The Second Aceh Expedition was a massive colonial military invasion launched by the Kingdom of the Netherlands between November 1873 and April 1874 to conquer the Sultanate of Aceh and avenge the repulse of the First Aceh Expedition.
Preparations and Command
Following the 1873 retreat, the Dutch government appointed retired Lieutenant-General Jan van Swieten as Civil Government Commissioner and Supreme Military Commander on 11 June 1873. Van Swieten assembled an expeditionary force comprising 13,000 personnel, including 8,200 soldiers, 4,800 laborers, 74 heavy siege guns, and 3,100 naval personnel aboard 25 warships and 22 transports. Major-General G.M. Verspijck served as second-in-command.
Operational Narrative
The fleet arrived off Aceh in November 1873, delayed by a severe cholera epidemic. On 9 December 1873, Van Swieten executed the Landing at Pedro Point, disembarking the 2nd and 3rd Brigades 11 kilometers east of the Aceh River mouth.
Advancing along the coast, Dutch forces captured Kota Pohama and Kota Musapi before assaulting the heavy fortifications of the Battle of the Tiban Line on 14 December 1873, expelling Acehnese defenders under Tuanku Hashim.
To secure a river supply line, Colonel G. Wiggers van Kerchem and Lieutenant-Colonel Jacobus Pel led columns through dense coastal swamps, achieving the Capture of Peunayong on 18 December 1873. Dutch forces established a massive fortified bivouac at Peunayong.
On 25 December–26 December 1873, Dutch troops fought the Battles of Lembu, capturing key redoutes. Sappers constructed siege trenches and front mortar batteries facing the Mesjid Raya Aceh. On 6 January 1874, the 2nd Brigade executed the Third Capture of Mesjid Raya under heavy artillery support.
On 12 January 1874, Colonel K. Schultze completed the Capture of Kota Goenoengan, securing the western approach to the palace. Sultan Alauddin Mahmud Syah IX evacuated the Kraton of Aceh on 15 January 1874 for Longbatta.
From 24 January to 26 January 1874, General Verspijck and Lieutenant-Colonel Karel van der Heijden led columns in the Encirclement and Fall of the Kraton. Finding the palace evacuated, Dutch forces occupied the Kraton on 26 January 1874.
Annexation and Aftermath
Sultan Mahmud Syah IX died of cholera at Longbatta on 28 January 1874. General Van Swieten issued the Proclamation of Annexation of Aceh on 31 January 1874. Leaving Colonel Jacobus Pel with a garrison of 3,200 men, Van Swieten dissolved the expedition force in April 1874.
See Also
- Jan van Swieten
- G.M. Verspijck
- Landing at Pedro Point
- Battle of the Tiban Line
- Capture of Peunayong
- Third Capture of Mesjid Raya
- Encirclement and Fall of the Kraton
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (dated end 1873)
End of 1873, a second expedition, twice as strong (~7200 men), landed under General van Swieten. The occupied area was not relinquished because the hoped-for submission of the Sultan with ‘aanbreng’ (tribute) of his whole kingdom failed to materialize.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 38.
Source
De expeditiën naar Atjeh 1873-1874, W.W.F. Herfkens, Koninklijke Militaire Academie, 1900, pp. 25-70.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 38.