The Pedir-dijk — conceived as a defensive line — was the dike along the right (west) bank of the Atjeh-rivier from Lemboe to Kota Radja Bedil, which Borel calls the “aangewezen verdedigingslijn der Atjeh-rivier” (the designated defensive line of the Atjeh-rivier). The dike served both as a hydraulic work (to hold floodwater) and as a military line (a raised causeway commanding the river and the surrounding sawah), and its occupation or abandonment was, in Borel’s account, a recurring strategic indicator of the conduct of the war.
The Dike as Hydraulic and Military Work
The Pedir-dijk was, in Borel’s account, a dike along the right (west) bank of the Atjeh-rivier from Lemboe to K. Radja Bedil. The dike served both as a hydraulic work — to hold floodwater and to regulate the level of the Atjeh-rivier — and as a military line: a raised causeway that commanded the river and the surrounding sawah, and that could be fortified with bentengs at intervals. The dike ran from Lemboe at its southern end — “the key” to the dike — through the kampong Langkroek in the middle, to Kota Radja Bedil at its northern end, where the dike commanded the river mouth. The dike was, in effect, the natural defensive line of the Atjeh-rivier: a continuous raised position from which the river and the sawah could be dominated, and from which the enemy’s access to the river could be denied. Borel calls it the “aangewezen verdedigingslijn der Atjeh-rivier” — the designated defensive line of the Atjeh-rivier.
The Recurring Indicator
The occupation or abandonment of the Pedir-dijk was, in Borel’s account, a recurring strategic indicator of the conduct of the war. The dike was briefly in Dutch hands at Lemboe on 25–26 December 1873, but “onbegrijpelijk genoeg” van Swieten ordered Lemboe immediately abandoned — the first of the strategic errors that Borel returns to throughout the book. The dike was reoccupied at Langkroek on 28 September 1874 and at Lemboe on 7 November 1874; K. Radja Bedil was reoccupied by the Dutch on 28 June 1874 after the battle of Garouw. the Lamara post east of the Marine-benteng, beyond the dike, was harassed by lilla fire from the kampong Langkroek before the conquest of Langkroek. The dike was thus a recurring focus of the campaigning of 1874: each section had to be conquered separately, at high cost, because van Swieten had abandoned the whole line in December 1873.
The Strategic Significance
The strategic significance of the Pedir-dijk was, in Borel’s account, that it was the natural defensive line of the Atjeh-rivier — the line that the Dutch should have held from the fall of the Kraton onwards, and that they had to re-conquer section by section in 1874. The dike’s abandonment by van Swieten in December 1873 was, in Borel’s account, the original error from which the prolonged campaigning of 1874 flowed. The dike’s reoccupation by Pel in the course of 1874 was, conversely, the principal strategic achievement of the year: with the dike in Dutch hands, the Atjeh-rivier was secured, the line of communication between K. Radja and the sea was protected, and the enemy’s access to the river was denied. The dike was, however, only one element of the larger stelling-Pel that Pel completed in May 1875: the stelling-Pel extended the line of defence from the dike westward over Longbatta Mesigit to the sea-strand at Oeleh Leh. The Pedir-dijk was thus, in Borel’s account, both the natural defensive line of the Atjeh-rivier and the nucleus of the larger stelling-Pel — the line that should have been held from the fall of the Kraton, and that was finally completed only in May 1875.
See Also
- Pedir-dijk
- Lemboe
- Langkroek
- Kota Radja Bedil
- Lamara
- Lilla
- Stelling-Pel
- Generaal Pel
- Jan van Swieten
- Battle of Lemboe (25–26 December 1873)
- Conquest of Langkroek (28 September 1874)
- Conquest of Lemboe (7 November 1874)
- Battle of Garouw (28 June 1874)
- 1874
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 14, 20, 24, 30, 46, 62–66, 73, 75, 92, 95, 121, 125, 142, 152, 162, 164–165, 200–201, 209, 211.