Kromo-di-Koro was a Javanese maréchaussée of the Korps Maréchaussée who, though wounded, assumed command of his brigade on the west coast of Atjeh during the action of 1925–1927 after both Captain J. Paris and the brigade commander had been killed.
Assumption of command
In the engagement in which Captain Paris fell, both the captain and the brigade-commandant were killed. The 1930 jubilee number records: “De gewonde Javaansche Maréchaussée Kromo-di-Koro nam het bevel op zich, totdat hij door bloedverlies ineen dreigde te zakken” — the wounded Javanese Maréchaussée Kromo-di-Koro took the command upon himself, until loss of blood threatened to make him collapse.
Before transferring the command to the Menadonese maréchaussée-soldier Suwoek, he first ordered a number of shots to be fired into the surrounding alang-alang (cogon grass), in order to drive out any Atjehnese who might be concealed there. It was that fire which caused the opponent seen by Sumangkut to break cover.
Remembered by Snell
Colonel L. A. Snell, interviewed in the same issue, named Kromo-di-Koro last in his list of “de eenvoudigen van ziel” — the simple of soul — who ought not to be allowed to fall into oblivion, alongside Marks, Frank, Mosselman, Heynen, Emond, Rugebregt, Salawono, Kasir, Wowor and Nussy, calling them “de dappersten onder de dapperen” — the bravest among the brave.
The jubilee number concluded its account of the episode with the judgement that “de oude geest van het Korps Maréchaussée was bij zijn manschappen blijven voortleven” — the old spirit of the Corps Maréchaussée had continued to live on among its men.
Additional detail from the jubilee number
During a lethal ambush in 1925 near Meulaboh in which Captain J. Paris and his brigade commander were killed, wounded Marechaussee Kromo-di-Koro took command of the surviving twelve men. He organized defensive volley fire into the surrounding alang-alang grass until collapsing from severe blood loss, successfully preventing the unit from being wiped out.
See Also
- Gevecht waarin kapitein Paris sneuvelde (Westkust van Atjeh, 1925-1927)
- J. Paris
- Suwoek
- Sumangkut
- Leleng
- L. A. Snell
- Korps Maréchaussée te voet in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
- Louis Adriaan Snell
Source
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930, Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.