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The River War

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From Sarras the army seemed to have chosen a double line of advance.
The railway reconstruction followed the old track which had been prepared
through the desert in 1885. The convoy route wound along by the river.
Both were protected from attack. The 7th Egyptians guarded Railhead,
while the chain of small posts secured the road by the Nile to Akasha.
The advanced base grew during the months of April and May into a strong
position. Only once did the Arabs venture to approach within artillery
range. A small body of horse and camel men made a sort of haphazard
reconnaissance, and, being seen from the outpost line, were fired on at a
great distance by a field-gun. They fell back immediately, but it was
believed that the range was too great for the projectile to have harmed
them; and it was not until two days later that the discovery on the spot
of a swollen, blistering corpse, clad in bright jibba, apprised the
delighted gunners of the effect of their fire. Warned by this lucky shot
the Dervishes came no more, or came unseen.

The Sirdar, accompanied by Colonel Bundle, his Chief of Staff, had left
Cairo on the 22nd of March, and after a short stay at Assuan reached Wady
Halfa on the 29th. Here he remained during the month of April,
superintending and pressing the extension of the railroad and the
accumulation of supplies. On the 1st of May he arrived at Akasha, with a
squadron of cavalry, under Major Burn-Murdoch, as his escort. It happened
that a convoy had come in the previous day, so that there were two extra
cavalry squadrons at the advanced post. Almost at the same moment that
Sir H. Kitchener entered the camp, a party of friendly Arabs came in with
the news that they had been surprised some four miles to the eastward by
a score of Dervish camel-men, and had only succeeded in escaping with the
loss of two of their number. In the belief that the enemy in the immediate
vicinity were not in force, the Sirdar ordered the three squadrons of
Egyptian cavalry, supported by the XIth Soudanese, to go out and
reconnoitre towards Firket and endeavour to cut off any hostile patrols
that might be found.

At ten o'clock Major Burn-Murdoch started with four British officers
and 240 lances. After moving for seven or eight miles among the hills which
surround Akasha, the cavalry passed through a long, sandy defile, flanked
on either side by rocky peaks and impracticable ravines. As the head of the
column was about to debouch from this, the advanced scouts reported that
there was a body of Dervishes in the open ground in front of the defile.
The cavalry commander rode forward to look at them, and found himself
confronted, not, as he had expected, by a score of camel-men, but by a
strong force of Dervishes, numbering at least 1,500 foot and 250 horse.
The cavalry, by trotting, had left the supporting infantry some distance
behind them. The appearance of the enemy was threatening. The horsemen,
who were drawn up scarcely 300 yards away, were already advancing to the
attack, their right flank protected by a small force of camelry;
and behind was the solid array of the spearmen.

Major Burn-Murdoch determined to fall back on his infantry support
and escape from the bad ground. He gave the order, and the squadrons
wheeled about by troops and began to retire. Forthwith the Dervish horse
charged, and, galloping furiously into the defile, attacked the cavalry
in rear. Both sides were crowded in the narrow space. The wildest
confusion followed, and the dust raised by the horses' hoofs hung over all
like a yellow London fog, amid which the bewildered combatants discharged
their pistols and thrust at random. The Egyptian cavalry, thus highly
tried, showed at first no disposition to turn to meet the attack.
The tumult drowned all words of command. A disaster appeared imminent.
But the British officers, who had naturally been at the head of the column
during its advance, were now at the rear and nearest the enemy. Collecting
a score of troopers, they made such resistance with their swords and
revolvers that they actually held the defile and beat back the Dervish
horse, who retired on their infantry, leaving a dozen dead upon the ground.
Two of the Egyptian squadrons continued to retreat until clear of the
defile, a distance of 700 yards; but the third and rearmost was compelled
by the British officers to face about, and, galloping with this force down
the ravine, Major Burn-Murdoch drove the Arabs pell-mell out of it.
The other two squadrons had now returned, and the whole force dismounted,
and, taking up a position among the sandhills near the mouth of the defile,
opened fire with their carbines. The repulse of their cavalry seemed to
have disheartened the Dervishes, for they made no attempt to attack the
dismounted troopers, and contented themselves with maintaining a desultory
fire, which was so ill-aimed that but little loss was caused. The heat of
the weather was terrific, and both men and horses suffered acutely from
thirst. The squadron which had escorted the Sirdar had performed a long
march before the reconnaissance and was exhausted. The cavalry, however,
held their position among the sandhills and easily defeated a feeble
attempt to turn their right. At a quarter past twelve the Dervishes began
to retire slowly and deliberately, and by one o'clock, when the XIth
Soudanese arrived, eager and agog, the last Arab had disappeared. The force
then returned to camp, bearing many spears and leading six captured horses
as trophies of victory. The intensity of the heat may be gauged by the fact
that one of the Soudanese soldiers--that is to say, an African negro--
died of sunstroke. Such was the affair of the 1st of May, and it is
pleasing to relate that in this fierce fight the loss was not severe.
One British officer, Captain Fitton, was slightly wounded. One native
soldier was killed; one was mortally and eight severely wounded.

