K. H. Westendorp was a Dutch lieutenant of the Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger who was mortally wounded in the patrol of 7 March 1896 near the Dutch temporary post of Anagaloeng in the XXII Moekims of Groot-Atjeh and died of his wounds on 11 March 1896. He is the first of the officers named on the Atjeh-Album of 1896’s roll of the fallen of the spring 1896 crisis — Gevallenen, hun Roeping Vervuld! — Fallen, their calling fulfilled! — and his portrait is one of the six reproduced in the album’s closing plates.
The patrol of 7 March 1896
The Atjeh-Album records that the patrol was sent out on 7 March 1896 under Captain van Blokland and two lieutenants, with the object of proceeding westward from the extreme temporary post of Anagaloeng to deal with a band of Atjehnese who had, for some two weeks, been shooting at everyone they could hit from that direction. Lieutenant Franson, who had been felling trees in the neighbourhood of the post, had already received a bullet in his body, and the newly installed post-commandant, the overste Bisschoff van Heemskerk, had judged it necessary to put an end to the annoyance.
The patrol — 72 men strong — was left relatively unmolested on the march out, but on the return march it was attacked by various bands and was hard-pressed to hold its own. Although it was only some 350 paces from Anagaloeng, it had to hold its ground for five long hours in order not to leave the dead and wounded in the enemy’s hands, and no help could reach it from the post because only 28 men had been left behind in the benting. The commandant at Senelop heard the rumour of the engagement and hurried with 40 men under lieutenants Westendorp and Ketjen towards Anagaloeng; by taking up a flanking position and drawing the Atjehnese fire upon himself, he gave Van Blokland the opportunity to retire.
Death
The Atjeh-Album records the casualties of the relief in a single sentence: Luitenant Westendorp en drie minderen waren zwaar, kapitein van Blokland, luitenant Stakman, luitenant van Hasselt, de officier van gezondheid van der Meer, de adjudant-onderofficier Kruger en 18 minderen licht gewond — “Lieutenant Westendorp and three subordinates were severely [wounded], Captain van Blokland, Lieutenant Stakman, Lieutenant van Hasselt, the medical officer van der Meer, the adjutant-non-commissioned-officer Kruger and 18 subordinates lightly [wounded].” The album’s roll of the fallen, in the chapter Gevallenen, hun Roeping Vervuld!, dates Westendorp’s death to 11 March 1896 — four days after the patrol — and notes that he was gestorven aan zijn wonden — dead of his wounds. Of the twelve killed on the patrol, three had to be left on the field, and one man — unobserved to fall — was missing from the roll.
Burial at Kota Potjoet
The album records that the fallen officers of the spring 1896 operations — Westendorp, Vuijk, Geluk, Maarschalk, Zon, Kramer and Krohne — were buried at the cemetery of Kota Potjoet, whose entrance bears the inscription Aan onze Kameraden, gevallen op het Veld van Eer — “To our comrades, fallen on the Field of Honour.”
Significance
Westendorp’s significance in the documentary record of the Atjeh-oorlog is as the first-named fatality of the spring 1896 crisis — the moment at which the concentratie-stelsel collapsed under the weight of Toekoe Oemar’s defection. His appearance in the Atjeh-Album of 1896 — both in the narrative of the patrol and in the roll of the fallen — establishes the chronology of the crisis: the patrol of 7 March was the first major engagement after the defection, and Westendorp’s death four days later was the first Dutch officer fatality.
Account from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh (1911)
P. H. R. Beuming records Westendorp’s death and funeral in the third sketch of Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh.
In Beuming’s account of the patrol of 7 March 1896, the relief column under the captain of the general staff Kronouer came up from the neighbouring Lambarih and Lamsoet under the joint leadership of the lieutenants Westendorp and Ketjen and at once attacked the enemy in the flank, forcing him to change his front and to use the greater part of his force to cover it. The Van Blokland column was thereby left in peace, the wounded were quickly brought to Anak Galoeng, and the men still able to fight took the enemy in the rear. The Kronouer column inflicted tremendous losses on the enemy, maar helaas ook daar vielen aan onze zijde weer offers — but alas there too victims fell on the Dutch side: Luitenant K. H. Westendorp, een veelbelovend jong officier, werd door een buikschot doodelijk getroffen — Lieutenant K. H. Westendorp, a promising young officer, was mortally struck by a shot in the belly.
Beuming records that Westendorp died on 10 March of the consequences of his wound and was buried on 11 March 1896 met de meeste plechtigheid en onder groote belangstelling on the Petjoet cemetery. Many flowers and wreaths covered the coffin as a last tribute to the promising officer die helaas zoo vroeg op het veld van eer z’n leven liet voor Koningin en Vaderland.
The funeral prompts Beuming’s description of the cemetery itself and of the scene at the graveside, when at the presenting of arms tears glistened in many a soldier’s eye and those who had faced death beside the fallen man stood weeping like children. He notes that at every burial, whatever the faith of the deceased, Pastoor Verbraak was present.
See Also
- Patrol of 7 March 1896 near Anagaloeng
- Anagaloeng
- Senelop
- Van Blokland
- Franson
- Bisschoff van Heemskerk
- Stakman
- Van Hasselt
- Van der Meer (medical officer)
- Kruger (adjudant)
- Ketjen
- Kota Potjoet
- J. W. Vuijk
- E. P. A. Geluk
- H. L. Maarschalk
- J. B. Zon
- H. O. W. L. Kramer
- C. G. A. C. Krohne
- Toekoe Oemar’s defection (1896)
- Aceh War
- 7 March
- 11 March
- 1896
- Atjeh-Album (Eigen Haard, 1896)
Sources
Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 7, 28, 30 (De Poeassa — Atjehers en Kafirs — Anagaloeng; Gevallenen, hun Roeping Vervuld!).
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. This article combines material from the publications cited above; the material newly added derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh by P. H. R. Beuming (Amsterdam, 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.