The bandjir at Penajoeng of 4 December 4 December 1874 was a flood event on the Atjeh River that threatened the two light trestle bridges thrown across the river at Pakan Atjeh and at Penajoeng, and very nearly cost the life of Tweede-Luitenant C. J. Snijders, who was sent to save the Penajoeng bridge. Snijders, unable to swim, was wading back through chest-deep flood water with three native mineurs when a cross-current seized him at a point where he stood armpit-deep; he would have drowned had not his companions held out a stick by which he regained his footing.
Context
In the first days of December 1874 a bandjir — a sudden flood of the Atjeh River — threatened the two light trestle bridges (lichte jukbruggen) that had been thrown across the river at Pakan Atjeh and, further downstream, at Penajoeng. By preventing driftwood, tree-trunks, and creepers from collecting against the trestles, the Pakan Atjeh bridge was saved. The Penajoeng bridge was in greater danger. On 4 December 4 December Snijders was ordered to proceed there and act according to circumstances.
The Rescue and the Loss of the Bridge
The whole country was under water; unable to swim, Snijders took three native mineurs who could, and let himself be guided by them, wading “over het ongebaande pad tot de borst door het water” for half an hour until Penajoeng was reached. He arrived just in time to see the surviving section of the bridge torn away by the flood. There was nothing for it but to return to Kota Radja unavailing.
On the return march, at a point where Snijders stood armpit-deep in the water, a cross-current seized him and he would have drowned had not his companions held out a stick by which he regained his footing. The biographer Van den Berg remarks, with dry humour: “Deze eenvoudige inlanders kunnen bezwaarlijk hebben beseft den omvang van den dienst, welken zij later bleken daarmede aan het Vaderland te hebben bewezen!” — the joke being that had Snijders drowned in December 1874, the Netherlands would not have had its Opperbevelhebber van Land- en Zeemacht in August 1914.
Significance
The Penajoeng bandjir is a small but vividly recorded episode of the Atjeh-oorlog that illustrates the environmental hazards — flood, swamp, and poor communications — that conditioned Dutch engineer operations around Kota Radja. It also preserves one of the very few recorded instances of native engineer personnel saving the life of a Dutch officer in the field.
See Also
- Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
- Penajoeng
- Acheh River
- Bandjir
- Kroeng Daroe
- Bataillon Mineurs en Sappeurs
- Koeta Radja
- Aceh War
- 1874
Source
D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 27–28. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.