Major van Zijll de Jong

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tagsperson, dutch, colonial, military, major, artillery, hero-of-the-day, aceh-war, 1874, officer
aliasesvan Zijll de Jong, majoor van Zijll de Jong, commandant der artillerie van Zijll de Jong, T. J. A. van Zijll de Jong, T.J.A. van Zijll de Jong

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Major van Zijll de Jong was a Dutch majoor of the Indische leger and commandant der artillerie under Pel in Atjeh, whom Borel calls “the hero of the day” of 31 December 1874 for proposing and executing the counter-attack with some sixty infantry and a four-gun battery that retook the lost benteng at the Longbatta-Mesigit and so saved the colonne-van der Meer from certain destruction in the battle of Longbatta. He is also the officer who had repeatedly proposed the bombardment of kampongs that van Swieten had always refused.

The Proposal to Bombard Kampongs

Van Zijll de Jong is introduced in Borel’s narrative as the commandant der artillerie who, during van Swieten’s command, had “herhaaldelijk voorgesteld” the bombardment of the kampongs around Kota Radja from which the Dutch were fired on. Van Swieten had always refused. Kolonel Pel “dacht er evenwel geheel anders over.” As early as 28 April 1874 — two days after van Swieten’s departure — Pel ordered the vesting-artillerie to open fire from the 12 c.M. voorlaadkanonnen on all kampongs within range, daily, at varying hours, to damage the enemy and prevent “samenscholen van groote massa’s volk.” Half of the 12 c.M. puntgranaten failed to explode, and the bombardment led directly to Pel’s request to return the achterlaadgeschut from Java — a vindication of van Zijll de Jong’s long-standing advice.

The Counter-Attack at Longbatta

On the afternoon of 31 December 1874 the situation was desperate. Van der Meer’s column had abandoned the captured Mesigit benteng without a garrison, marched over the open sawah, and was being cut to pieces by an enemy who had streamed back into the abandoned work. Pel’s staff tried in vain to recall van der Meer by signals. At this critical moment van Zijll de Jong, at the staff of the supreme commander, made the bold proposal to recapture the lost benteng with the only available force: some sixty infantry and a four-gun battery. With so much at stake Pel did not hesitate. By a well-planned and well-executed attack van Zijll de Jong and his handful retook the benteng and so covered the retreat of the colonne-van der Meer, saving it from certain destruction. Borel calls him “the hero of the day.”

Borel’s Judgement

Van Zijll de Jong is, in Borel’s narrative, the model of the Indische artillery officer — tactically astute, technically proficient, and personally fearless. His counter-attack at Longbatta turned a rout into a costly retreat; his long-standing advice on the bombardment of kampongs, refused by van Swieten and adopted by Pel, became the foundation of the active defence that allowed the bezettingskorps to hold Kota Radja through the worst months of 1874. The contrast with van Swieten’s afwachtende houding — and with van der Meer’s loss of cohesion on the sawah — could not be sharper.

Sources

Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk, by D. van den Berg (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 10–35. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.

T. J. A. van Zijll de Jong was a Dutch Majoor of the artillery serving in Atjeh in 1874 who, together with Majoor W. J. C. Leers (engineers), sited the Benting Kota Alam fortification on 13 November 13 November 1874 on a bend of the Atjeh River east of Kota Radja.

See Also

Source

Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 126–127, 230–231.

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