Lamjoeng was the bivouac site between Tongah and Silang on the far side of the Kroeng Tjoet where generaal Pel died suddenly in the night of 24 February 1876 of a slagaderbreuk (ruptured artery), interrupting his great winter offensive and the secret afsluitingslinie he had planned from the Kroeng Raba mouth to the Kroeng Raya mouth. Borel calls the loss “eene ware nationale ramp” — a true national disaster.
The bivouac
On 23 February 1876 Pel’s colonne, marching northward from Pango via Lamkapang, Loeëng Iek, Poeklat and Oeleh Karang to the abandoned kampong Pinang and on through the Langgoegoeb, reached Tongah on the linker-oever of the Kroeng Tjoet. The colonne crossed to the far side of the river, and the bivouac was opgeslagen at Lamjoeng between Tongah and Silang. The march had been a continuous forward movement against an enemy who could no longer stand in the field; each enemy stelling had been found abandoned as the Dutch approached. Lamjoeng was therefore, in tactical terms, an unopposed bivouac — a temporary halt on the way to the Kroeng Raya mouth and the completion of the afsluitingslinie. Lt.-kol. Engel had arrived at Lamjoeng with the 9de bataljon to versterk the ageerende troepen.
Pel’s death
In the night of 24 February 1876 Pel suddenly overleed at the gevolgen of a slagaderbreuk (ruptured artery). Borel’s elegy is among the most quoted passages of the book: “Het vaderland verloor in hem een zijder trouwste, ijverigste en meest bekwame dienaren; dat verlies was in de gegeven omstandigheden bijna onherstelbaar en kon eene ware nationale ramp genoemd worden.” Pel’s plan to fully isolate Atjeh from the sea — the great linie from the mouth of the Kroeng Raba on the west coast to the mouth of the Kroeng Raya on the north coast — remained geheim. He had not communicated it even to his chef van den staf, and nothing about it was found in his archive after his death. Lt.-kol. Engel assumed tijdelijk oppergezag as oudste hoofdofficier, immediately took the required measures, and continued the march via Tjade to Kwala Gigieng, bereikt on 26 February 1876. Posts were opgericht at Kwala Gigieng and on the island of Kota Pohama in the lagune, sealing the mouth of the Kroeng Tjoet. But the larger afsluitingslinie was never completed: Wiggers van Kerchem on 10 March 1876 adopted the afwachtende houding and the stelling K. Raba–Kwala Gigieng remained “nagenoeg onveranderd” through Borel’s writing in 1878.
See Also
- Kroeng Tjoet
- Tongah
- Kwala Gigieng
- Kroeng Raba
- Kroeng Raya
- Luitenant-kolonel Engel
- Generaal Pel
- Generaal Wiggers van Kerchem
- Death of Generaal Pel (24 February 1876)
- Pel’s offensive against the VI, IV and IX Moekims (1875–1876)
- Pel’s Buitenzorg planning session (1875)
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 327–329, 336–344.