T. W. J. Buijs was a Dutch first lieutenant of infantry in Atjeh in 1876, detachment commander of the 74-bayonet party with one section of mountain artillery that held out in the ambush of 4 March 1876 in the narrows between Lamsajoeng and Tjot Bēhēl.
4 March 1876
Buijs was marching from Kajoe-Lē along Lamsajoeng towards Longbatah with sick men on stretchers for Kota Radja when an overwhelming enemy force attacked his detachment in front and on both flanks in the narrow passage. The official record, cited by H. F. Meijer in Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876 (1883), praises his effective and skilful measures, the order he kept among his men notwithstanding the great number of wounded, and the good cooperation of his subordinate officers and cadre, as the causes that the much-tried detachment held until relief. The alarm was carried to Kajoe-Lē by Second Lieutenant H. Willink Ketjen, who forced a way through the enemy line with only a mounted orderly. The stand cost 1 man killed and 19 wounded; the arrival of the relieving company just in time saved it from the enemy’s closing pressure.
See Also
- Ambush of the Buijs detachment (4 March 1876)
- H. Willink Ketjen
- Majoor B. E. Mekern
- Lamsajoen
- Guerilla warfare in Groot-Atjeh
Source
Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876, door H. F. Meijer (Breda: P. B. Nieuwenhuijs, 1883), chapter VI, pp. 120–121.