S. A. Liezenberg was the Dutch manager of the Redelong tea estate north-east of Takengon in the Alas valley, who in mid-1942 became the principal civilian supporter of the post-capitulation Dutch guerrilla of Lt lieutenant H. van Zanten. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Liezenberg is the only named Dutch civilian to have given systematic material assistance to the Van Zanten resistance, supplying food and medicines and acting as a conduit between the resistance and the physician of the Takengon hospital.
Support to the Van Zanten resistance
When, after the 19 March 19 March 1942 capitulation at Takengon, Lt Van Zanten resolved to continue resistance from a forest bivouac north-east of Takengon, he chose the recently vacated Redelong tea estate — which had served as a staff headquarters for Dutch troops — as his intelligence and supply base. Liezenberg, as manager of the estate, provided much help in the form of food and medicines. He also acted as a relay for the correspondence between Van Zanten and the physician of the Takengon hospital — correspondence that was carried by the Ambonese sergeant Kalatu, who moved between Redelong and Takengon, and was relayed in turn by the wife of a Menadonese soldier, who worked at the Dutch hospital.
The chain — Van Zanten at Redelong via Liezenberg via Kalatu via the Menadonese wife to the physician at Takengon — was eventually detected by the Japanese, and in the long run this organisation could not remain secret from them. In November 1942 the Japanese began to take the Van Zanten group seriously; on 24 November 24 November 1942 fourteen released soldiers working on the Redelong estate were arrested and subjected to the well-known Japanese mistreatment. On 26 November 26 November 1942 a Japanese force of about 100 men attempted to take Van Zanten’s bivouac but was foiled by an informer. The bivouac was burned. From this point the supply of food and medicines from Redelong was cut off; Liezenberg’s role as logistical supporter of the resistance ended.
Significance
Liezenberg is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the only named Dutch civilian supporter of the post-capitulation Dutch resistance, and the Redelong tea estate is the staff history’s principal example of the use of a plantation as a base for intelligence and supply. The exposure of the Liezenberg–Kalatu–Menadonese-wife chain is the staff history’s principal illustration of the impossibility of sustaining a Dutch clandestine network in Atjeh under Japanese occupation — an impossibility the compilers attribute to the Japanese surveillance of the European civilian population and to the dependence of the network on a chain of indigenous intermediaries.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- H. van Zanten
- Van Zanten’s resistance (March 1942 – March 1943)
- Redelong (theeonderneming)
- Takengon
- 1942
Source
Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), Bijzondere verrichtingen na de capitulatie — Het verzet van luitenant H. van Zanten, pp. 150–152.
S. A. Liezenberg was the Dutch manager of the Redelong tea estate north-east of Takengon in the Alas valley, who in mid-1942 became the principal civilian supporter of the post-capitulation Dutch guerrilla of Lt lieutenant H. van Zanten. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Liezenberg is the only named Dutch civilian to have given systematic material assistance to the Van Zanten resistance, supplying food and medicines and acting as a conduit between the resistance and the physician of the Takengon hospital.
Support to the Van Zanten resistance
When, after the 19 March 19 March 1942 capitulation at Takengon, Lt Van Zanten resolved to continue resistance from a forest bivouac north-east of Takengon, he chose the recently vacated Redelong tea estate — which had served as a staff headquarters for Dutch troops — as his intelligence and supply base. Liezenberg, as manager of the estate, provided much help in the form of food and medicines. He also acted as a relay for the correspondence between Van Zanten and the physician of the Takengon hospital — correspondence that was carried by the Ambonese sergeant Kalatu, who moved between Redelong and Takengon, and was relayed in turn by the wife of a Menadonese soldier, who worked at the Dutch hospital.
The chain — Van Zanten at Redelong via Liezenberg via Kalatu via the Menadonese wife to the physician at Takengon — was eventually detected by the Japanese, and in the long run this organisation could not remain secret from them. In November 1942 the Japanese began to take the Van Zanten group seriously; on 24 November 24 November 1942 fourteen released soldiers working on the Redelong estate were arrested and subjected to the well-known Japanese mistreatment. On 26 November 26 November 1942 a Japanese force of about 100 men attempted to take Van Zanten’s bivouac but was foiled by an informer. The bivouac was burned. From this point the supply of food and medicines from Redelong was cut off; Liezenberg’s role as logistical supporter of the resistance ended.
Significance
Liezenberg is, in the staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the only named Dutch civilian supporter of the post-capitulation Dutch resistance, and the Redelong tea estate is the staff history’s principal example of the use of a plantation as a base for intelligence and supply. The exposure of the Liezenberg–Kalatu–Menadonese-wife chain is the staff history’s principal illustration of the impossibility of sustaining a Dutch clandestine network in Atjeh under Japanese occupation — an impossibility the compilers attribute to the Japanese surveillance of the European civilian population and to the dependence of the network on a chain of indigenous intermediaries.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- H. van Zanten
- Van Zanten’s resistance (March 1942 – March 1943)
- Redelong (theeonderneming)
- Takengon
- 1942
Source
Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), Bijzondere verrichtingen na de capitulatie — Het verzet van luitenant H. van Zanten, pp. 150–152.