Pakan Atjeh was the fortified Dutch post on the right bank of the Kroeng Daroe east of the Kraton, garrisoned under kapitein van Randwijk and equipped with achterlaadkanonnen van 12 c.M. (12 cm breech-loading guns). Its elevated observatory made it the principal Dutch artillery-watching point against the enemy’s eastern benteng line at Pendetti and Lampoe Idjoe, and from it on 15 May 1874 the discovery of an Atjehneesche vlag (flag) waving above a new benteng triggered the bombardment of the Pendetti fortifications.
The post and its guns
Pakan Atjeh was established after the fall of the Kraton as the eastern anchor of the Dutch perimeter and the principal battery against enemy works upstream on the Atjeh-rivier. Its 12 c.M. achterlaadkanonnen — the best Dutch gun in Atjeh, the first breech-loaders used in the Indies — outranged the enemy’s voorlaad guns and the Atjehnees lilla (light swivel-guns). Borel personally supervised the battery’s service, and on 24 August 1874 it was Pakan Atjeh’s 12 c.M. achterlaadkanonnen that silenced the enemy’s guns when the Atjehneezen brought the first lilla’s and at least one cannon onto a covered position and fired at the Dutch flag flying high over the Kraton. On 7 September 1874 a well-aimed 6-pound enemy ball flew over the northern part of the east face into the vesting-artillerie kazerne, “tore a sergeant’s shoulder and half an inlandsche woman’s head,” and tore the papers of the sergeant-major to shreds.
The observation post
From the high observatory at Pakan Atjeh the Dutch discovered on 15 May 1874 the new enemy vlag above a benteng at the height of Lampoe Idjoe upstream. The artillerie at Pakan Atjeh immediately opened fire, the shots being gecorrigeerd from the observatory, and the Atjehneezen were soon unable to “binnen hunne werken te Pendetti geen stand houden” — hold their ground in the Pendetti works. On 17 August 1874 kapitein van Randwijk marched out with his company at dawn and seized the grafheuvel (mound) east of Pakan Atjeh at the double-quick — the post later named the ooster-benteng. From that day the enemy could do nothing against Pakan Atjeh, which enjoyed unprecedented quiet. Kartetsen (canister) were used at Pakan Atjeh during the fierce fighting of 17 August 1874.
See Also
- Kroeng Daroe
- Kraton of Atjeh
- Kapitein van Randwijk
- Pendetti
- Lampoe Idjoe
- Occupation of the ooster-benteng (17 August 1874)
- Achterlaadkanonnen van 12 c.M.
- Lilla
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. pp. 59, 65, 95, 102, 111, 116–117, 119, 124, 129–132, 138, 141, 154, 179, 184–186, 191–192.