Biloel

Biloel was a Dutch temporary military post established in the XXV Moekims of Groot-Atjeh during the 1890s, in succession to the abandoned post of Boekit Daroe — a site that had been aanhoudend beschoten (continuously bombarded) and that had accordingly been abandoned for the more defensible site of Biloel. The post at Biloel was one of the four Dutch temporary posts — together with Anagaloeng, Senelop and Lamkoenjit — that were besieged by the forces of Toekoe Oemar after his defection from the Dutch alliance in March 1896, and its relief on 9 April 9 April 1896 was one of the principal engagements of the spring 1896 crisis. As described in Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96, Biloel was a Dutch outpost in the sagi of the XXV Moekims, near the mountains on the border of the XXII Moekims, constructed to protect the IX Moekims against incursions from the Lamkrak, Kroeng Mak, Loetoe, and Lam Lheue of the VII Moekims Baid. Biloel was besieged and isolated from 29 March to 8 April 1896 in the immediate aftermath of the defection of Teuku Umar, was reinforced on 8 April with 5 officers and 136 men of the 3e Bataljon, was evacuated and burned on 12 April 1896, and thereafter served as the gathering point for the 1e colonne of the tuchtiging of the Lamkrak Moekims of 9–10 June 1896.

Note on the date of the relief. The Atjeh-Album of 1896 records the relief of Biloel as 9 April 1896 under Kolonel Stemfoort; Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 records the relief as 8 April 1896 under Kolonel Stemfoort with reinforcement by 5 officers and 136 men of the 3e Bataljon. The discrepancy is one day; both sources agree on the principal facts of the siege, relief, and subsequent evacuation and burning on 12 April 1896.

The replacement of Boekit Daroe

The Atjeh-Album of 1896 records that Biloel was established as the replacement for Boekit Daroe — a post that had been aanhoudend beschoten (continuously bombarded) by Atjehnese fire, and that had accordingly been abandoned in favour of the more defensible site of Biloel. The album’s reference identifies the aanhoudend beschoten condition of Boekit Daroe as one of the principal operational pressures of the late concentratie period — and the establishment of Biloel as the Dutch response. A versterking (fortification) was erected at Biloel, of which the album preserves an illustration.

The siege of March-April 1896

The Atjeh-Album records that, after Toekoe Oemar’s defection in March 1896, the post at Biloel — together with the posts at Anagaloeng, Senelop and Lamkoenjit — was besieged by the forces of the defected warlord. The album’s narrative of the siege records that the garrison at Biloel, like that at the other temporary posts, had to hold its ground for weeks against the Atjehnese fire, with no communication possible with the geconcentreerde linie. The besieged garrison could only listen to the vuren — the firing — of the relief expeditions in the distance, and judge from the sound whether the relieving force was a strong one — that is, whether reinforcements from Java had arrived.

The relief of 9 April 1896 (Atjeh-Album account)

The Atjeh-Album records that the post at Biloel was relieved on 9 April 1896 by a column of two battalions under the command of Kolonel Stemfoort. The relief was, however, costly: Captain Geluk and seven subordinates were killed, and Lieutenants ten Seldam and Hockstein were wounded together with 23 subordinates. After the relief, the post at Biloel — together with that at Lamkoenjit — was geslecht (dismantled), and the garrison was withdrawn to the geconcenteerde linie.

The role of the post in the 1896 crisis (Atjeh-Album account)

The Atjeh-Album records that the post at Biloel — like that at Lamkoenjit — was one of the four Dutch temporary posts whose siege defined the spring 1896 crisis. The album’s narrative of the relief expeditions of April 1896 records that the column that relieved Biloel and Lamkoenjit then turned eastward to relieve Anagaloeng — a movement that required the dismantling of Biloel and Lamkoenjit before the column could proceed.

Description and Location (ATJEH ‘96 account)

Biloel lay in the sagi of the XXV Moekims near the foot of the gebergte (mountain range), on the road that ran from the XXII Moekims along the foot of the mountains in a south-east direction. The post was positioned to protect the IX Moekims (especially the mukims of Oleh Soesoe and Lamkoenjit) against incursions from the Lamkrak, Kroeng Mak, Loetoe, and Lam Lheue of the VII Moekims Baid. The garrison in 1895 consisted of 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 1 medical officer, 2 hospital attendants, 102 infantry, and 1 officer and 11 men of the vestingartillerie (fortress artillery). The post was linked to Lamkoenjit and Tjot Goeë by the road that formed the southern chain of the buitenlinie. An old road ran from Biloel to Boekit Daroe.

