The Battle of Batèë-Ilië was the battle in the Aceh War by which “the organised, general resistance in Aceh was broken for good.” In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), the Battle of Batèë-Ilië is the last-named of the great successes of the glorious period of Van Heutsz — the time of the great expeditions and excursions — that Musket lists after Buyckjens’s backward glance.
The great successes of the glorious period
“the time also of our great successes! The Pidië expedition, the expeditions in Idi and Peusangan, the Pasé expedition, the Samalanga expedition, the expeditions to the Gayo and Alas lands, the action in the Tangsé and Geumpang area and on the North Coast of Atjeh, the patrol actions on the always restless West Coast, and finally the Battle of Batèë-Ilië, by which the organised, general resistance in Atjeh was broken for good.” The great successes of the glorious period of Van Heutsz — the time of the great expeditions and excursions — were: the Pidië-expeditie, the expeditions in Idi and Peusangan, the Pasé-expeditie, the Samalanga-expeditie, the expeditions to the Gayo and Alas lands, the action in the Tangsé and Geumpang area and on the North Coast of Atjeh, the patrol actions on the always restless West Coast, and finally the Battle of Batèë-Ilië, by which the organised, general resistance in Atjeh was broken for good.
The breaking of the organised resistance
The Battle of Batèë-Ilië is the book’s — and the colonial memory’s — marker of the breaking of the organised, general resistance in Atjeh. The organised resistance — the organised resistance of the Acehnese — was broken for good at Batèë-Ilië. The Battle of Batèë-Ilië is therefore the book’s marker of the military end of the Aceh War: the battle after which the organised, general resistance was broken, and after which only the patrol actions and the column method remained.
The sequence
The book’s sequence is: the Graafland era — the all-out offensive — the defection of Teukoe Oemar on 29 March 1896 (the critical days) — the glorious period of Van Heutsz (the time of the great expeditions and excursions, including the great successes culminating in the Battle of Batèë-Ilië) — the administration of Governor Swart (the regulated conditions and the peace, order, and security). The Battle of Batèë-Ilië is therefore the last of the great successes of the glorious period of Van Heutsz: the battle that broke the organised resistance for good and that opened the way to the administration of Governor Swart.
Significance
The Battle of Batèë-Ilië is significant in Oost-Indisch Journael as the battle by which “the organised, general resistance in Atjeh was broken for good.” The book’s argument — that the Battle of Batèë-Ilië was the last of the great successes of the glorious period of Van Heutsz and that it broke the organised resistance for good — is the book’s marker of the military end of the Aceh War. The Battle of Batèë-Ilië is therefore the book’s — and the colonial memory’s — marker of the breaking of the organised resistance: the battle that opened the way to the administration of Governor Swart.
Account from the Maréchaussée Jubileum-nummer (1930)
the 1930 jubilee number of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië records the storming of Batee Iliek among the operations in which the Korps Maréchaussée took part: the corps “ontbrak ook niet bij de excursie in het Samalangasche, waarbij o.a. het uit den tijd van generaal Van der Heyden beruchte Batee Iliek stormenderhand werd genomen” — was not lacking either at the excursion into the Samalangasche, at which the Batee Iliek, made notorious in the time of General Van der Heyden, was taken by storm.
The reference to Van der Heyden points to the period before the concentratie decision of 19 August 1884, when under his administration the Dutch action had extended over the valley of Groot-Atjeh.
See Also
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Musket
- Buyckjens
- Gilles Graafland
- Teukoe Oemar
- Gouverneur-Generaal Van Heutsz
- Generaal Swart
- Pidië-expeditie
- Pasé-expeditie
- Samalanga-expeditie
- Gajo- en Alaslanden tochten
- Tangsé- en Geumpanggebied actie
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 1896
- 29 March
- Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh (Jubileum-nummer 1930)
- Korps Maréchaussée te voet in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Samalanga expedition
- General van der Heijden
Source
Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), the chapter on den zieleherder.
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930 (“The Corps of Maréchaussée in Atjeh: The Atjehnese Guard”), Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.