During May the preparations for the advance on the Dervish position
at Firket continued, and towards the end of the month it became evident
that they were nearly complete. The steady accumulation of stores at Akasha
had turned that post into a convenient base from which the force might
operate for a month without drawing supplies of any kind from the north.
The railway, which had progressed at the rate of about half a mile a day,
had reached and was working to Ambigole Wells, where a four-gun fort and
entrenchment had been built. The distance over which convoys must plod
was reduced by half, and the business of supply was doubly accelerated.
By degrees the battalions and squadrons began to move forward towards
Akasha. Sarras, deprived of its short-lived glory, became again the
solitary fort on a crag. Wady Halfa was also deserted, and, except for the
British battalion in garrison, could scarcely boast a soldier. Both the
Egyptian battalions from Suakin had arrived on the Nile. The Xth Soudanese
were on their way. The country beyond Akasha had been thoroughly
reconnoitred and mapped to within three miles of the Dervish position.
Everything was ready.

The actual concentration may be said to have begun on the 1st of June,
when the Sirdar started for the front from Halfa, whither he had returned
after the cavalry skirmish. Construction work on the railway came to a
full stop. The railway battalions, dropping their picks and shovels,
shouldered their Remington rifles and became the garrisons of the posts
on the line of communications. On the 2nd of June the correspondents
were permitted to proceed to Akasha. On the 3rd the Xth Soudanese passed
through Ambigole and marched south. The Horse battery from Halfa followed.
The Egyptian battalions and squadrons which had been camped along the river
at convenient spots from Ambigole to Akasha marched to a point opposite
Okma. Between this place and the advanced post an extensive camp,
stretching three miles along the Nile bank, arose with magic swiftness.
On the 4th the 7th Egyptians moved from Railhead, and with these the last
battalion reached the front. Nine thousand men, with ample supplies, were
collected within striking distance of the enemy.

All this time the Dervishes at Firket watched in senseless apathy
the deliberate, machine-like preparations for their destruction.
They should have had good information, for although the Egyptian cavalry
patrolled ceaselessly, and the outpost line was impassable to scouts, their
spies, as camel-drivers, water-carriers, and the like, were in the camp.
They may not, perhaps, have known the exact moment of the intended blow,
for the utmost secrecy was observed. But though they must have realised
that it was imminent, they did nothing. There was, indeed, no course open
to them but retreat. Once the army was concentrated with sufficient
supplies at Akasha, their position was utterly untenable.
The Emir-in-Chief, Hammuda, then had scarcely 3,000 men around his flag.
Their rifles and ammunition were bad; their supplies scanty. Nor could the
valour of fifty-seven notable Emirs sustain the odds against them.
There was still time to fall back on Kosheh, or even on Suarda--anywhere
outside the sweep of their terrible enemy's sword. They would not budge.
Obstinate and fatuous to the last, they dallied and paltered on the fatal
ground, until sudden, blinding, inevitable catastrophe fell upon them from
all sides at once, and swept them out of existence as a military force.




CHAPTER VI: FIRKET



June 7, 1896

Since the end of 1895 the Dervish force in Firket had been
under the command of the Emir Hammuda, and it was through the indolence
and neglect of this dissipated Arab that the Egyptian army had been able
to make good its position at Akasha without any fighting. Week after week
the convoys had straggled unmolested through the difficult country between
Sarras and the advanced base. No attack had been made upon the brigade at
Akasha. No enterprise was directed against its communications. This fatal
inactivity did not pass unnoticed by Wad Bishara, the Governor of Dongola;
but although he was nominally in supreme command of all the Dervish forces
in the province he had hardly any means of enforcing his authority.
His rebukes and exhortations, however, gradually roused Hammuda, and during
May two or three minor raids were planned and executed, and the Egyptian
position at Akasha was several times reconnoitred.