Historical Background (ATJEH ‘96 account)

Biloel had been constructed as part of the buitenlinie to dominate the southern approaches to the IX Moekims and to serve as the south-western anchor of the Dutch outer line against the Lamkrak country. The post had been the scene of the last Dutch operation in the Lamkrak before 1896: the 1878 campaign of Generaal van der Heiden, who built a road from Sibreh to Biloel. After 1893 the post was the base from which Teuku Umar’s legioen (auxiliary legion) was supposed to operate against the Lamkrak. From 27 March 1896 the garrison was commanded by Kapitein Van der Wedden.

Role in the 1896 Operations (ATJEH ‘96 account)

Biloel was one of the two principal Dutch posts besieged in the immediate aftermath of the defection of 29 March 1896. From 29 March to 8 April 1896 the post was isolated and besieged by hostile benden (war-bands); on 30 March 1896 a reconnaissance from Biloel toward Tjot Goeë led to the wounding of 1e luit. Van Zijdveld and fusilier Stoppelenburg. On 8 April 1896 a relief column under Kolonel Stemfoort fought through to Biloel from Lampeneroet, losing Kapitein Geluk (killed in action near the Masdjid Oleh-Soesoeh) and reinforcing the garrison with 5 officers and 136 men of the 3e Bataljon. On 12 April 1896 Biloel was evacuated and burned together with Lamkoenjit by order of the Regeeringscommissaris Vetter, and the garrison was withdrawn to the Geconcenteerde Linie (Concentrated Line). On 9 June 1896 Biloel became the gathering point for the 1e colonne of the tuchtiging of the Lamkrak Moekims, under luit.-kol. Veeren of the 9e Bataljon. On 20 June 1896 the area around Biloel was patrolled by Dutch troops in the course of the four-column show-of-force. On 31 May 1896 the old Achehnese versterking of Tjot Paklat east of Tjot Iri was found occupied by approximately 30 Pedireezen.

Significance

Biloel’s significance in the documentary record of the Atjeh-oorlog is as one of the four Dutch temporary posts besieged in the spring 1896 crisis, and as the post whose relief on 9 April 1896 cost the life of Captain Geluk. The post’s establishment as the replacement for the continuously-bombarded Boekit Daroe illustrates the way in which the Dutch defensive perimeter was incrementally adjusted in response to Atjehnese pressure, and its dismantling after the relief illustrates the way in which the temporary posts were geslecht once their relief had been accomplished. Kruisheer’s ATJEH ‘96 adds that Biloel was the south-western anchor of the buitenlinie and the principal Dutch outpost against the Lamkrak country. Its siege and evacuation in April 1896 marked the effective end of the outer-line policy, and its reoccupation as the base of the tuchtiging of 9–10 June 1896 symbolised the Dutch shift from passive defence to active chastisement of the hostile mukims.

Account from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh (1911)

P. H. R. Beuming devotes the second sketch of Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh to Biloel, which he describes as een der meest beschoten voorposten — one of the most heavily shot-at forward posts — and reproduces a photograph of it in which a cross marks the sentry-box that was the particular target of the enemy marksmen.

Situation and construction

Beuming places the post in the neighbourhood of Lamkoenjit and Tjot Goé, east of the hill called the Boekit Terin; to the west it bordered the extensive territory of Lamkrak, and its front looked out on the mountain chain Batoe Mengoera. The garrison consisted of about 150 bayonets under the command of a captain. Like the other forward posts, Biloel was built wholly of bamboo and roofed with atap, on the pattern described at Voorpostenbenting.

Foundation and the quiet period

Beuming records that the outer posts Biloel and Lamkoenjit were established in May and July 1894 respectively, to hold in check, together with the already existing post Tjot Goé, the hostile VI Moekims and IV Moekims in the Lamkraksche. There followed a period of quiet: Het scheen wel, of de Atjeher den onzaligen krijg moede was — it seemed as if the Acehnese were weary of the ill-starred war. The sawah’s were cultivated again and gradually the men returned to the kampongs to devote themselves to domestic occupations. That period of rest, under the alliance with Toekoe Oemar, was however of short duration.

The bombardment of 1895–1896

At the end of 1895 the bands of Panglima Polim and of the Sultan’s party were acting everywhere with boldness and had marked out the forward posts in particular; since orders had been given from above to operate as little as possible outside the bentings, the Acehnese marksmen had free play, and Biloel above all had to suffer.

