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SUDAN OPERATIONS
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See also:SUDAN OPERATIONS , 1896–1900
The wonderful progress—See also:political, economical and social—which See also:Egypt had made during See also:British occupation, so ably set forth in See also:Sir See also:Alfred See also:Milner's See also:England in Egypt (published in 1892), together with the See also:revelation in so strong a See also:light of the See also:character of the See also:khalifa's despotism in the Sudan and the miserable See also:condition of his misgoverned See also:people, as detailed in the accounts
of their captivity at See also:Omdurman by See also:Father Ohrwalder and See also:Slatin
See also:Bey (published in 1892 and 1896), stirred public See also:opinion in See also:Great
See also:Britain, and brought the question of the recovery of the
See also:Dongola Sudan into prominence. A See also:change of See also:ministry took See also:campaign,
1896. See also:place in 1895, and See also:Lord See also:Salisbury's See also:cabinet, which had
consistently assailed the See also:Egyptian policy of the old, was not unwilling to consider whether the flourishing condition of Egyptian See also:finance, the prosperity of the See also:country and the settled See also:state of its affairs, with a capable and proved little See also:army ready to See also:hand, did not See also:warrant an See also:attempt being made to recover gradually the Sudan provinces abandoned by Egypt in 1885 on the See also:advice of Mr See also:Gladstone's See also:government.
Such being the condition of public and See also:official sentiment, the crushing defeat of the Italians by the Abyssinians at the See also:battle of See also:Adowa on the 1st of See also: At the commencement of the campaign the Egyptian army, including reserves, consisted of 16 battalions of See also:infantry, of which 6 were Sudanese, to squadrons of See also:cavalry, 5 batteries of See also:artillery, 3 companies of See also:garrison artillery, and 8 companies of See also:camel See also:corps, and it possessed 13 gunboats for See also:river See also:work. See also:Colonel H. M. L. Rundle was See also:chief of the See also:staff; Major F. R. See also:Wingate was See also:head of the intelligence See also:department, with Slatin Bey as his assistant; and Colonel A. See also:Hunter was in command of Sarras, and south. The 1st See also:battalion of the See also:North See also:Stafford-See also:shire See also:regiment moved up from See also:Cairo to join the Egyptian army. In the meantime the advance to Akasha had already relieved the pressure at Kassala, See also:Osman Digna having withdrawn a considerable force from the investing army and proceeded with it to See also:Suakin. , To meet Osman Digna's See also:movement Lieutenant-Colonel G. E. See also:Lloyd, the Suakin commandant, advanced to the Taroi See also:Wells, 19 M. south of Suakin, on the 15th of See also:April to co-operate with the " Friendlies," and with Major H. M. See also:Sidney, advancing with a small force from Tokar. His cavalry, under Major M. A. C. B. See also:Fenwick, went out to look for Sidney's force, and were surprised by a large number of dervishes. Fenwick, with some 40 See also:officers and men, seized an isolated See also: The attack was made in two columns: one, under Colonel Hunter, marching along the river-See also:bank, approached Firket from the north; while the other, under Major See also:Burn-Murdoch, making a detour through the See also:desert, approached it from the south. The co-operation of the two columns was admirably timed, and on the See also:morning of the 7th the See also:dervish camp was surrounded, and, after a See also:sharp fight, Hamuda and many amirs and about r000 men were killed, and 500 prisoners taken. The dash and discipline of the Egyptian troops in this victory were a See also:good augury for the future. By the end of June the railway was advanced beyond Akasha, and headquarters were at Kosha, to m. farther south. See also:Cholera and See also:fever were busy both with the North See also:Staffordshire regiment at Gemai, whither they had been moved on its approach, and with the Egyptian troops at the front, and carried off many officers and men. The railway reached Kosha early in See also:August; the cholera disappeared, and stores were collected and arrangements steadily made for a farther advance. The North Stafford-shire moved up to the front, and in See also:September the army moved on Kerma, which was found to be evacuated, the dervishes having crossed the river to Hafir. There they were attacked by the See also:gun-boats and Kitchener's artillery from the opposite bank, and forced to retire, with their See also:commander, See also:Wad Bishara, seriously wounded. Dongola was bombarded by the gunboats and captured by the army on the 23rd of September. Bishara and his men retreated, but were pursued by the Egyptians until the See also:retreat became a hopeless rout. Guns, small arms and See also:ammunition, with large stores of See also:grain and See also:dates, were captured, many prisoners taken, while hundreds surrendered voluntarily, among them a See also:brother of the amir Wad en Nejumi. The dervish Dongola army had practically ceased to exist. Debba