Kwala Atjeh (modern Kuala Aceh) is the kwala — the river-mouth — of the Atjeh-rivier on the north coast, and one of the three corners of the strategische driehoek (strategic triangle) Kwala Atjeh–Kota Radja–Oeleh Leh that defined the Dutch perimeter around the captured Kraton. Borel attributes the formation of the triangle to kolonel Pel in May 1874, explicitly correcting those who credited it to van Swieten. Its seaward position gave it command of the river-mouth approach to the Kraton and made it, with the marine-benteng half-way up the right bank, the natural northern anchor of the Dutch right bank.
The strategic corner
After the fall of the Kraton on 24 January 1874, Dutch sea-communication with the interior depended on the Atjeh-rivier, whose mouth at Kwala Atjeh had to be held if any supplies were to reach the garrison. The river’s mouth became onbevaarbaar (unnavigable) during the kwaden moesson (bad monsoon) — the situation that forced the Dutch to develop Oeleh Leh as an alternative landing — but in fair weather Kwala Atjeh remained the principal debarkation-point for heavy stores and artillery. From Kwala Atjeh the waterweg via de Soengei Aroesan was, in Borel’s phrase, “geruimen tijd voor ons van onschatbare waarde,” carrying almost all vivres, munitie, geschut, and bouwmaterialen up to the Kraton.
The threat of May 1874
On 21 May 1874 the Dutch learned that the enemy was working between Penajoeng and the Marine-benteng with the goal of “zich daar te verschansen en de vaart op de rivier onveilig te maken” — to entrench himself there and render the river-traffic unsafe. The threat to the Kwala Atjeh–K. Radja river line was direct. Borel notes that the failure to build a zeehoofd at Oeleh Leh left the Dutch entirely dependent on Kwala Atjeh at exactly the moment the enemy understood its importance. By the time the strategische driehoek was completed in May 1875, with the continuous line of posts running from Oeleh Leh through the western kampongs to Longbatta-Mesigit and back to Kwala Atjeh by way of the river-bank posts, Kwala Atjeh had become the well-protected apex of the triangle’s base.
See Also
- Atjeh-rivier
- Marine-benteng
- Penajoeng
- Oeleh Leh
- Kota Radja
- Strategische driehoek (Atjeh)
- Kwala
- Stelling-Pel
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 58, 65, 92, 95–96, 112, 121–122, 125, 141, 179, 214.