Kota Radja Bedil (“King’s Fort of the Gun”) was the fort at the downstream end of the Pedir-dijk commanding the mouth of the Atjeh-rivier at Kwala Atjeh, which the Atjehneezen abandoned and the Dutch reoccupied on 28 June 1874 in the immediate aftermath of the battle of Garouw. Its guns enfiladed the river-mouth and the lower river, completing the Dutch hold on the right bank of the Atjeh-rivier from the sea up to the bend at Lemboe.
Strategic position
The fort’s name — Bedil being the Atjehnees word for “gun” — points to its function: it was the sultan’s river-mouth battery, built to command the approach to the Kraton from the sea. From its parapet guns could rake any vessel attempting to enter the Atjeh-rivier, and from its salient observers could see down the strand to Kwala Atjeh and up the dike to Langkroek and Lamara. Its occupation was therefore the natural complement of the Dutch hold on the marine-benteng half-way up the right bank. The Pedir-dijk ran from Kota Radja Bedil at the river-mouth up to Lemboe at the bend, and any post along the dike was useless unless K. R. Bedil was held.
The reoccupation
The Atjehneezen had held K. R. Bedil throughout the spring of 1874. Van Swieten’s afwachtende houding after 15 February 1874 meant that the Dutch did nothing to dislodge them. On 28 June 1874, the day of the battle of Garouw in which majoor Romswinckel carried the well-laid enemy fortification at Garouw, the Atjehneezen were so shocked that they abandoned not only Garouw but the entire right bank below Penajoeng — including the Pedir-dijk, the road to Koeala, and K. R. Bedil — all of which the Dutch occupied at once. From 28 June 1874 onward K. R. Bedil remained in Dutch hands and became the western anchor of the right-bank post chain of the stelling-Pel, connected upstream to the new posts at Langkroek (28 September 1874), Lemboe (7 November 1874), and Kota Alam (13 November 1874). To strengthen the eastern face of the stelling, a new fort was built at Kwala Titipandjang opposite Tiban on 17 February 1875.
Account from H. F. Meijer (1883) — Kota-Radja Bedil (Kuta-Bubi)
Meijer gives the post its situation on a small hill at the eastern edge of the marshes along the right bank of the Atjeh River, 800 metres from its mouth: an old Atjehnese fortification of earth and stone, from whose hill the whole surrounding country could be overlooked. The true name of the work was Kuta-Bubi. The strip of ground between it and Moesapi showed the traces of many Atjehnese earthworks in the shape of ingravings and mounds, among which two redoutes stood out, north and south of kampong Koewala.
Near his post were heilige graven (holy graves), to which hostile pilgrims from the XXVI and XXII Moekims were reported to make their pilgrimages, to bring offerings, and to perform the accompanying ceremonies. The post commander was expressly entrusted with the observation of that cemetery and the people who came to it, to prevent conflicts and to keep off strange intruders. Only near this post was it so quiet, during long periods, that a part of the slaughter-cattle destined also for the other northern works could graze outside the breastwork.
See Also
- Pedir-dijk
- Kwala Atjeh
- Atjeh-rivier
- Marine-benteng
- Langkroek
- Lemboe
- Kota Alam
- Kwala Titipandjang
- Battle of Garouw (28 June 1874)
- Stelling-Pel
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 62–66, 121, 125, 142, 162–165, 200–202, 211, 253, 263.