Lampoe Oek was an enemy fortified stelling east of the Kraton on the Atjeh-rivier, built by the Atjehneezen in the months after the fall of the Kraton while the Dutch did nothing, and the site of a serious Dutch échec on 16 April 1874 in the battle of Lampoe Oek. The stelling was finally destroyed by artillery on 18 September 1874 in the destruction of the Lampoe Oek fortification, and the site was later occupied by a Dutch post known as the nipa-benteng (nipa-palm fort).
The April échec
Borel notes that Lampoe Oek had not existed at the time of the Bital and Ketapang Doewa expeditions in February 1874; it was built between 12 February and 16 April while the Dutch stood idle. On 16 April — exactly one year after the failure of the first expedition under Köhler — patrols under kapitein Bardok and 1ste luitenant Scheltus were heavily engaged near the new stelling, and Romswinckel was sent in with reinforcements. The attack was repulsed by “bijna onoverkomelijke terreinhindernisen” and “woedenden tegenstand.” Losses were “bijna 100 dooden en gewonden,” of whom five were vermist. Borel calls it “eene geweldig échec, dat veel van de vroeger behaalde voordeelen bedierf.” Van Swieten was “zeer verbolgen” and blamed Romswinckel entirely, refusing him a hearing.
Destruction and the nipa-benteng
On 18 September 1874, after 150 klapperbomen (coconut palms) had been felled — at a cost of nine wounded, including one officer — to clear the field of a new ooster-batterij, the 12 c.M. achterlaadkanon soon found the range and demolished the parapet, overthrowing the schanskorven (gabions). The Lampoe Oek stelling was abandoned in haste by the enemy. Borel’s verdict is caustic: “What had not been obtained earlier through fierce struggle costing heavy sacrifices was now achieved by a few cannon shots.” The site was then occupied by a Dutch post called the nipa-benteng, which the enemy attacked in a dawn overval on 1 February 1875 in retaliation for the conquest of Mandarsa Poeti; the garrison, on guard, easily foiled the attempt.
See Also
- Kraton of Atjeh
- Atjeh-rivier
- Majoor Romswinckel
- Battle of Lampoe Oek (16 April 1874)
- Destruction of the Lampoe Oek fortification (18 September 1874)
- Conquest of Mandarsa Poeti (28 January 1875)
- Achterlaadkanonnen van 12 c.M.
- Benteng
- Jan van Swieten
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 58–73, 75, 78, 85, 95, 114, 131, 188, 197, 248.