Berauw was the western part of Lemboe along the Pedir-dijk taken by the Dutch on 7 November 1874 in the conquest of Lemboe by overste Diepenbrock. With its main dike fortifications, Berauw was the strongest section of the Lemboe defences and the key to the southern end of the Pedir-dijk.
The western part of Lemboe
Borel describes Lemboe as a single kampong complex stretching along the Pedir-dijk from its southern bend at the Atjeh-rivier up to the marshy ground near the marine-benteng. Berauw was its western part, where the dike fortifications were strongest. The benteng (fortification) line of Berauw ran along the crest of the dike, with earthen parapets, bamboe-doeri (thorn-bamboo) entanglements, and a series of armed salients commanding the sawah (irrigated rice fields) to either side. The enemy had been fortifying Berauw and the rest of Lemboe continuously since the abandonment of the place by van Swieten after the battle of 25–26 December 1873 — almost a year of unopposed labour. The Berauw section was therefore, by November 1874, the most formidable single work on the right bank of the Atjeh-rivier.
The conquest
On 7 November 1874 overste Diepenbrock led two half-battalions and a field-artillery battery against Lemboe, attacking from Penajoeng and Langkroek across open sawah. Contrary to expectation, resistance was light — the enemy, weakened by months of bombardment and the loss of Langkroek on 28 September 1874, did not stand. The western part of Lemboe, called Berauw, with its main dike fortifications, fell. The Dutch lost Diepenbrock and about 20 men or coolies wounded, and one officer’s servant killed. Three posts were immediately built: the Lemboe-zuid rivier-benteng armed with an 8 c.M. rifled gun, the original Lemboe N.O. post (later relocated on 10 March 1875 opposite Pinang and renamed Nieuw Lemboe N.O.), and the Lemboe Oost intermediate post established on 12 March 1875. Berauw itself became part of the chain of right-bank posts of the stelling-Pel along the Pedir-dijk, completing the Dutch hold on the dike from K. R. Bedil at the river-mouth up to the bend at Lemboe.
See Also
- Lemboe
- Pedir-dijk
- Atjeh-rivier
- Langkroek
- Kota Radja Bedil
- Kolonel Diepenbrock
- Battle of Lemboe (25–26 December 1873)
- Conquest of Lemboe (7 November 1874)
- Conquest of Langkroek (28 September 1874)
- Jan van Swieten
- Stelling-Pel
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 200–202, 209–211, 262, 263.