Bishara remained unsatisfied, and at length, despairing of infusing energy
into Hammuda, he ordered his subordinate Osman Azrak to supersede him.
Osman was a Dervish of very different type. He was a fanatical and devoted
believer in the Mahdi and a loyal follower of the Khalifa. For many years
he had served on the northern frontier of the Dervish Empire, and his name
was well known to the Egyptian Government as the contriver of the most
daring and the most brutal raids. His cruelty to the wretched inhabitants
of the border villages had excluded him from all hope of mercy should he
ever fall into the hands of the enemy. His crafty skill, however,
protected him, and among the Emirs gathered at Firket there was none whose
death would have given greater satisfaction to the military authorities
than the man who was now to replace Hammuda.

Whether Osman Azrak had actually assumed command on the 6th of June
is uncertain. It seems more likely that Hammuda declined to admit his
right, and that the matter still stood in dispute. But in any case Osman
was determined to justify his appointment by his activity, and about
midday he started from the camp at Firket, and, accompanied by a strong
patrol of camel-men, set out to reconnoitre Akasha. Moving cautiously,
he arrived unperceived within sight of the position at about three o'clock
in the afternoon. The columns which were to storm Firket at dawn were then
actually parading. But the clouds of dust which the high wind drove across
or whirled about the camp obscured the view, and the Dervish could
distinguish nothing unusual. He therefore made the customary pentagonal
mark on the sand to ensure good luck, and so returned to Firket to renew
his dispute with Hammuda, bearing the reassuring news that 'the Turks
lay quiet.'

The force which the Sirdar had concentrated for the capture of Firket
amounted to about nine thousand men, and was organised as follows:--

Commander-in-Chief: THE SIRDAR

The Infantry Division: COLONEL HUNTER Commanding

1st Brigade 2nd Brigade 3rd Brigade
Major LEWIS MAJOR MACDONALD MAJOR MAXWELL
3rd Egyptians IXth Soudanese 2nd Egyptians
4th " XIth " 7th "
Xth Soudanese XIIth " 8th "
XIIIth "

Mounted Forces: MAJOR BURN-MURDOCH

Egyptian Cavalry . . . . 7 squadrons
Camel Corps . . . . . 8 companies

Artillery

Horse Artillery . . . . 1 battery
Field Artillery . . . . 2 batteries
Maxim Guns . . . . . 1 battery


Two roads led from Akasha to Firket--one by the bank of the river,
the other inland and along the projected railway line. The Sirdar
determined to avail himself of both. The force was therefore divided into
two columns. The main column, under command of the Sirdar, was to move by
the river road, and consisted of the infantry division, the Field
Artillery, and the Maxim guns. The Desert Column, under command of Major
Burn-Murdoch, consisted of the mounted forces, the Horse Artillery, and
one battalion of infantry (the XIIth Soudanese) drawn from MacDonald's
brigade and mounted upon camels: in all about two thousand men.
Very precise orders were given to the smaller column, and Burn-Murdoch
was instructed to occupy the hills to the south-east of the centre of
Firket village by 4.30 A.M.; to dispose his force facing west, with the
cavalry on the left, the Camel Corps in the centre, and the XIIth
Soudanese on the right. The only point left to his discretion was the
position to be occupied by the Horse battery. He was especially warned
not to come under the fire of the main infantry force. As soon as the
enemy should be routed, the XIIth Soudanese were to return to the Sirdar.
The cavalry, camelry, and Horse Artillery were to pursue--the objective
being, firstly, Koyeka, and, secondly, Suarda.