was seized on the 3rd See also:October, Korti and Merawi occupied soon after, and the See also:principal sheiks came in and submitted to the sirdar. The Dongola campaign was over, and the See also:province recovered to Egypt. The Indian brigade at Suakin returned to See also:India, and was replaced by Egyptians. The North Staffordshire returned to Cairo. The work of consolidation began, and preparations were made for a farther advance when everything should be ready. The railway up the right bank of the Nile was continued to Kerma, in See also:order to evade the difficulties of the 3rd See also:cataract; but the sirdar had conceived the bold project of cutting off the great See also:angle of the Nile from Wadi Haifa to See also:Abu Gahmpaigna Hamed, involving nearly 600 m. of See also:navigation and 1897. including the 4th cataract, by constructing a railway across the Nubian desert, and so bringing his See also:base at Wadi Haifa within a few See also:hours of his force, when it should have advanced to Abu Hamed, instead of ten days. Early in 1897 this new line of railway was commenced from Wadi Haifa across the great Nubian desert 230 M. to Abu Hamed. The first-mentioned line reached Kerma in May, and by See also:July the second had advanced 130 M. into the desert towards Abu Hamed, when it became necessary, before it was carried farther, to secure that See also:terminus by an advance from Merawi. In the meantime the khalifa was not idle. He occupied Abu Klea wells and Metemma; recalled the amir See also:Ibrahim Khalil, with 4000 men, from the Ghezira; brought to Omdurman the army of the See also:west under Mahmud—some 1o,000 men; entrusted the line of the See also:Atbara—Ed Darner, Adarama, Asubri and El Fasher—to Osman Digna; constructed defences in the Shabluka See also:gorge; and personally superintended the organization and See also:drill of the forces gathered at Omdurman, and the collection of vast stores of See also:food and supplies of camels for offensive expeditions. Towards the end of June the chief of the Jaalin tribe, Abdalla wad Said, who occupied Metemma, angered by the khalifa, made his submission to Kitchener and asked for support, at the same See also:time foolishly sending a defiant See also:letter to the khalifa. The sirdar sent him rifles and ammunition across the desert from Korti; but before they arrived, Mahmud's army, sent by the khalifa, swept down on Metemma on the 1st of July and massacred Abdalla wad Said and his garrison. On the 29th of July, after several reconnaissances, Major-General Hunter, with a flying column, marched up the Nile from near Merawi to Abu Hamed, 133 M. distant, along the edge of the See also:Monassir desert. He arrived on the 7th of August and captured it by See also:storm, the dervishes losing 25o killed and 50 prisoners. By the end of the See also:month the gunboats had surmounted the 4th cataract and reached Abu Hamed. See also:Berber was found to be deserted, and occupied by Hunter on the 5th of September, and in the following month a large force was en-trenched there. The khalifa, fearing an attack on Omdurman, moved Osman Digna from Adarama to See also:Shendi. In the 23rd of October Hunter, with a flying column lightly equipped, See also:left Sudan towards Berber, and telegraphed to Cairo for a British 1898.a1, brigade. By the end of See also:January the concentration was See also:complete, and the British brigade, under Major-General Gatacre, was at Dakhesh, south of Abu Hamed. Disagreement among the khalifa's generals postponed the dervish advance and gave Kitchener much-needed time. But at the end of See also:February, Mahmud crossed the Nile to Shendi with some 12,000 fighting men, and with Osman Digna advanced along the right bank of the Nile to Aliab, where he struck across the . desert to Nakheila, on the Atbara, intending to turn Kitchener's left flank at Berber. The sirdar took up a position at See also:Ras el Hudi, on the Atbara. His force consisted of Gatacre's British brigade (1st Warwicks, Lincolns, Seaforths and Camerons) and Hunter's Egyptian See also:division (3 brigades under Colonels See also:Maxwell, See also:MacDonald and See also:Lewis respectively), Broadwood's cavalry, Tudway's camel corps and See also:Long's artillery. The dervish army reached Nakheila on the loth of March, and entrenched them-selves there in a formidable zeriba. After several reconnaissances in which fighting took place with Mahmud's outposts, it was ascertained from prisoners that their army was See also:short of See also:pro-visions and that great leakage was going on. Kitchener, there-fore, did not See also:hurry. He sent his flotilla up the Nile and captured Shendi, the dervish See also:depot, on the 29th of March. On the 4th of April he advanced to Abadar. A final See also:reconnaissance was made on the 5th. On the following See also:day he bivouacked at Umdabia, where he constructed a strong zeriba, which was garrisoned by an Egyptian battalion, and on the night of the 7th he marched to the attack of Mahmud's zeriba, which, after an See also:hour's See also:bombardment on the morning of the 8th of April, was stormed with complete success. Mahmud and several See also:hundred dervishes were captured, 40 amirs and 3000 See also:Arabs killed, and many more wounded; the See also:rest