Blang Kalla was the kloof (gorge) on the western edge of Groot-Atjeh traversed by Pel’s colonne on 15 January 1876 in the second phase of his great winter offensive. The colonne marched from Lampagger southward through the kloof over bergachtig terrein (mountainous terrain) into the IV Moekims, reaching Loenga on the right bank of the Kroeng Raba mouth, which would become the westelijke grens (western limit) of the new afsluitingslinie.
The march through the kloof
The march through the Blang Kalla kloof was, Borel notes, the operational proof that van Swieten had been wrong to reject Verspijck’s proposed landing at the Kroeng Raba-baai in November 1873 on the grounds that the terrain was impracticable. The colonne under Pel’s personal leiding marched from Lampagger — whose opperhoofd had submitted on 10 January 1876 — through the kloof of Blang Kalla southward over bergachtig terrein into the IV Moekims, reaching Loenga on the right bank of the Kroeng Raba mouth. The distance from the Kraton to the Kroeng Raba mouth was less than three uren (hours) in a straight line — exactly as Verspijck had argued in 1873. “Drie jaren later bewees de generaal Pel het tegendeel” — three years later, generaal Pel proved the contrary — Borel notes, in one of his sharpest indictments of van Swieten’s strategic judgement.
The wider operation
The march through the Blang Kalla kloof was part of the second phase of Pel’s offensive, after the VI Moekims invasion that had begun on 26 December 1875 and had carried the Dutch through Ketapang Doewa (27 December 1875), Djempit and Pakan Badak (28 December 1875), and Lamtengah (8 January 1876). The hoofden at Loenga submitted. The colonne returned via the noordoostelijke weg, left a post at Boekit Seboen on 24 January 1876, and reached Pakan Badak; it then made a tocht through the eastern part of the IV Moekims. With the IV Moekims conquered and the Kroeng Raba mouth in Dutch hands, the way was opened for the IX Moekims invasion of 28 January 1876 through the Glitaroem pass — the third phase of Pel’s offensive. The Blang Kalla march was therefore the operational hinge of the entire winter offensive, opening both the IV Moekims and the western end of Pel’s planned afsluitingslinie.
See Also
- IV Moekims
- VI Moekims
- IX Moekims
- Kroeng Raba
- Kroeng Raba-baai
- Lampagger
- Glitaroem
- Generaal Pel
- Generaal Verspijck
- Jan van Swieten
- Pel’s offensive against the VI, IV and IX Moekims (1875–1876)
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 323–329, 336.