Captain Lucas was a Dutch captain of infantry in Atjeh in 1876, commander of the 2nd company of the left half of the 6th Infantry Battalion in the south-east line. He led the surprise hill assault of 24 May 1876 on the enemy gun position southeast of Biloel Zuid — the first time Dutch troops climbed into and broke the mountain ground from which the enemy dominated the new post.
24 May 1876
His company — 4 officers, 32 European and 67 native non-commissioned officers and men with 4 sappers and stretcher-bearers — left the bivouac at half past four, entered the mountains just south of the post in the dark, and climbed unobserved by a narrow path winding along steep rock walls, guided by a local guide, to the hilltop dominating the enemy’s gun position. From it Lucas saw the position’s excavations and, 300 paces further, the watch of about thirty Atjehers asleep on the summit. He posted three sections of his company to command the ground in all directions and advanced with the fourth at the double; one volley threw the enemy into confusion, the small stand at the guns was quickly driven off or shot down, and by a quarter to seven he was master of the position with 8 enemy dead. First Lieutenant Vorst, followed on his heels by native sergeant Mertosmito and sapper Rietveldt, was first inside.
While the sappers demolished the stone breastwork and earth traverse, Lucas’s plunging fire from the hill held off the enemy swarming in the mountains — at a cost of one native fusilier killed — until the stormers withdrew to Biloel Zuid. The affair is described from the official reports by H. F. Meijer in Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876 (1883).
See Also
- Capture of the gun position near Biloel Zuid (24 May 1876)
- H. Hamakers
- Stoppendaal
- Biloel Zuid
- Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876
Source
Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876, door H. F. Meijer (Breda: P. B. Nieuwenhuijs, 1883), chapter VII, pp. 189–192.