Captain von Ende was a Dutch kapitein of the Indische leger and commandant of the Mandarsa Poeti post, who on his own initiative — zonder toestemming — slipped across the sawah on the night of 14–15 February 1875 with part of the Mandarsa Poeti garrison and occupied the abandoned enemy fortification at Lamara Olejlo in the surprise of Lamara Olejlo, and who from Pel received, for the same action, both formal praise for his courage and a reprimand for his unauthorised initiative — “he had fully deserved both; achieved success made everything good.”
The Surprise of Lamara Olejlo
As commandant of Mandarsa Poeti, the old stone gebedenhuis some 1 600 paces south of the main wall that had been destroyed by 12 c.M. fire on 5 October 1874 and occupied as a post on 28 January 1875, von Ende had observed that the Atjehneezen left the fortification at the northern rand of Lamara each evening and returned in the morning. He verified the pattern personally by creeping across the sawah on a dark night with a few men. Without asking permission, he crossed the sawah in the night of 14–15 February 1875 with part of the Mandarsa Poeti garrison and occupied the abandoned fortification. He at once reported to Pel and asked for reinforcements. Between eight and four o’clock the Atjehneezen arrived as usual — to considerable surprise they were met with Beaumont salvoes. Von Ende beat off their attempt to retake the works and held with his handful until reinforcements under overste van Dentekom arrived, then Romswinckel. Fighting continued all morning as the enemy streamed in from all sides.
Praise and Reprimand
The whole Lamara Olejlo stelling remained permanently in Dutch hands. Three or four enemy bentengs, several cannons and lillas fell into Dutch hands — including a four-pounder that had fired on Mandarsa Poeti, which had no carriage but was ingeniously suspended on ropes. Von Ende received from Pel both formal praise for his courage and a reprimand for his unauthorised action. Borel’s comment is that “he had fully deserved both; achieved success made everything good.” The cost was one dead, some twelve severely wounded, and two officers wounded after the fight was already over.
Borel’s Judgement
Von Ende is, in Borel’s narrative, the prototype of the dashing Indische kapitein whose personal reconnaissance and personal initiative could achieve at no cost what a formal colonne operation might have purchased in blood. The contrast with the disaster at Longbatta six weeks earlier — where van der Meer’s misinterpreted orders and loss of cohesion on the sawah had cost a battalion — is sharp. Pel’s simultaneous praise and reprimand is, in Borel’s reading, the right response of a bevelhebber who values initiative but cannot publicly endorse its breach of discipline.
See Also
- Surprise of Lamara Olejlo (14–15 February 1875)
- Mandarsa Poeti
- Lamara Olejlo
- Lamara
- Generaal Pel
- Majoor Romswinckel
- Benteng
- Lilla
- Beaumont-geweer
- 1875
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 250–251.