The infantry column began to march out of Akasha at 3.30 in the afternoon
of the 6th, and trailed southwards along the track by the river in the
following order: Lewis's brigade, with the Xth Soudanese leading;
two Maxim guns and the artillery; MacDonald's brigade; Maxwell's brigade;
and, lastly, the field hospitals and a half-battalion forming rearguard.
The Sirdar marched behind the artillery. The rear of the long column was
clear of the camp by 4.30, and about two hours later the mounted force
started by the desert road. The River Column made good progress till dark,
but thereafter the advance was slow and tedious. The track led through
broken rocky ground, and was so narrow that it nowhere allowed a larger
front to be formed than of four men abreast. In some places the sharp rocks
and crumbling heaps of stone almost stopped the gun-mules altogether,
while the infantry tripped and stumbled painfully. The moon had not risen,
and the darkness was intense. Still the long procession of men, winding
like a whiplash between the jagged hills, toiled onward through the night,
with no sound except the tramping of feet and the rattle of accoutrements.
At half-past ten the head of Lewis's brigade debouched into a smooth sandy
plain about a mile to the north of Sarkamatto village. This was the spot--
scarcely three miles from the enemy's position--where the Sirdar had
decided to halt and bivouac. The bank and foreshore of the river were
convenient for watering; all bottles and skins were filled, and soldiers
and animals drank. A little food was eaten, and then, battalion by
battalion, as the force arrived at the halting-place, they lay down
to rest. The tail of Maxwell's brigade reached the bivouac about midnight,
and the whole column was then concentrated.

Meanwhile the mounted force were also on their way.
Like the River Column, they were disordered by the broken ground,
and the XIIth Soudanese, who were unused to camel riding and mounted only
on transport saddles, were soon wearied. After one o'clock many men,
both in the Camel Corps and in the battalion, fell asleep on their camels,
and the officers had great difficulty in keeping them awake. However, the
force reached their point of concentration--about three miles to the
south-east of Firket--at a quarter to three. Here the XIIth Soudanese
dismounted from their camels and became again a fighting unit. Leaving the
extra camels under a guard, Major Burn-Murdoch then advanced towards his
appointed position on the hills overlooking Firket.

The Sirdar moved on again with the infantry at 2.30. The moon had risen
over the rocks to the left of the line of march, but it was only a thin
crescent and did not give much light. The very worst part of the whole
track was encountered immediately the bivouac was left, and the column of
nearly six thousand men had to trickle through one narrow place in single
file. There were already signs of the approach of dawn; the Dervish camp
was near; the Sirdar and his Staff began to look anxious. He sent many
messages to the leading battalions to hurry; and the soldiers, although
now very weary, ran and scrambled through the difficult passage like sheep
crowding through a gate. By four o'clock the leading brigade had cleared
the obstacle, and the most critical moment seemed to have passed.

Suddenly, a mile to the southward, rose the sound of the beating of drums.
Everyone held his breath. The Dervishes were prepared. Perhaps they would
attack the column before it could deploy. Then the sound died away, and
but for the clatter of the marching columns all was again silent. It was
no alarm, but only the call to the morning prayer; and the Dervishes, still
ignorant that their enemies approached and that swift destruction was upon
them, trooped from their huts to obey the pious summons.

The great mass of Firket mountain, still dark in the half-light,
now rose up on the left of the line of march. Between it and the river
stretched a narrow strip of scrub-covered ground; and here, though
obstructed by the long grass, bushes, palm-trees, and holes, the leading
brigade was ordered to deploy. There was, however, as yet only room for the
Xth Soudanese to form line, and the 3rd and 4th Egyptians contented
themselves with widening to column of companies--the 3rd in rear of the
right of the Xth, the 4th in rear of the centre. The force now began to
emerge from the narrow space between the hills and the river, and debouch
into open country. As the space widened No. 1 field battery came into line
on the left, and No. 2 On the right of the Xth Soudanese. A swell of ground
hid Firket village, though it was known to be within a mile, and it was now
daylight. Still there was no sign that the Dervishes were prepared.
It seemed scarcely possible to believe that the advance had not yet been
discovered. The silence seemed to forbode some unexpected attack.
The leading brigade and guns halted for a few minutes to allow MacDonald
to form his battalions from 'fours' into column of companies. Then at five
o'clock the advance was resumed, and at this moment from the shoulder of
Firket mountain there rang out a solitary shot. The Dervish outposts
had at last learned their danger. Several other shots followed in quick
succession, and were answered by a volley from the Xth, and then from far
away to the south-east came the report of a field-gun. The Horse Artillery
battery had come into action. The operation of the two columns
was simultaneous: the surpise of the enemy was complete.