escaped to Gedaref. The sirdar's casualties were 8o killed and 472 wounded. Preparations were now made for the attack on the khalifa's force at Omdurman; and in the meantime the troops were camped in the neighbourhood of Berber, and the railway carried on to the Atbara. At the end of July reinforcements were forwarded from Cairo; and on the 24th of August the following troops were concentrated for the advance at Wad Hamad, above Metemma, on the western bank of the 6th cataract:—British division, under Major-General Gatacre, consisting of 1st Brigade, commanded by Colonel A. G. Wauchope (1st Warwicks, Lincolns, Seaforths and Camerons), and 2nd Brigade, commanded by Colonel the Hon. N. G. See also:Lyttelton (1st Northumberlands and See also:Grenadier See also:Guards, 2nd See also:Lancashire and See also:Rifle Brigade); Egyptian division, under Major-General Hunter, consisting of four brigades, commanded by Colonels MacDonald, Maxwell, Lewis and Collinson; mounted troops—21st Lancers, camel corps, and Egyptian cavalry; artillery, under Colonel Long, 2 British batteries, 5 Egyptian batteries, and 20 See also:machine guns; detachment of Royal See also:Engineers. The flotilla, under Commander Ix. 5Keppel, R.N., consisted of ro gunboats and 5 transport steamers. The See also:total strength was nearly 26,000 men. While the army moved along the west bank of the river, a force of Arab irregulars or " Friendlies " marched along the See also:east bank, under command of Major See also:Stuart-Wortley and Lieutenant See also:Wood, to clear it of the enemy as far as the See also:Blue Nile; and on the 1st of September the gun-boats bombarded the forts on both sides of the river and breached the great See also:wall of Omdurman. Kitchener met with no opposition; and on the 1st of September the army bivouacked in zeriba at Egeiga, on the west bank of the Nile, within 4 M. of Omdurman. Here, on the morning of the 2nd of September, the khalifa's army, 40,000 strong, attacked the zeriba, but was repulsed with slaughter. Kitchener then moved out and marched towards Omdurman, when he was again twice fiercely attacked on the right flank and See also:rear, MacDonald's brigade bearing the brunt. MacDonald distinguished himself by his See also:tactics, and completely repulsed the enemy. The 21st Lancers gallantly charged a See also:body of 2000 dervishes which was unexpectedly met in a khor on the left flank, and drove them westward, the Lancers losing a fifth of their number in killed and wounded. The khalifa was now in full retreat, and the sirdar, sending his cavalry in pursuit, marched into Omdurman. The dervish loss was over ro,000 killed, as many wounded, and 5000 prisoners. The khalifa's See also:black See also:flag was captured and sent See also:home to See also:Queen See also:Victoria. The British and Egyptian casualties together were under 500. The See also:European prisoners of the khalifa found in Omdurman—See also: He then steamed up the river and established a See also:post at See also:Sobat; and after sending a gunboat up the See also:Bahr-el-Ghazal to establish another post at Meshra-er-Rek, he returned to Omdurman. The French expedition had experienced great difficulties in the swampy region of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and had reached Fashoda on the loth of July. It had been attacked by a dervish force on the 25th of August, and was expecting another attack when Kitchener arrived and probably saved it from destruction. The Fashoda incident was the subject of important See also:diplomatic negotiations, which at one time approached an acute phase; but ultimately the French position was found to be untenable, and on the 11th of See also:December Marchand and his men returned to See also:France by the Sobat, See also:Abyssinia and See also:Jibuti. In the following March the See also:spheres of See also:interest of Great Britain and France in the Nile See also:basin were defined by a See also:declaration making an addition to See also:Article IV, of the See also:Niger See also:convention of the previous See also:year. During the sirdar's See also:absence from Omdurman Colonel Hunter commanded an expedition up the Blue Nile, and by the end of 11 Berber for Adarama, which he burned on the 2nd of See also:November, and after reconnoitring for 40 M. Up the Atbara, returned to Berber. The Nile was falling, and Kitchener decided to keep the gunboats above the impassable rapid at Um Tuir, 4 M. north of the confluence of the Atbara with the Nile, where he constructed a fort. The gunboats made repeated reconnaissances up the river, bombarding Metemma with effect. The railway reached Abu Hamed on the 4th of November, and was pushed rapidly forward along the right bank of the Nile towards Berber. The forces of the khalifa remaining quiet, the sirdar visited Kassala and negotiated with the See also:Italian General Caneva for its restoration to Egypt. The Italians were anxious to leave it; and on See also:Christmas day 1899 Colonel (afterwards General Sir Charles) See also:Parsons, with an Egyptian force from Suakin, took it formally over, together with a body of Arab irregulars employed by the Italians. These troops were at once despatched to See also:capture the dervish posts at Asabri and El Fasher, which they did with small loss.
