Kroeng Gloempang

Kroeng Gloempang — written in Dutch as also Lam Gloempang; the versterking of Tjot Gloempang in the middle of the large sawah of Lam-Krak is a related but distinct feature — was a Dutch outpost on the border of the XXVI Moekims and the XXII Moekims, constructed specifically to protect the III Moekims Daroe (and especially the III Moekims Ateuh) against incursions from Montassik. As described in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, Kroeng Gloempang was garrisoned in 1895 by 3 officers, 60 infantry, 10 artilleristen, and 1 European hospital attendant, was subjected to a shelling and arson attempt on 13 April 1896, was successfully re-supplied on 16 April 1896, was lifted on 20 April 1896, and was the objective of the Noordercolonne in the three-column operation of 21 April 1896. The Tjot Gloempang versterking in the middle of the large sawah of Lam-Krak — recognisable by a tree of the same name — was a target of the tuchtiging of 9–10 June 1896.

Description and Location

Kroeng Gloempang lay on the border of the XXVI Moekims and the XXII Moekims, and was positioned specifically to protect the III Moekims Daroe (and especially the III Moekims Ateuh) against incursions from Montassik. The garrison in 1895 consisted of 3 officers, 60 infantry, 10 artilleristen, and 1 European hospital attendant. The post was linked by road to Tjot Rang and Toengkoeb in the eastern buitenlinie. The Tjot Gloempang a separate but related feature stood in the middle of the large sawah of Lam-Krak, recognisable by a tree of the same name, and was a target of the tuchtiging of 9–10 June 1896. The post was a crossroads and a meeting-point for various Dutch columns.

Historical Background

Kroeng Gloempang had been constructed as part of the buitenlinie to protect the III Moekims Daroe (and especially the III Moekims Ateuh) against incursions from Montassik, and to dominate the kruispunt of the eastern roads. The post was the eastern anchor of the buitenlinie between the XXVI Moekims and the XXII Moekims. After 1893 the post served as a base for operations against the Lamkrak country. The Tjot Gloempang versterking in the middle of the large sawah of Lam-Krak was a separate Achehnese fortification that had long defied Dutch authority.

Role in the 1896 Operations

Kroeng Gloempang was one of the eastern buitenposten besieged in the spring of 1896. On 13 April 1896 the post was subjected to a shelling and arson attempt by hostile benden. On 14 April 1896 the deserter Sergeant Carli sent a letter from the enemy side to Kroeng Gloempang on behalf of Toekoe Brahim der V Moekims Montassik, demanding the post be handed over in exchange for free retreat and retention of weapons. On 16 April 1896 Kroeng Gloempang was successfully re-supplied; Tjot Rang was not. On 20 April 1896 Kroeng Gloempang, Tjot Rang, and Toengkoeb were lifted by order of the Regeeringscommissaris Vetter. On 21 April 1896 a three-column operation moved to free the beleaguered garrisons; the Noordercolonne from Tjot Iri was the column assigned to Kroeng Gloempang, advancing through Lam Gloempang (where heavy fighting occurred), Tjap Tanah, Na Hatan, and Lam Hasan. On 9 June–10 June 1896 the tuchtiging of the Lamkrak Moekims targeted the Tjot Gloempang versterking in the middle of the large sawah of Lam-Krak. On 17 June 1896 Kroeng Gloempang served as a meeting-point for the tuchtiging of the V Moekims Montassik.

Significance

Kroeng Gloempang was the principal Dutch buitenpost on the border between the XXVI Moekims and the XXII Moekims, and the eastern anchor of the buitenlinie in this sector. Its successful approviandeering on 16 April 1896 — in contrast to the failed attempt at Tjot Rang — was a small operational success in an otherwise disastrous month. The Tjot Gloempang versterking in the Lam-Krak sawah was a persistent Achehnese strongpoint that was finally targeted by the tuchtiging of 9–10 June 1896.

Account in Hooijer’s De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897)

Kroeng Gloempang was a Dutch temporary fortification erected between Tjot Rang and Anagaloeng in Groot-Atjeh to support Toekoe Djohan against the renewed activity of the Moslemin, garrisoned by a company of infantry and a detachment of fortress artillery, and the base from which the attack on Senelop was launched on 12 March 1894.