Notwithstanding the privations, the spirit among the men was excellent: they troubled themselves very little about the continual firing and no longer even noticed the bullets whistling through the reed roofing. Yet victims fell often, by day or at night as the men lay on the baleh-baleh. When the firing became too severe a grenade was sent over, after which it was quiet for a time before the marksmen returned.

Beuming preserves the incident of the post’s cook, whose great cooking-kettle was holed by an enemy bullet while he was preparing pea soup with salt pork — snert van de bovenste plank — and who, after shaking his ladle in impotent rage at the distant marksman, drove a wooden plug into the hole so that the men had their soup at midday after all.

The sharpshooter

The post gave its name to the episode of the sharpshooter of Biloel, the unnamed Acehnese marksman who from a concealed trench in the burnt-off alang-alang behind a bamboo thicket picked off the sentries at daybreak, whom the Europeans supposed to be a deserted European fusilier and the native fusiliers took for an Orang-Setan, and who was killed at dawn by an ambush of a European sergeant and five fusiliers. After his death the benting continued to be shot at, but the Acehnese no longer ventured so near the post.

The relief and the razing of 1896

In the crisis of 1896 Biloel was one of the enclosed forward posts for whose fate anxiety prevailed, there being no troops available to relieve them. On 8 April 1896, the day after the arrival of the Java troops with General Vetter, an excursion of the 3e, 14e and two companies of the 9e Bataljon with mountain artillery, engineers and two platoons of cavalry succeeded under heavy fire in reaching Biloel and Lamkoenjit. The garrison of Lamkoenjit was reinforced; but on news that Toekoe Oemar was advancing with 4,000 men the commanding officer took up the retreat, Biloel kon dus niet meer worden versterkt. The march cost the life of Captain F. P. A. Geluk and three European and four native fusiliers, with the 1st lieutenants J. H. Hoeksteijn and R. ten Seldam and twenty-three fusiliers wounded.

Before the Beradin operation of 23–25 May 1896, Biloel was among the former forward posts — with Sennelop, Lamsoet, Anak Galoeng, Lambarih, Lamkoenjit, Kroeng Gloempang, Tjot Rang and Toengkoep — that were razed after their garrisons had been relieved, an operation in which further losses were sustained.

Nineteenth-Century Historiography & Campaign Analysis

Role in Coastal Defense

As noted in historical dispatches in Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later (1876), Biloel formed part of the secondary defensive network protecting coastal roadsteads around Aceh Proper.

During the Second Aceh Expedition in 1873 and 1874, naval patrols of the Dutch East Indies Government monitored Biloel to prevent indigenous vessels from running munitions ashore to support forces at Kraton of Aceh.

Account in Hooijer’s De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh (1897)

Biloel was a Dutch military post in the IX Moekims of Groot-Atjeh, erected in the night of 20 May–21 May 1894 around an old Messigit at the foot of the steep southern mountains of the Atjeh valley, and invested by the enemy from the afternoon of 29 March 1896 until its relief and evacuation in April 1896.

Foundation

Hooijer recorded that Biloel was raised in the night of 20 May to 21 May 1894 at the request of Toekoe Nja Mohammad, head of the IX Moekims. He and Toekoe Hoessin Longbattah, whose mother lived at the place, showed the Dutch column the way there. The garrison of Boekit Daroe, west of Tjot Goeë, was transferred to Biloel on the same date, and the road between Tjot Goeë and Biloel was constructed in consequence.

Description

The fortification was built around the old Messigit, whose roof had been burnt and renewed; within its white wall the officers’ quarters were established. Two field-pieces and a mitrailleur stood in battery in the two bastions. Outside the walls to the left lay the kitchen; to the right, the bathing-place with the latrine, for which, in default of anything better, large cooking-kettles served. In the tree rising behind the buildings — which were open on the outer side — an observation post was made for the artillery officer, from which he could follow the effect of his shots on the small enemy fortifications constructed in the mountains. The whole was surrounded by an earthen parapet with sod banquettes and protected against escalade by a standing ijzerdraadversperring. Behind the bench where the officers sat talking, an earthen wall had been thrown up to catch the enemy’s bullets.

Among the officers Hooijer identified on the plate were Dijkstra, Zon (who later fell), Zijdveld, Colyn, Kapitein Engelbert van Bevervoorde, Van der Wedden, Schadée, the lieutenants Van Delden and Kastens, and the medical officers Nanta and Tromp.

