A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

The River War

W >> Winston S. Churchill >> The River War




At this moment the Lincoln Regiment began to come up. As soon as the
leading company cleared the right of MacDonald's brigade, they formed line,
and opened an independent fire obliquely across the front of the Soudanese.
Groups of Dervishes in twos and threes were then within 100 yards.
The great masses were within 300 yards. The independent firing lasted two
minutes, during which the whole regiment deployed. Its effect was to clear
away the leading groups of Arabs. The deployment having been accomplished
with the loss of a dozen men, including Colonel Sloggett, who fell shot
through the breast while attending to the wounded, section volleys were
ordered. With excellent discipline the independent firing was instantly
stopped, and the battalion began with machine-like regularity to carry out
the principles of modern musketry, for which their training had efficiently
prepared them and their rifles were admirably suited. They fired on an
average sixty rounds per man, and finally repulsed the attack.

The Dervishes were weak in cavalry, and had scarcely 2,000 horsemen on
the field. About 400 of these, mostly the personal retainers of the various
Emirs, were formed into an irregular regiment and attached to the flag of
Ali-Wad-Helu. Now when these horsemen perceived that there was no more hope
of victory, they arranged themselves in a solid mass and charged the left
of MacDonald's brigade. The distance was about 500 yards, and, wild as was
the firing of the Soudanese, it was evident that they could not possibly
succeed. Nevertheless, many carrying no weapon in their hands, and all
urging their horses to their utmost speed, they rode unflinchingly to
certain death. All were killed and fell as they entered the zone of fire--
three, twenty, fifty, two hundred, sixty, thirty, five and one out beyond
them all--a brown smear across the sandy plain. A few riderless horses
alone broke through the ranks of the infantry.

After the failure of the attack from Kerreri the whole Anglo-Egyptian
army advanced westward, in a line of bayonets and artillery nearly two
miles long, and drove the Dervishes before them into the desert, so that
they could by no means rally or reform. The Egyptian cavalry, who had
returned along the river, formed line on the right of the infantry in
readiness to pursue. At half-past eleven Sir H. Kitchener shut up his
glasses, and, remarking that he thought the enemy had been given 'a good
dusting,' gave the order for the brigades to resume their interrupted march
on Omdurman--a movement which was possible, now that the forces in the
plain were beaten. The brigadiers thereupon stopped the firing,
massed their commands in convenient formations, and turned again towards
the south and the city. The Lincolnshire Regiment remained detached
as a rearguard.

Meanwhile the great Dervish army, who had advanced at sunrise
in hope and courage, fled in utter rout, pursued by the Egyptian cavalry,
harried by the 21st Lancers, and leaving more than 9,000 warriors dead
and even greater numbers wounded behind them.

Thus ended the battle of Omdurman--the most signal triumph
ever gained by the arms of science over barbarians. Within the space of
five hours the strongest and best-armed savage army yet arrayed against a
modern European Power had been destroyed and dispersed, with hardly any
difficulty, comparatively small risk, and insignificant loss
to the victors.




CHAPTER XVI: THE FALL OF THE CITY



Now, when the Khalifa Abdullah saw that the last army that remained to him
was broken, that all his attacks had failed, and that thousands of his
bravest warriors were slain, he rode from the field of battle in haste,
and, regaining the city, proceeded like a brave and stubborn soldier to
make preparations for its defence, and, like a prudent man, to arrange for
his own flight should further resistance be impossible. He ordered his
great war-drum to be beaten and the ombya to be blown, and for the last
time those dismal notes boomed through the streets of Omdurman. They were
not heeded. The Arabs had had enough fighting. They recognised that all was
lost. Besides, to return to the city was difficult and dangerous.

The charge of the 21st Lancers had been costly, but it was not ineffective.
The consequent retirement of the Dervish brigade protecting the extreme
right exposed their line of retreat. The cavalry were resolved to take full
advantage of the position they had paid so much to gain, and while the
second attack was at its height we were already trotting over the plain
towards the long lines of fugitives who streamed across it. With the
experience of the past hour in our minds, and with the great numbers of
the enemy in our front, it seemed to many that a bloody day lay before us.
But we had not gone far when individual Dervishes began to walk towards the
advancing squadrons, throwing down their weapons, holding up their hands,
and imploring mercy.