Foundation

When it became clear that the Moslemin still needed a lesson — the population of the southern XXVI Moekims having fled, Toekoe Moesa Anaq Batee having attacked the passer-goers between Lambarih and Anagaloeng, and the post on Boekit Daroe being continuously shelled — the indispensable Toekoe Djohan was summoned. To support him the Dutch erected a temporary fortification at Kroeng Gloempang between Tjot Rang and Anagaloeng, occupied by a company of infantry and a detachment of fortress artillery.

Description

The plate showed the rear of the long and narrow benteng, lying on a swelling of the ground opposite a still higher part. It possessed two bastions armed with breech-loading pieces, and beneath the flag a place had been prepared for a mitrailleur which, however, never appeared there. Before the entrance an earthen wall had been thrown up, and the parapet, which at first consisted of sandbags, was later raised of sods. The vertical ijzerdraadversperring was no more absent here than elsewhere. The soldiers’ quarters were separated from the rampart-walk by a narrow path, so that one could fire a shot at the enemy almost from one’s straw mattress. Only the kitchen, properly surrounded by wire, lay outside the walls.

Because the hollow road leading to the stronghold ran along the plateau, a trench was dug so that the relief could enter the post covered against enemy fire while climbing to the entrance — above which was posted the notice Welkom in de restauratie van volkspijs, “Welcome to the restaurant of people’s food,” volkspijs being the soldier’s name for a granaatkartets, a case-shot shell.

Under fire

One grew accustomed to being shot at. At about two in the afternoon het lieve leventje began, when the Moslemin had taken their midday nap and the sun no longer stung so fiercely. At night they usually kept quiet, but in the morning, when work was being done on the parapet, there was a considerable amount of firing. Especially from beneath the tall waringin (banyan) tree rising in the distance behind the flagstaff, bullets flew across the 450 metres of sawah (wet rice-field) towards the fortification.

The interior and the garrison

Hooijer read the spirit of the garrison from the soldiers’ facetiousness recorded in the plate of the interior. The inscription Japan 5 gulden een flesch portwijn referred to the establishment of some Japanese women settled at Oleh-leh. The name Heerengracht, at the end of the long passage between the barracks, indicated that the officers were quartered there — Kapitein Van der Wedden recognisable on the right and luitenant Schadée on the left. The soldiers’ faces, Hooijer wrote, looked cheerful rather than anxious, although now and then a bullet flew through the roofs of their huts.

He described the types: two Javanese in the foreground wearing shoes, though these were not part of their equipment but could hardly be done without in the heavily overgrown terrain; behind them the tall young European soldier with his bold face and the smaller trooper behind him; further off two non-commissioned officers, recognisable also by the more intelligent expression of their faces; and further still a couple of sturdy Dutch lads without their uniform coats for the heat. Among the Europeans the most typical was the soldier sitting opposite them with his muddied gaiters, black moustache and impudent face; among the natives, the man at the left of the foreground who had made himself comfortable in a blue check shirt and short working trousers.

These, Hooijer concluded, were the types of the men who upheld the Dutch flag in Atjeh as in all the Indies: Zij met hun 30 à 40 duizend bewaren de rust onder de millioenen onderdanen, die onze jonge Koningin kan tellen in haar Indisch rijk. He ended the passage: Eere aan hen!

The advance on Senelop

With Kroeng Gloempang at his back and supported by Dutch artillery, Toekoe Djohan was able on 12 March 1894 to advance against Senelop.

Sources

ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 22–23, 26, 30, 39, 48, 50, 57, 75–76, 82–83, 92–93, 119, 121–135, 244, 251, 292, 295, 297–298, 301–302, 307–308, 311, 318, 326, 542.

De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 50-54.

Acknowledgement of sources. This article is a single consolidated account combining the material previously held in this entry with the account given in De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897) by G. B. Hooijer. Dutch terminology has been rendered in English, the original Dutch being retained only in direct quotations and in bibliographic citations.

tags	place, dutch, achehnese, colonial, military, aceh-war, military-post, benteng, xxii-moekims, groot-atjeh
aliases	Lam Gloempang, Tjot Gloempang, Kroong Gloempang, Kroeng Glocmpang, the temporary fortification of Kroeng Gloempang

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