Pedro-punt (Pedropunt, also Petro-punt) was the headland east of the kampong Gigieng on the north coast of Atjeh at which the second Aceh expedition under generaal van Swieten made its landing on 6 December 1873. Borel calls the choice “uitstekend bedacht en zeer goed uitgevoerd,” since the Atjehneezen had not expected a descent on that point and were found unprepared. From Pedro-punt the Dutch column marched victoriously along the strand until it reached the Atjeh-rivier and occupied Penajoeng as its base.
The landing
The selection of Pedro-punt reflected the Dutch desire to avoid the kind of frontal descent on the mouth of the Atjeh-rivier that had cost generaal Köhler so dear in the first expedition of April 1873. By landing east of the river mouth, at a point where the surf was manageable and the enemy absent, van Swieten secured a beachhead from which the column could advance along the strand — the Atjehneezen suffered “zware verliezen” in the running fight — until the right bank at Penajoeng was reached. The choice was the more praised because Verspijck had simultaneously proposed an alternative landing of the third brigade at the Kroeng Raba-baai on the west coast for a pincer movement, which van Swieten rejected.
Significance
Pedro-punt was the only unambiguous Dutch success of the opening weeks of the second expedition. Once the column had crossed to Penajoeng and the Mesigit came into view, the campaign bogged down into the costly storming of 6 January 1874 and the long bombardment of the Kraton. The kampong Gigieng, whose raja accepted the Dutch flag during the descent, became a minor Dutch ally; its lagoon later became a key enemy supply route through the Kroeng Tjoet and the Kwala Gigieng, which Engel finally closed in February 1876. Pedro-punt itself was not garrisoned after the advance moved on.
Nineteenth-Century Historiography & Campaign Analysis
Role in the Second Expedition
During the Second Aceh Expedition in December 1873 and January 1874, Pedro Punt served as a secondary landing site and geographical reference marker for naval squadrons of the Dutch East Indies Government.
In Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later (1876), the author compared the March of General J. van Swieten from Pedro Punt to Penajoeng with the later offensive movements of General J. L. J. H. Pel, noting that the marshy, intersected terrain behind Cape Pedro presented severe logistical obstacles for the Transport and Coolie System in Aceh.
Sources
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
See Also
- Generaal Verspijck
- J. L. J. H. Pel
- J. van Swieten
- Jan van Swieten
- Kroeng Raba-baai
- Kroeng Tjoet
- Kwala Gigieng
- Landing at Pedro-punt (6 December 1873)
- Penajoeng
- Radja van Gigieng
- Second Aceh Expedition (1873–1874)
- Transport and Coolie System in Aceh
- North Coast (of Acheh)
- Krueng Raya
- Lho Seumawe
- Great Acheh
- Pidie
- Pulo Breueh
Source
Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier, Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876, pp. 11-16.
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 12–13, 22–23, 82.