The great object was now to push on and deploy as fast as possible.
The popping of musketry broke out from many points, and the repeated
explosions of the Horse battery added to the eager excitement of
the troops. For what is more thrilling than the sudden and swift
development of an attack at dawn? The Xth Soudanese had now reached
the top of the rise which had hidden Firket, and the whole scene came
into view. To the right front the village of Firket stretched by the side
of the river--a confusion of mud houses nearly a mile in length and
perhaps 300 yards broad. On the landward side the tents and straw shelters
of the Dervish force showed white and yellow. A system of mud walls and
loop-holed houses strengthened the northern end of the village. Behind it
as a background stood lines and clusters of palm-trees, through which the
broad river and the masts of the Arab boats might be seen. In front of the
troops, but a little to their left, rose a low rocky ridge surmounted
with flags and defended by a stone breastwork running along its base.
Across the open space between the village and the hill hundreds of
Dervishes on horse and on foot were hurrying to man their defences,
and others scrambled up the rocks to see for themselves the numbers of
the enemy. Scores of little puffs of smoke already speckled the black
rocks of the ridge and the brown houses of the village.

The attack developed very rapidly. The narrow passage between the mountain
and the river poured forth its brigades and battalions, and the
firing-line stretched away to the right and left with extraordinary speed.
The Xth Soudanese opened fire on the village as soon as they topped
the rise. The 3rd and 4th Egyptians deployed on the right and left of the
leading regiment, two companies of the 4th extending down on to the
foreshore below the steep river-bank. Peake's battery (No. 1) and the Maxim
guns, coming into action from a spur of Firket mountain, began to fire over
the heads of the advancing infantry.

The whole of Lewis's brigade now swung to the right and attacked
the village; MacDonald's, coming up at the double in line of battalion
columns, deployed to the left, inland, round the shoulder of the mountain,
and, bearing away still more to the left, advanced swiftly upon the rocky
ridge. The ground in MacDonald's front was much broken by boulders and
scrub, and a deep khor delayed the advance. The enemy, though taken at
obvious disadvantage, maintained an irregular fire; but the Soudanese,
greatly excited, pressed on eagerly towards the breastworks. When the
brigade was still 200 yards from the ridge, about fifty Dervish horsemen
dashed out from among the rocks and charged the left flank. All were
immediately shot down by a wild but heavy independent fire. With joyful
yells the blacks broke into a run and carried the breastworks at the
bayonet. The Dervishes did not await the shock. As soon as they saw their
horsemen--among whom was the Emir Hammuda himself and Yusef Angar, Emir of
the Jehadia--swept away, they abandoned the first ridge and fell back on
another which lay behind. The Soudanese followed closely, and pursued the
outnumbered enemy up one and down the other side of the rocky hills,
up again and down again, continually shouldering and bringing round the
left of the brigade; until at last the hills were cleared of all except
the dead, and the fugitives were running towards the river-bank. Then the
scattered battalions re-formed facing west, and the panting soldiers
looked about them.

While MacDonald's brigade was storming the hills, Lewis's had advanced
on the village and the Dervish camp. The Arabs from their loopholed houses
made a stubborn resistance, and the 4th battalion by the river-bank were
sharply engaged, their commanding officer, Captain Sparkes, having his
horse shot in four places. Encouraged by their enormous superiority in
number and weapons, the Egyptians showed considerable zeal in the attack,
and their conduct on this occasion was regarded as a very happy augury
for the war, of which this was the first general engagement.

As Lewis's brigade had swung to its right, and MacDonald's had borne away
to the left, a wide gap had opened in the centre of the attack. This was
immediately filled by Maxwell's brigade, so that the whole force was now
formed in one line, which curved and wheeled continually to the right
until, by the time the rocky hills had been taken, all three brigades
practically faced west and were advancing together towards the Nile.
The Dervishes--penned between the river and the enemy, and unable to
prevent the remorseless advance, which every moment restricted them to
narrower limits--now thought only of flight, and they could be seen
galloping hither and thither seeking for some means of escape.
The position of the Desert Column would have enabled the XIIth Soudanese,
by moving down to the river, to cut off this line of retreat; but the
foreshore of the river at the southern end of Firket is concealed from
a landward view by the steep bank, and by this sandy path the greater
number of the fugitives found safety.

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