The completion of the geconcentreerde stelling (concentrated position) on 1 March 1885 marked the successful conclusion of the most ambitious strategic reorganization of the Dutch presence in Groot-Atjeh. By this date, the new line of fortifications was occupied, the external posts had been evacuated, and the communication network was in sufficient condition.
The Fortified Line
The new postenlinie (line of posts) surrounded Kota-Radja and Olehleh at an average distance of 4 to 5 palen (approximately 3–4 kilometers). The fortifications were of four types:
Type A: 150-man Infantry garrison, armed with 2 × 12cm breech-loading guns and 1 Coehoorn mortar Type B: 75-man Infantry garrison, armed with 2 × 12cm guns and Coehoorn mortar Type C: 50-man Infantry garrison, armed with 2 × 12cm guns and 1 Coehoorn mortar Type D: Elevated watchhouses without artillery, garrisoned by relief from adjacent 150-man posts, relieved every 24 hours
The Posts
The fortifications from west to east included:
- Kota-Pohama (75 men)
- Pakan-Kroeng-Tjoet (75 men)
- Lamjong (150 men)
- Boekit-Karang (50 men)
- Roempit (150 men)
- Tjot-Iri (50 men)
- Wachthuis (watchhouse) at Lingkar Van Lampermej
- Lampermej (150 men)
- Siroen (50 men)
- Lambaroe (150 men)
- Wachthuis at Lamsajoen
- Lamrong (75 men)
- Lampeneroet (75 men)
- Wachthuis at Lamara
- Ketapan-Doea (150 men)
- Blang (50 men)
- Lamdjamoe (150 men)
- Lamtih (50 men)
Posts 2, 3, 8, 10, and 15 existed previously but were completely rebuilt. Lampermej was relocated from the left to the right bank of the Atjeh-rivier.
Supporting Forces
As of August 1885, the Infantry garrison of Groot-Atjeh included:
- 2 Companies at Olehleh
- 2 complete and 2 half Battalions (12 companies) at Kota-Radja
- 1 Company at Lambaroe
Kota-Radja and Olehleh were armed with 9cm smooth-bore iron guns and 8cm drawn field and mountain guns, plus Coehoorn mortiers for self-defense. The fortress artillery consisted of 2 companies.
The garrison at Kota-Radja additionally included a Battery of Mountain Artillery, ½ Squadron Cavalry, and a detachment of Engineering troops.
Construction Details
All new posts were built semi-permanently. A heavy palissadeering (palisade), resistant to breech-loading rifle fire and composed of standing palisades or horizontal planks, surrounded the wooden buildings housing officers’ quarters, barracks, magazines, and other facilities. The palisade was surrounded by an iron-draadversperring (razor-wire entanglement) averaging 8 meters wide.
The form of all posts was that of a square redoute (redoubt) with two bastions at the ends of the diagonal approximately indicating the direction of the line. Watchhouses consisted of a high palisade of horizontal beams in the shape of a rectangle with two small bastion-form extensions; they had a floor level so that fire could be directed over the palisade, with loopholes in the lower section.
Infrastructure
A ceintuurtram (girdle tramway) with two radial lines to Kota-Radja connecting to the line to Olehleh provided internal transportation. The gauge was 75cm with locomotives of approximately 100 tons tractive power.
The ceintuurbaan (girdle line) connected Lamjong, Boekit-Karang, Roempit, Tjot-Iri, Lampermej, Lambaroe, Lamrong, Lampeneroet, Ketapan-Doea, Blang, and Lamdjamoe. Radial lines ran from Kota-Radja to Lambaroe and Ketapan-Doea.
By March 1885, both radial lines and the ceintuurbaan from Lamdjamoe to the river at Lampermej were completed. The bridge over the Atjeh-rivier was nearly finished, and the earthworks to Lamjong were entirely ready.
