Jan van Swieten (Kapitein) was a Dutch kapitein der infanterie who must not be confused with his namesake generaal Jan van Swieten, the opperbevelhebber of the second expedition. He commanded the small detachment of two officers and fifty-seven men (ten of them unarmed) that was massacred on the open sawah near Lamsajoen on 13 February 1876 during the catastrophe at Atoeh, the blackest single day of the aanvallende phase of the Atjeh-oorlog.
The Atoeh Catastrophe
On 13 February 1876 generaal Pel launched his three-colonne operation against the III Moekims: the rechter-colonne under Majoor B. E. Mekern upstream along the left bank of the Atjeh-rivier, the midden-colonne under Majoor Jeltes from Kota Alam along the right bank against Pango and Longbatta-Mesigit, and the linker-colonne under Majoor Diepenheim to cover the flank. The same day Kolonel Meijer’s column conquered Pango and a post was opgericht. Kapitein van Swieten, marching from Kota Radja with his detachment to reinforce the Atoeh post, was attacked on the drassige sawah near Lamsajoen, almost at his destination. The Atjehneezen sprang from the boschrand; their charge, in Borel’s comparison, was “als eene woeste onverwachte charge van cavallerie,” and struck before most of the soldiers could verzamelen. Bijna allen sneuvelden “met wonden overdekt”; only a few escaped by flight. The bodies lay on the field; the wapens, munitie and ambulance materials were carried off by the enemy.
Borel’s Judgement
Borel uses the catastrophe as a textbook example of the danger of marching in dispersed order over a soaked sawah along a wooded edge. He asks “hoe eene vrij aanzienlijke, achterladegewapende afdeeling op open terrein en bij klaarlichten dag kon overvallen worden” — and answers by recalling the rampspoedige terugtocht of kolonne van der Meer of 31 December 1874, when the same loss of order on a doorweekte sawah had delivered a whole battalion to the Atjehneezen. On hearing the news Majoor B. E. Mekern changed route, marched on Atoch, zuiverde the terrain, and recovered the bodies of van Swieten’s detachment, which were “voor schending bewaard” and “met de hun verschuldigde eer ter aarde besteld.” Borel treats the disaster as a failure of march discipline, not as a reflection on the kapitein’s personal courage.
See Also
- Atoeh catastrophe (13 February 1876)
- Jan van Swieten
- Battle of Longbatta (31 December 1874)
- Generaal Pel
- Majoor B. E. Mekern
- Majoor Jeltes
- Majoor Diepenheim
- Atoeh
- Lamsajoen
- Sawah
- Klewang
- 1876
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 232, 317–318.