As soon as it was apparent that the surrender of individuals was accepted,
the Dervishes began to come in and lay down their arms--at first by twos
and threes, then by dozens, and finally by scores. Meanwhile those who were
still intent on flight made a wide detour to avoid the cavalry,
and streamed past our front at a mile's distance in uninterrupted
succession. The disarming and escorting of the prisoners delayed our
advance, and many thousands of Dervishes escaped from the field. But the
position of the cavalry and the pressure they exerted shouldered the routed
army out into the desert, so that retiring they missed the city of Omdurman
altogether, and, disregarding the Khalifa's summons to defend it and the
orders of their Emirs; continued their flight to the south. To harry and
annoy the fugitives a few troops were dismounted with carbines, and a
constant fire was made on such as did not attempt to come in and surrender.
Yet the crowds continued to run the gauntlet, and at least 20,000 men made
good their escape. Many of these were still vicious, and replied to our
fire with bullets, fortunately at very long range. It would have been
madness for 300 Lancers to gallop in among such masses, and we had to
be content with the results of the carbine fire.

While all this had been going on, the advance of the army on Omdurman
was continuing. Nor was it long before we saw the imposing array of
infantry topping the sandhills near Surgham and flooding out into the
plain which lay between them and the city. High over the centre brigade
flew the Black Flag of the Khalifa, and underneath a smaller flash of red
marked the position of the Headquarters Staff. The black masses of men
continued to move slowly across the open ground while we fired at the
flying Arabs, and at twelve o'clock we saw them halt near the river about
three miles from the city. Orders now reached us to join them, and as the
sun was hot, the day dragged, all were tired and hungry, and the horses
needed water, we were not long in complying, and the remnants of the
Dervish army made good their retreat unmolested.

We marched back to the Nile. The whole force had halted to drink, to eat,
and to rest at Khor Shambat. The scene was striking. Imagine a six hundred
yards stretch of the Suez Canal. Both banks are crowded with brown- or
chocolate-clad figures. The northern side is completely covered with the
swarming infantry of the British division. Thousands of animals--the horses
of the cavalry, the artillery mules, the transport camels--fill the spaces
and the foreground. Multitudes of khaki-clad men are sitting in rows on the
slopes. Hundreds are standing by the brim or actually in the red muddy
water. All are drinking deeply. Two or three carcasses, lying in the
shallows, show that the soldiers are thirsty rather than particular.
On all sides water-bottles are being filled from the welcome Nile, which
has come into the desert to refresh the weary animals and men.

During the attack on MacDonald's brigade the Egyptian cavalry had
watched from their position on the southern slopes of the Kerreri Hills,
ready to intervene, if necessary, and support the infantry by a charge.
As soon as the Dervish onsets had ended and the whole mass had begun to
retreat, Broadwood's cavalry brigade formed in two lines, of four and of
five squadrons respectively, and advanced in pursuit--first west for two
miles, and then south-west for three miles more towards the Round-topped
Hill. Like the 21st Lancers, they were delayed by many Dcrvishes who threw
down their arms and surrendered, and whom it was necessary to escort to
the river. But as they drew nearer the mass of the routed army, it became
apparent that the spirit of the enemy was by no means broken. Stubborn men
fired continually as they lay wounded, refusing to ask for quarter--
doubting, perhaps, that it would be granted. Under every bush that gave
protection from the lances of the horsemen little groups collected to make
a desperate stand. Solitary spearmen awaited unflinching the charge of a
whole squadron. Men who had feigned death sprang up to fire an unexpected
shot. The cavalry began to suffer occasional casualties. In proportion as
they advanced the resistance of the enemy increased. The direct pursuit had
soon to be abandoned, but in the hope of intercepting some part of the
retreating mob Major Le Gallais, who commanded the three leading squadrons,
changed direction towards the river, and, galloping nearly parallel to
Khor Shambat, charged and cut into the tail of the enemy's disordered array.
The Arabs, however, stood their ground, and, firing their rifles wildly in
all directions, killed and wounded a good many horses and men, so that the
squadrons were content to bring up their right still more, and finally to
ride out of the hornet swarm, into which they had plunged, towards
Surgham Hill. The pursuit was then suspended, and the Egyptian cavalry
joined the rest of the army by the Nile.

