linie
- Aceh War
- 23 August
- 1892
- Atjeh-Album (Eigen Haard, 1896)
Source
Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 30–31 (De Strijd om Kaloet — Eene herinnering uit den Atjeh-oorlog).