On his return from Kassala to Berber the sirdar received
See also:information of an intended advance of the khalifa northward.
He at once ordered a concentration of Egyptian troops
Battle of Omdurman.
September had occupied and garrisoned Wad Medani, See also:Sennar, Karkoj and Roseires. In the meantime Colonel Parsons marched with 1400 men from Kassala on the 7th of September, to capture Gedaref. He encountered 4000 dervishes under the amir Saadalla outside the See also:town, and after a desperate fight, in which he lost 5o killed and 8o wounded, defeated them and occupied the town on the 22nd. The dervishes left 500 dead on the See also: Two thousand five hundred fighting men surrendered later, and the rest escaped with Ahmed Fedil to join the khalifa in Kordofan. On the 25th of January 1899 Colonel See also:Walter Kitchener was despatched by his brother, in command of a flying column of operations 2000 Egyptian troops and 1700 Friendlies, which had in the been concentrated at Faki Kohi, on the White Nile, Sudan, some 200 M. above Khartum, to reconnoitre the 1899. khalif a's camp at Sherkela, 130 M. west of the river, in the See also:heart of the See also:Baggara country in Kordofan, and if possible to capture it. The position was found to be a strong one, occupied by over 6000 men; and as it was not considered prudent to attack it with an inferior force at such a distance from the river base, the flying column returned. No further . attempt was made to interfere with the khalifa in his far-off retreat until towards the end of the year, when, good order having been generally established throughout the rest of the Sudan, it was decided to extend it to Kordofan. . In the autumn of 1899 the khalif a was at See also:Jebel Gedir, a hill in See also:southern Kordofan, about 8o m. from the White Nile, and was contemplating an advance. Lord Kitchener concentrated 8000 men at Kaka, on the river, 38o m. south of Khartum, and moved inland on the loth of October. On arriving at Fongor it was ascertained that the khalifa had gone north, and the cavalry and camel corps having reconnoitred Jebel Gedir, the ex- pedition returned. On the 13th November the amir Ahmed Fedil debouched on the river at El Alub, but retired on finding Colonel Lewis with a force in gunboats. Troops and transport were then concentrated at Faki Kohi, and Colonel Wingate sent with reinforcements from Khartum to take command of the expedition and march to Gedid, where it was anticipated the khalif a would be obliged to See also:halt. A flying column, comprising a See also:squadron of cavalry, a field See also:battery, 6 machine guns, 6 companies of the camel corps, and a brigade of infantry and details, in all 3700 men, under Wingate, left Faki Kohi on the 21st of November. The very next day he encountered Ahmed Fedil at Abu Aadel, drove him from his position with great loss, and captured his camp and a large See also:supply of grain he was convoying to the khalifa. Gedid was reached on the 23rd, and the khalifa was ascertained to be at Om Debreikat. Wingate marched at
midnight of the 24th, and was resting his troops on high ground
in front of the khalifa's position, when at daybreak of the 25th
his picquets were driven in and the dervishes attacked. They
were repulsed with great slaughter, and Wingate
advancing, carried the camp. The khalif a Abdullah
el Taaisha, unable to rally his men, gathered many of
his principal amirs around him, among whom were
his sons and See also:brothers, See also:Ali Wad Helu, Ahmed Fedil, and other
well-known leaders, and they met their death unflinchingly
from the bullets of the advancing Sudanese infantry. Three
thousand men and 29 amirs of importance, including Sheik-ed-
din, the khalifa's eldest son and intended successor, surrendered. The dervish loss in the two actions was estimated at loon killed and wounded, while the Egyptian casualties were only 4 killed and 29 wounded. Thus ended the See also:power of the khalifa and of Mandism.
On the 19th of January 19oo Osman Digna, who had been so great a supporter of Mandism in the Eastern Sudan, and had always shown great discretion in securing the safety of his own See also:person, was surrounded and captured at Jebel Warriba, as he was wandering a fugitive among the hills beyond Tokar.
The reconquest of Dongola and the Sudan provinces during the three years from March 1896 to December 1898, considering the enormous extent and difficulties of the country, was achieved at an unprecedentedly small cost, while the See also:main See also:item of See also:expenditure—the railway—remains a permanent benefit to the country. The figures are:
See also:Railways E.1,181,372
Telegraphs 21,825
Gunboats 154,934
Military 996,223
Total E.2,354,354 Towards this expense the British government gave a See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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