It was not until four o'clock that the cavalry received orders to ride
round the outside of the city and harry such as should seek to escape.
The Egyptian squadrons and the 21st Lancers started forthwith, and,
keeping about a mile from the houses of the suburbs, proceeded to make the
circle of the town. The infantry had already entered it, as was evident
from a continual patter of shots and an occasional rattle of the Maxim guns.
The leading Soudanese brigade--Maxwell's--had moved from Khor Shambat at
2.30, formed in line of company columns and in the following order:-

^ Direction of Advance ^
XIVth XIIth Maxims 8th 32nd XIIIth
Soudanese Soudanese Egyptians Field Battery Soudanese


The Sirdar, attended by his whole Staff, with the Black Flag of the Khalifa
carried behind him and accompanied by the band of the XIth Soudanese, rode
in front of the XIVth battalion. The regiments were soon enveloped by the
numberless houses of the suburbs and divided by the twisting streets;
but the whole brigade pressed forward on a broad front. Behind followed the
rest of the army--battalion after battalion, brigade after brigade--
until all, swallowed up by the maze of mud houses, were filling the open
spaces and blocking and choking the streets and alleys with solid masses of
armed men, who marched or pushed their way up to the great wall.

For two miles the progress through the suburbs continued, and the General,
hurrying on with his Staff, soon found himself, with the band, the Maxims,
and the artillery, at the foot of the great wall. Several hundred Dervishes
had gathered for its defence; but the fact that no banquette had been made
on which they could stand to fire prevented their resistance from being
effective. A few ill-aimed shots were, however, fired, to which the Maxim
guns replied with vigour. In a quarter of an hour the wall was cleared.
The Sirdar then posted two guns of the 32nd Field Battery at its northern
angle, and then, accompanied by the remaining four guns and the XIVth
Soudanese, turned eastwards and rode along the foot of the wall towards
the river, seeking some means of entry into the inner city. The breach made
by the gunboats was found temporarily blocked by wooden doors, but the main
gate was open, and through this the General passed into the heart of
Omdurman. Within the wall the scenes were more terrible than in the suburbs.
The effects of the bombardment were evident on every side. Women and
children lay frightfully mangled in the roadway. At one place a whole
family had been crushed by a projectile. Dead Dervishes, already in the
fierce heat beginning to decompose, dotted the ground. The houses were
crammed with wounded. Hundreds of decaying carcasses of animals filled the
air with a sickening smell. Here, as without the wall, the anxious
inhabitants renewed their protestations of loyalty and welcome;
and interpreters, riding down the narrow alleys, proclaimed the merciful
conditions of the conquerors and called on the people to lay down
their arms. Great piles of surrendered weapons rose in the streets,
guarded by Soudanese soldiers. Many Arabs sought clemency; but there were
others who disdained it; and the whirring of the Maxims, the crashes of
the volleys, and a continual dropping fire attested that there was fighting
in all parts of the city into which the columns had penetrated.
All Dervishes who did not immediately surrender were shot or bayoneted,
and bullets whistled at random along or across the streets. But while women
crowded round his horse, while sullen men filed carefully from houses,
while beaten warriors cast their spears on the ground and others, still
resisting, were despatched in corners, the Sirdar rode steadily onward
through the confusion, the stench, and the danger, until he reached
the Mahdi's Tomb.

At the mosque two fanatics charged the Soudanese escort,
and each killed or badly wounded a soldier before he was shot.
The day was now far spent, and it was dusk when the prison was reached.
The General was the first to enter that foul and gloomy den. Charles
Neufeld and some thirty heavily shackled prisoners were released. Neufeld,
who was placed on a pony, seemed nearly mad with delight, and talked and
gesticulated with queer animation. 'Thirteen years,' he said to his rescuer,
'have I waited for this day.' From the prison, as it was now dark,
the Sirdar rode to the great square in front of the mosque, in which his
headquarters were established, and where both British brigades were already
bivouacking. The rest of the army settled down along the roadways through
the suburbs, and only Maxwell's brigade remained in the city to complete
the establishment of law and order--a business which was fortunately hidden
by the shades of night.

While the Sirdar with the infantry of the army was taking possession
of Omdurman, the British and Egyptian cavalry had moved round to the west
of the city. There for nearly two hours we waited, listening to the
dropping fusillade which could be heard within the great wall and wondering
what was happening. Large numbers of Dervishes and Arabs, who, laying aside
their jibbas, had ceased to be Dervishes, appeared among the houses at the
edge of the suburbs. Several hundreds of these, with two or three Emirs,
came out to make their submission; and we were presently so loaded with
spears and swords that it was impossible to carry them, and many
interesting trophies had to be destroyed. It was just getting dark when
suddenly Colonel Slatin galloped up. The Khalifa had fled! The Egyptian
cavalry were at once to pursue him. The 21st Lancers must await further
orders. Slatin appeared very much in earnest. He talked with animated
manner to Colonel Broadwood, questioned two of the surrendered Emirs
closely, and hurried off into the dusk, while the Egyptian squadrons,
mounting, also rode away at a trot.

