Geumpang is a valley and military post in central Aceh, paired with Tangsé as the two valleys that formed the eastern side of the colonne Schmidt’s theatre of operations against the Tiriō bende in 1910–1911, and — in later years — the southern terminus of the colonial army’s elephant-transport along the transverse road from Lam-toeulo via Tangsé.
The theatre of the colonne Schmidt
“The valleys of Tangsé and Geumpang, up against the slopes of the Goenoeng Alimon and the Peuët Sagoë” formed the eastern side of the Tiriō theatre. “Ten Westen in het stroomgebied van de Kroeëng Seukoeleh” formed the western side. The schuilplaatsen of the Tiriō family — and of Teukoe Dagang — lay in the bergland between these two valleys. Paden from Tangsé and Geumpang naar de schuilplaats had ladangs with wachtposten; the fourageurs who came out of the bergen to the bewoonde streken to gather provisions had to pass these wachtposten, which were the colonne’s means of cutting off the bende’s supplies.
The elephant-transport and Geumpang
In 1913 the transport-elephants were transported to Lam-toeulo to serve the transport to Tangsé and the still more southerly post Geumpang — the book’s marker of the most southerly post of the elephant-transport. From Geumpang, the narrator remembers the remarkable incident of the Keumala incident: an armed Acehnese attacked the marechaussée brigade that escorted the elephants on the last transport from Geumpang to Tangsé. This happened in the valley of Keumala, the classic battle-ground, in the same place where the elephant-transport had been attacked three years earlier by a small band of resistance fighters. The last transport from Geumpang — attacked at Keumala — is the marker of the elephant-transport’s final run: the transport from Geumpang that gave the set-piece of the resistance fighter’s paradise-death.
The Tangsé and Geumpang area action
The Tangsé- en Geumpanggebied actie — the action in the Tangsé and Geumpang area — was one of the great successes of Van Heutsz’s period of glory. The Tangsé and Geumpang area is therefore the colonial memory’s marker of the all-out offensive in the highlands of central Aceh: the area that the Tangsé- en Geumpanggebied actie opened to the colonial army and that the elephant-transport later served.
Significance
Geumpang is significant in two distinct phases of the Aceh War and its aftermath. In Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. (Dames, 1954), it is one of the two valleys (with Tangsé) that formed the eastern side of the colonne Schmidt’s theatre — the geographical frame of the colonne’s hunt for the Tiriō bende. In Oost-Indisch Journael (Merac, 1947), it is the most southerly post of the colonial army’s elephant-transport — the place to which the elephant-transport operated from Lam-toeulo via Tangsé, and the place from which the last transport to Tangsé was attacked at Keumala.
Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)
Zentgraff’s account adds details of Schmidt’s tactics from the Geumpang bivak and the death of a Menadoneesche sergeant there. In 1908 governor Swart gave Schmidt — die juist mooi werk had gedaan in Geumpang en Teunom — the order to devote himself wholly to the opsporing, eventueel vernietiging of the Tiro-oelamas. Schmidt’s reasoning at Geumpang: als ik een eind in het binnenland, langs den zuidrand van den Goenoeng Meureuseuë en den Goenoeng Alimon, door het bosch een pad kap, dan moet dit ergens het pad snijden dat de fourageurs nemen — the paths from Pidië, Tangsé, and Geumpang must converge near the schuilplaats.
The captured young son of Tgk. Majet told Schmidt that a djagoeng ladang lay at the upper stream of the Aloeë Simi: das vader droeg schoenen, zijn ladang lag dáár — the father was found and killed not far from the ladang.
When Schmidt’s brigades at Geumpang climbed a slope so steep that they crawled on hands and knees, a Menadoneesche sergeant aarzelde geen moment and placed himself before Schmidt as a shield. A moment later he fell, shot through the heart. Schmidt buried him in the bush; the Menadoneesche maréchaussée’s sang ‘t Hijgend hert der jacht ontkomen over the grave. Zentgraff photographs the olifantentransport tusschen Lam Meulo Tangsé en Geumpang — the only practical way to move heavy goods and wounded across the great forest.
Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
In August 1910 the bivouac commander of Geumpang, onderluitenant A. H. C. Roelofsen, “at last laid low the long-sought and notorious resistance leader in that district, Keudjroeën Leupoe” H. N. A. Swart’s letter to Schmidt of 26 December 1909 named the further quarry there: Keudjroeën Leupoe’s sons T. Adé and T. Ma’E, then Keutjhi’ Bén Bangkèh and Keutjhi’ Linto. The great Keutjhi’ Bén, for whom Geumpang had become too hot, withdrew to the Boven Moegò district and was killed in Pameu in September 1911.
See Also
- Colonne Schmidt campaign against the Tiriō Teungkoes (1910-1911)
- Tangsé
- Goenoeng Alimon
- Peuët Sagoë
- Kroeëng Seukoeleh
- Teungkoe Sjech Saman di Tiri
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Transport-olifanten (Aceh)
- Lam-toeulo
- Keumala
- Keumala incident
- Vogelensang
- Tangsé- en Geumpanggebied actie
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 1910
- 1911
- 1913
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Atjeh
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Bivak 3 km sideways from the main road (transversal road). Connected by a cable bridge (completed 1931) over the confluence of Kroečng Tangsé and Kroečng Geumpang. Receiving end of the transversal road from MeulabohPlace between which andTangsé elephant transport of columns recently took place.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 51, 61, 289.
Source
- Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “De colonne Schmidt.”
- Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), chapter Atjeh’s Transport-Olifanten and the chapter on den zieleherder.
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter XI, XIV.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 51, 61, 289.