The Relief of Kroeng Kali by the 3rd battalion in October 1893 was the operation by which the Dutch, under Overste Sievers, broke the investment of their advanced post at Kroeng Kali in the XXVI Moekims of Groot-Atjeh and cleared two of three Moslemin positions on the connecting road to Toengkoeb, at the cost of Luitenant Weyerman and three men killed and two officers and fifty men wounded.
Circumstances
The occupation of Kroeng Kali had been undertaken at the demand of Toekoe Tjoet, who afterwards left Toekoe Nja Banta in the lurch and was banished to Malaboeh. Hooijer judged that by yielding to the exile’s request the Dutch had ons in een wespennest gestoken — thrust themselves into a wasps’ nest. When Toekoe Nja Banta removed Toekoe Tjoet’s wives to Lamreng, the resulting dispersal of the population allowed the Moslemin to occupy the abandoned terrain and cut communications between Kroeng Kali and Toengkoeb.
The operation
Natuurlijk liet men geen tijd voorbijgaan den post te ontzetten — naturally no time was allowed to pass before relieving the post. The 3rd battalion under Overste Sievers advanced and was to attempt to drive the enemy from his three positions on the connecting road with Toengkoeb.
Sievers found that the geestdrijvers (religious zealots) had lost nothing of their courage when they entered the lists against the Kafirs, although Toekoe Djohan could usually chase them from one kampong (village) to another without much trouble. They defended themselves so obstinately and so long that on the first day he could drive them from no more than two positions. One of these was the Messigit (Masdjid) Siem, where Dutch bullets had to fly like howling hailstorms across the broad sawah (wet rice-field) plain before the defenders gave up their sanctuary; Luitenant Weyerman and three men fell there and two officers and fifty men were wounded.
That evening the mosque sheltered tired Dutch soldiers instead of opium-smoking Moslemin. During the following night the enemy evacuated the third position without awaiting the Dutch attack.
Aftermath
Toekoe Djohan’s troops were to garrison the mosque, since it had become clear that without his help the Dutch allies would not drive the fanatics from the XXVI Moekims. On 21 October 1893 he appeared with a hundred fighters to take over the point and to quarter his men in the benteng of Toekoe Tjoet near Kroeng Kali. Thereafter it remained quiet, and in January 1894 Kroeng Kali was evacuated.
See Also
Source
De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 26, 32.