The Koloniale Reserve was a corps of the Netherlands Indies Army, recruited and depot-based at Nijmegen, which took part in the three-day battle in the Beradin pass of 23–25 May 1896 as part of the main force assembled at Ketapan Doea.
At Lamtengah, 23 May 1896
P. H. R. Beuming records the corps in action on the first day of the battle, on the enemy’s left wing, where the 12e and 14e Bataljon were engaged in a violent firefight and took Lamtengah, Lammanjang and Lam-isi in succession at the cost of very many losses.
De koloniale reserve, die hier in actie kwam, hield zich kranig — the colonial reserve, which came into action here, bore itself gallantly. At Lamtengah especially it had a hard time. Its commander, de sympathieke kapitein Drijber, was wounded in arm and leg but refused to be carried to the ambulance and, borne in a tandoe, continued to command in the midst of his men. This rare proof of courage in the beloved commander, Beuming writes, so transported the men dat ze zich met een donderend hoerah op den vijand wierpen. Ze waren gewoonweg onweerstaanbaar, die Nijmeegsche jongens — that they threw themselves on the enemy with a thundering hurrah; they were simply irresistible, those Nijmegen lads.
The rifle fire from the knodsen — the barrack term for the 6.5 mm repeating rifles — brought death and destruction into the enemy ranks, and after a furious hand-to-hand fight the benting was taken, in which a great number of Beaumont rifles issued in their time to Toekoe Oemar were recovered.
See Also
- Three-day battle in the Beradin pass (23-25 May 1896)
- Drijber
- Lamtengah
- Ketapan Doea
- Nijmegen
- Tandoe
- 1896
Source
Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911; uitgegeven ten bate van het te stichten Herstellingsoord voor Rijks-Ambtenaren). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br N 82-144
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.