It was not for some hours after he had left the field of battle
that Abdullah realised that his army had not obeyed his summons,
but were continuing their retreat, and that only a few hundred Dervishes
remained for the defence of the city. He seems, if we judge from the
accounts of his personal servant, an Abyssinian boy, to have faced the
disasters that had overtaken him with singular composure. He rested until
two o'clock, when he ate some food. Thereafter he repaired to the Tomb,
and in that ruined shrine, amid the wreckage of the shell-fire,
the defeated sovereign appealed to the spirit of Mohammed Ahmed to help him
in his sore distress. It was the last prayer ever offered over the Mahdi's
grave. The celestial counsels seem to have been in accord with the dictates
of common-sense, and at four o'clock the Khalifa, hearing that the Sirdar
was already entering the city, and that the English cavalry were on the
parade ground to the west, mounted a small donkey, and, accompanied by his
principal wife, a Greek nun as a hostage, and a few attendants, rode
leisurely off towards the south. Eight miles from Omdurman a score of swift
camels awaited him, and on these he soon reached the main body of his
routed army. Here he found many disheartened friends; but the fact that,
in this evil plight, he found any friends at all must be recorded in his
favour and in that of his subjects. When he arrived he had no escort--
was, indeed, unarmed. The fugitives had good reason to be savage.
Their leaders had led them only to their ruin. To cut the throat of this
one man who was the cause of all their sufferings was as easy as they would
have thought it innocent. Yet none assailed him. The tyrant, the oppressor,
the scourge of the Soudan, the hypocrite, the abominated Khalifa;
the embodiment, as he has been depicted to European eyes, of all the vices;
the object, as he was believed in England, of his people's bitter hatred,
found safety and welcome among his flying soldiers. The surviving Emirs
hurried to his side. Many had gone down on the fatal plain. Osman Azrak,
the valiant Bishara, Yakub, and scores whose strange names have not
obscured these pages, but who were, nevertheless, great men of war,
lay staring up at the stars. Yet those who remained never wavered in their
allegiance. Ali-Wad-Helu, whose leg had been shattered by a shell splinter,
was senseless with pain; but the Sheikh-ed-Din, the astute Osman Digna,
lbrahim Khalil, who withstood the charge of the 21st Lancers, and others
of less note rallied to the side of the appointed successor of Mohammed
Ahmed, and did not, even in this extremity, abandon his cause. And so all
hurried on through the gathering darkness, a confused and miserable
multitude--dejected warriors still preserving their trashy rifles,
and wounded men hobbling pitifully along; camels and donkeys laden with
household goods; women crying, panting, dragging little children; all in
thousands--nearly 30,000 altogether; with little food and less water to
sustain them; the desert before them, the gunboats on the Nile,
and behind the rumours of pursuit and a broad trail of dead and dying
to mark the path of flight.

Meanwhile the Egyptian cavalry had already started on their
fruitless errand. The squadrons were greatly reduced in numbers.
The men carried food to suffice till morning, the horses barely enough to
last till noon. To supplement this slender provision a steamer had been
ordered up the river to meet them the next day with fresh supplies.
The road by the Nile was choked with armed Dervishes, and to avoid these
dangerous fugitives the column struck inland and marched southward towards
some hills whose dark outline showed against the sky. The unknown ground
was difficult and swampy. At times the horses floundered to their girths
in wet sand; at others rocky khors obstructed the march; horses and camels
blundered and fell. The darkness complicated the confusion. At about ten
o'clock Colonel Broadwood decided to go no further till there was more
light. He therefore drew off the column towards the desert, and halted on
a comparatively dry spot. Some muddy pools, which were luckily discovered,
enabled the bottles to be filled and the horses to be watered. Then, having
posted many sentries, the exhausted pursuers slept, waking from time to
time to listen to the intermittent firing which was still audible,
both from the direction of Omdurman and from that in which
the Dervish army was flying.