The intended base for the Lamkrak operation

Post life passed under the ordinary routine of being fired on now and then and answering, until in March 1896 the march on Lamkrak was fixed, by which the great work was to be completed that would surround the Dutch line with well-disposed districts cleared of Moslemin. A fine shed roofed with sheet iron was erected to serve as magazine and auxiliary hospital, and Biloel, with some others, was to be raised from a temporary post to a permanent fortification. Great activity was expected, for Toekoe Djohan was to assemble there a thousand warriors and a thousand coolies with which to begin the action against Lamkrak.

29 March 1896

Instead of all these, on the morning of 29 March 1896 no one appeared at the passer beneath the great tree — not even the police oppasser — and it became apparent that the blokhuizen garrisoned by friendly Achehnese in the neighbourhood had been abandoned. Towards half past four in the afternoon Kapitein Schadée set out with a patrol of sixty men towards Tjot Goeë to satisfy himself of the state of affairs; when the point had pushed some three hundred paces beyond the covered ground surrounding Biloel on the north side, it received heavy fire from all sides across the flooded rice-fields. Luitenant Zijdveld, hit by a bullet in the lower jaw, had to fall back, and from that moment Biloel remained surrounded.

The siege

Hooijer recorded that provisions were sufficient: only the toespijzen (side-dishes accompanying rice) to accompany the rice, and bread, were too few. Stockfish and tinned minced meat were in abundance, and a couple of buffaloes and a goat that were shot replaced fresh meat. Only on 9 April 1896 did a relief force appear, which turned back again on the report that Toekoe Oemar was approaching.

Abandonment

Biloel and Lam Koenjit were lifted and burnt in April 1896, the Dutch troops hastening back over the muddy fields on which they had endured almost three years of a temporary station. Hooijer noted that, unlike Tjot Goeë, Biloel was not retained.

Account from H. F. Meijer (1883) — the first-line post of the Zuidoosterlinie, 1876

Meijer counts the mesigit of Biloel one of the most important points on the border of the XXII and XXV Moekims. On a high and dry part of the terrain at the southwestern edge of the kampong of the same name, it commands the whole sawah plain to the mountains; only on that side is the ground open, elsewhere covered by the thickly wooded kampong. The post was founded on 5 February 1876 — Meijer’s text expressly warns against confusing that date — in and around the mesigit itself, as a square redoubt of about 42 metres with two round bastions, the prayer house taken inside its wall as the officers’ quarters. The sawah before it was almost always too wet to walk; two little water channels gave the enemy the cover for his advances towards it. The imam of Biloel kept a standing strong hostile position opposite the work.

That first week of garrison — after Pel’s operating force had passed east on 7 February — the enemy seized the weakness: the road between Biloel and Boekit Daroe and between Biloel and Kota Radja became dangerous and soon cut. In April 1876 the post’s patrols made the two great fruit-less reconnaissances of the month — 5 April southeastward and 19 April towards Batoe Lintang — by which the Dutch learned that an entry into the XXII Moekims was not to be made without much trouble. It held to the line the heavier duty when, in May, its southward continuation Biloel Zuid was founded beneath the mountains: the road between the two works long remained unsafe from the enemy sniping of the wooded ground between them.

Sources

ATJEH ‘96, door A. Kruisheer, Kapitein der Infanterie O.I.L., met 2 kaarten en 4 portretten (Weltevreden: N.V. Boekhandel Visser & Co, 1913). Instituut Kern, Leiden. OCR-filename: 20260715_163243_DLP-89-Atjeh_96_Met_2_kaarten_en4_DOORA_KRUISHEER_Kapiteinder_Infanterie_nemoretriever-ocr-v1_OCR.txt, pp. 21, 28–29, 32, 39–40, 42, 48–51, 57, 60, 62–64, 66–68, 71–72, 76–78, 81–82, 270, 320, 331, 491.

Acknowledgement of sources. This article combines material from the publications cited above; the material newly added derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh by P. H. R. Beuming (Amsterdam, 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.

Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier, Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876, pp. 15-20.

Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 9, 10–11, 22 (De Poeassa — Eindelijk Ontzet; Een Terugblik — Wat Reeds Verkregen Werd; De Inwendige Toestand — Wat Nu?).

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

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. 10, 12, 14, 16.

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.

tags	place, aceh, aceh-war, achehnese, besieged-post, colonial, dutch, fortification, groot-atjeh, military-post, settlement, voorpost, xxv-moekims, benteng, ix-moekims, mosque
aliases	Biloel (XXV Moekims), Bilul, Fort Biloel, Negorij Biloel, benting Biloel, the forward post Biloel, the post at Biloel, Hiloel, post Biloel, the post of Biloel

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