The ijzerdraadversperring — the wire entanglement, also gewapend ijzerdraad, armed iron wire — was the wire obstacle used around Dutch posts and fortified quarters in Atjeh, described in detail by P. H. R. Beuming.
At the permanent posts
Around the permanent posts of the geconcentreerde linie the entanglement consisted, in Beuming’s description, of in den grond geslagen paaltjes, die door ijzerdraad, op plusminus 1 d.M. van den grond aangebracht, verbonden waren — stakes driven into the ground connected by iron wire strung about a decimetre above the soil. Walking through such an obstacle was as good as impossible, and the whole was intended den post stormvrij te maken, to make the post storm-free. It was set outside the aloe bushes and thorny plants that surrounded the palisade.
At the forward posts
At the voorpostenbenting the wire formed the middle of three obstacles: before the palisade of coconut-palm trunks lay a four-metre-wide entanglement of gewapend ijzerdraad, and before that a barrier of bamboedoeri.
Elsewhere
The same obstacle was used to protect the fortified quarters of Koeta Radja in the crisis of 1896: after a breastwork and wooden fence had been erected at the weakest point of Nesoeh, daarna de geheele wijk omgeven door een zware versperring van gewapend ijzerdraad — the whole quarter was then surrounded by a heavy entanglement of armed iron wire. A horizontal entanglement likewise protected the siege battery thrown up at Lamdjamoe before the bombardment of Lampisang.
When the Acehnese occupied the abandoned Dutch post of Anak Galoeng they retained its wire: the surprise of 29 June 1896 found the obstacle still in good order and insuperable, forcing the attackers to open the gate from within.
Account in Hooijer’s De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897)
The ijzerdraadversperring — the standing iron-wire entanglement — was the standard passive obstacle of Dutch fortification in Groot-Atjeh, present at almost every post described in De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh.
Construction and placement
At Biloel the whole was surrounded by an earthen parapet with sod banquettes, and everything was secured against escalade door staand vlechtwerk van ijzerdraad. At Toengkoeb the square earthen wall was protected against a first rush by a standing entanglement at four metres’ distance from the wall, and the kitchen under a lean-to lay inside the wire but outside the wall, while the Chinese sutler’s hut lay outside the wire altogether — dus alles behalve verzekerd tegen een stoutmoedigen Atjehschen marodeur. At Tjot Rang the work was of the usual type: een verticale ijzerdraadversperring nog versterkt door een horizontale, encompassing the earthen ramparts and both bastions. At Lam Koenjit the outwork containing the kitchen was surrounded by wire. At Lam Soet the earthen rampart, one and a half metres thick and revetted with lying coconut trunks, was covered by wire and a dry ditch except on the river side. At Kroeng Gloempang the vertical entanglement ontbrak hier evenmin als elders — was no more absent here than elsewhere — and the kitchen was properly surrounded by wire although it lay outside the walls.
The model at Anagaloeng
Hooijer’s fullest praise was reserved for Anagaloeng: de staande ijzerdraadversperring om de rechtopgezette borstwering (parapet) ziet er zoo regelmatig uit, alsof zij fabriekswerk in plaats van soldatenwerk ware, en zou in tijden van nood minstens even nuttig kunnen blijken als een natte gracht — the standing wire entanglement around the upright parapet looked as regular as though it were factory work rather than soldiers’ work, and in time of need would prove at least as useful as a wet moat.
The Achehnese equivalent
Hooijer observed that the Achehnese bentengs achieved the same effect by botanical means: the broad girdle of bamboe doeri stools, with hundreds of whipping twigs set with hooked thorns, closed every approach beter dan de beste ijzerdraadversperring.
See Also
- Voorpostenbenting
- bamboedoeri
- Benting
- Nesoeh
- Surprise of Ana’ Galoeng (29 June 1896)
- Geconcentreerde linie
- Benteng
- Bamboe doeri
- Anagaloeng
- Tjot Rang
- Toengkoeb
- Lam Soet
Sources
Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911; uitgegeven ten bate van het te stichten Herstellingsoord voor Rijks-Ambtenaren). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br N 82-144
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.
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. 12, 22, 34, 49, 50.
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.