Kuta Alam — also written Kota Alam — is an ancient gampong near the capital of Atjeh, known in the pre-colonial period as the place of burial of the great Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607–1636) and, in the Atjeh-oorlog, as the site of the Benting Kota Alam — the sandbag redoubt constructed under Achehnese fire on 13 November 13 November 1874 by a Dutch column under Luitenant-Kolonel M. C. E. Ruempol, with the sapper section commanded in the vanguard by Tweede Luitenant C. J. Snijders of the Bataillon Mineurs en Sappeurs.
The Ancient Gampong
An ancient gampong near the capital (not to be confused with the place now officially so called). ‘In the neighbourhood of the ancient gampong Kuta Alam we find the Kubu Poteu Meureuhom, certain tombs of departed royalties. It is believed that the great Sultan Iskandar Muda = Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607-36) is buried here, and indeed it is not improbable that the name of the gampong is simply an abbreviation of that of this famous ruler.‘
The Benting Kota Alam Operation (13 November 1874)
In the autumn of 1874, after the second Aceh expedition had captured the Kraton and the Westerlinie had been occupied to connect Kota Radja with Oleh-leh on the west, the Dutch turned to securing the eastern flank of their positions. On 7 November 7 November 1874 Dutch troops had captured the fortified villages of Lemboecq, Lemboe, Berauw, and the Rivierbenting northeast of Kota Radja. Intelligence then indicated that the Atjehers were preparing to occupy Kuta Alam further east, a move that would have threatened Longbatta and the Dutch line of communication. Kolonel PEL (civil and military governor) decided to forestall them by building a defensible post at Kuta Alam on 13 November 13 November 1874.
In the pre-dawn darkness of 13 November 13 November [1874], a column under Luitenant-Kolonel Ruempol — the 9th Battalion L.H., a mountain artillery section, a section of Mineurs en Sappers (commanded in the vanguard by Tweede Luitenant Snijders), and an ambulance detachment — departed Kota Radja and followed the Pedir dike to the Atjeh River near the Rivierbenting, then proceeded upstream to a pre-selected site near a river bend. Majoor T. J. A. van Zijll de Jong (artillery) and Majoor W. J. C. Leers (engineers) sited the fortification to command both the fortified edge of Pinang to the northeast and Longbatta to the south, while dominating a long stretch of the river — one of the best crossing points.
Snijders immediately set his coolies to filling sandbags and stacking them along the traced perimeter, while a large Achehnese house was converted into temporary shelter. A double line of outposts 150 metres forward, anchored on the river and reinforced with an infantry section and artillery, covered the work. Scarcely had the first sandbags been laid when heavy rifle fire erupted from the scrub on three sides and from the opposite bank. The Atjehners twice attempted to rush the covering line but were repulsed. The fortification — named Benting Kota Alam — was completed and held, securing the eastern flank of the Dutch positions and covering the Dutch line of communication with Longbatta and the country further east. The full operation is described on the dedicated event page.
The Kota Alam action of 13 November 13 November [1874] is, in the biographer D. van den Berg’s framing of Snijders’s career, an exemplar of the Dutch reliance on rapid field engineering — sandbag redoubts sited to dominate river crossings and village strongholds — to consolidate territorial gains against a mobile, well-armed opponent in the swampy, jungle-covered theatre of the Atjeh-oorlog. The redoubt complemented the westward extension of the Dutch perimeter along the Westerlinie (toward Oleh-leh) and the northward extension along the Noorderlinie earlier in the same year.
See Also
- Sultan Iskandar Muda
- Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
- W. J. C. Leers
- M. C. E. Ruempol
- T. J. A. van Zijll de Jong
- J. L. J. H. Pel
- Benting Kota Alam operation (13 November 1874)
- Longbatta
- Oleh-leh
- Kota Radja
- Acheh River
- Westerlinie
- Noorderlinie
- Bataillon Mineurs en Sappeurs
- Korps Ingenieurs, Mineurs en Sappeurs
- Aceh War
- 1874
- Atjeh-rivier
- Lemboe
- Pendetti
- III Moekims
- Kota Radja Bedil
- Blang Tjoet
- Kolonel Ruempol
- Conquest of Kota Alam (13 November 1874)
- Voorlaadkanonnen in Atjeh
- Stelling-Pel
- Capture of Kotta Alam
- Oleh Karang
- J. van Swieten
- Second Aceh Expedition
Sources
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk, by D. van den Berg (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 10–35. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I (the autumn 1874 operations east of Kota Radja). Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 62, 95, 200, 209, 211–214, 263. Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier, Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876, pp. 58-62.