At 3 A.M. on the 3rd Colonel Broadwood's force moved on again.
Men and horses seemed refreshed, and by the aid of a bright moon
the ground was covered at a good pace. By seven o'clock the squadrons
approached the point on the river which had been fixed for meeting the
steamer. She had already arrived, and the sight of the funnel in the
distance and the anticipation of a good meal cheered everyone, for they had
scarcely had anything to eat since the night before the battle. But as the
troopers drew nearer it became evident that 300 yards of shallow water and
deep swamp intervened between them and the vessel. Closer approach was
prevented. There was no means of landing the stores. In the hopes of
finding a suitable spot further up the stream the march was resumed.
The steamer kept pace along the river. The boggy ground delayed the columns,
but by two o'clock seven more miles had been covered. Only the flag at the
masthead was now visible; and an impassable morass separated the force from
the river bank. It was impossible to obtain supplies. Without food it was
out of the question to go on. Indeed, great privations must, as it was,
accompany the return march. The necessity was emphasised by the reports
of captured fugitives, who all told the same tale. The Khalifa had
pushed on swiftly, and was trying to reorganise his army. Colonel Broadwood
thereupon rested his horses till the heat of the day was over, and then
began the homeward march. It was not until eleven o'clock on the 4th of
September that the worn-out and famished cavalry reached their camp
near Omdurman.

Such was the pursuit as conducted by the regular troops. Abdel-Azim,
with 750 Arabs, persisted still further in the chase. Lightly equipped,
and acquainted with the country, they reached Shegeig, nearly a hundred
miles south of Khartoum, on the 7th. Here they obtained definite
information. The Khalifa had two days' start, plenty of food and water,
and many camels. He had organised a bodyguard of 500 Jehadia, and was,
besides, surrounded by a large force of Arabs of various tribes.
With this numerous and powerful following he was travelling day and night
towards El Obeid, which town was held by an unbeaten Dervish garrison of
nearly 3,000 men. On hearing these things the friendly Arabs determined
--not unwisely--to abandon the pursuit, and came boastfully back
to Omdurman.

In the battle and capture of Omdurman the losses of the Expeditionary
Force included the following British officers killed: Capt. G. Caldecott,
1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Lieut. R.G. Grenfell, 12th Royal Lancers,
attached 21st Lancers; Hon. H. Howard, correspondent of the TIMES.
In total, the British Division and Egyptian Army suffered 482 men killed
or wounded.

The Dervish losses were, from computations made on the field and corrected
at a later date, ascertained to be 9,700 killed, and wounded variously
estimated at from 10,000 to 16,000. There were, besides, 5,000 prisoners.




CHAPTER XVII: 'THE FASHODA INCIDENT'



The long succession of events, of which I have attempted
to give some account, has not hitherto affected to any great extent other
countries than those which are drained by the Nile. But this chapter
demands a wider view, since it must describe an incident which might easily
have convulsed Europe, and from which far-reaching consequences have arisen.
It is unlikely that the world will ever learn the details of the subtle
scheme of which the Marchand Mission was a famous part. We may say with
certainty that the French Government did not intend a small expedition,
at great peril to itself, to seize and hold an obscure swamp on the Upper
Nile. But it is not possible to define the other arrangements. What part
the Abyssinians were expected to play, what services had been rendered them
and what inducements they were offered, what attitude was to be adopted to
the Khalifa, what use was to be made of the local tribes: all this is
veiled in the mystery of intrigue. It is well known that for several years
France, at some cost to herself and at a greater cost to Italy, had courted
the friendship of Abyssinia, and that the weapons by which the Italians
were defeated at Adowa had been mainly supplied through French channels.
A small quick-firing gun of continental manufacture and of recent make
which was found in the possession of the Khalifa seems to point to
the existence or contemplation of similar relations with the Dervishes.
But how far these operations were designed to assist the Marchand Mission
is known only to those who initiated them, and to a few others who have so
far kept their own counsel.

The undisputed facts are few. Towards the end of 1896 a French expedition
was despatched from the Atlantic into the heart of Africa under the command
of Major Marchand. The re-occupation of Dongola was then practically
complete, and the British Government were earnestly considering the
desirability of a further advance. In the beginning of 1897 a British
expedition, under Colonel Macdonald, and comprising a dozen carefully
selected officers, set out from England to Uganda, landed at Mombassa,
and struck inland. The misfortunes which fell upon this enterprise are
beyond the scope of this account, and I shall not dwell upon the local
jealousies and disputes which marred it. It is sufficient to observe that
Colonel Macdonald was provided with Soudanese troops who were practically
in a state of mutiny and actually mutinied two days after he assumed
command. The officers were compelled to fight for their lives.
Several were killed. A year was consumed in suppressing the mutiny and the
revolt which arose out of it. If the object of the expedition was to reach
the Upper Nile, it was soon obviously unattainable, and the Government were
glad to employ the officers in making geographical surveys.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.