Remaining Tasks
Much remained to complete the position as designed:
- Old fortifications incorporated into the new line required rebuilding
- Buildings in newly established posts and the southern section of the ceintuurtramway still needed finishing
- The tram line from Lambaroe to Lamjong and various radial roads for normal transport still needed construction
- Clearing operations within 1000 meters of the line continued at some points
Assessment
As the position stood on 1 March 1885, it formed a complete whole and possessed in all respects the defensive strength that had been set as a requirement during planning. The posts provided excellent shelter, and the roads leading to them were safe. The position as a whole, as well as each post separately, was proof against all attacks by the indigenous enemy.
Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)
Verstege, writing when it was a fortnight short of a full year since the measure’s execution, fills in the stadia: the new posts of Kota Pohama and Roempit were occupied by the Dutch troops on 25 and 29 September 1884, and the Koloniaal Verslag itself records “dat reeds vóór het voltooien der nieuwe postenketen een aanvang werd gemaakt met de ontruiming der daarbuiten gelegen versterkingen” (“that already before the completion of the new chain of posts a start was made with the evacuation of the fortifications outside it”) — to show the enemy still more clearly, Verstege comments, what haste the Dutch had with their “vertrekking op groote schaal” (“retreat on a grand scale”, Rutgers van Rozenburg’s sarcastic name). Between 5 and 14 January 1885 were evacuated Djerir, Indrapoerie, Gle Kambing, Long Lemoh, Tjot Basetoel, Samagani, Lepong Ara and Pantej Karang — nearly a month and a half before the clearing of the free strip was finished; between 10 and 20 January the evacuation of the posts south of Anak Galoeng cost 4 dead and 30 wounded, the troops having to proceed offensively on 15 and 20 January to drive the enemy out of his entrenchments and destroy them. The clearing of the strip alone cost, from 9 to 26 February, 3 dead and 15 wounded (of whom 2 officers), and from 12 to 31 March 8 killed (of whom 1 officer) and 25 wounded (of whom 1 officer). Finally between 12 and 28 February Boekit Seboen, Boekit Lampaja, Kroeng Raba, Toengkoep, Anak Galoeng with Boekloe, Senelop, Montassik and Pakan Badak were evacuated in succession; “al onze troepen begaven zich toen binnen de nieuwe postenlinie, en hiermede was de concentratie voltooid” (“all our troops then went inside the new line of posts, and with this the concentration was completed”) — with Tjot-Goe, outside the line, only provisionally retained until the tram from Ketapang Doewa to Lambaroe was ready. The official line then held eighteen posts over 6,700 hectares, needed about 4,500 men, was defended, on paper, by the 1000-metre free strip, the belt tramway, telephone and plans for electric lighting. The government report of 4 March 1885 announced that the concentration had been accomplished in the most favourable way. About what the troops themselves felt, the report was silent: “Het kon niet anders, doch met tranen in de oogen van woede en spijt verlieten zij de bentings, die ze zoolang met roem hadden verdedigd en waaruit ze zoo dikwijls den vijand hadden bestookt, en die zij toen, somtijds met huisraad en al aan de vlammen moesten prijsgeven, om ze niet in handen van den vijand te laten” (“It could not be otherwise, but with tears in the eyes of rage and grief they left the bentings which they had so long defended with honour and from which they had so often attacked the enemy, and which they now sometimes had to give up to the flames with their household goods and all, so as not to leave them in the hands of the enemy”) — such was the picture, writes Verstege, which various persons on Atjeh gave of the retreat, whose veterans had made these same marches with Pel and Van der Heijden (and for what followed from the first week onwards, see Guerilla raids inside the concentration line (1885)).
See Also
- Concentration Decision of August 1884
- Colonel H. Demmeni
- Kota-Radja
- Olehleh
- Dutch Military Governance in Aceh
- Groot-Atjeh
Source
De Geconcentreerde Stelling in Groot-Atjeh, ‘s-Gravenhage: De Gebroeders Van Cleef, 1885, pp. 18–28.
Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 81-84. OCR: DLP-158.