IN EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.
Arabi Pasha’s rebellion in Egypt in 1882, which was quelled by the
British army under Sir Garnet (afterwards Lord) Wolseley, was notable
chiefly for the bombardment of Alexandria and the battle of Tel-el-Kebir.
At Alexandria, as has been noted in a previous chapter, Gunner Israel
Harding won the Cross for picking up a live shell and immersing it in
water. At Tel-el-Kebir and at Kafrdour the two other V.C.’s of the
campaign were earned in no less gallant style.
The Kafrdour hero was Private Frederick Corbett, of the King’s Royal
Rifle Corps. During the reconnaissance upon this village the leader of
his company, Lieutenant Howard-Vyse, was mortally wounded, and Corbett
obtained leave to remain by the officer’s side while the others went on.
The Egyptians were keeping up a pretty vigorous fire the while, but the
plucky private calmly sat down and bound up the lieutenant’s wounds as
best he could, afterwards carrying him off the field.
Lieutenant W. M. M. Edwards’ exploit at Tel-el-Kebir, where he captured
a battery almost single-handed, is worthy of being related at some
length. It was, perhaps, the most dashing thing done in the war. At
this hard-fought battle four miles of earthworks which the Egyptians
had thrown up in front of their position had to be carried at point of
bayonet. To the Highland Light Infantry and the Royal Irish Fusiliers
was given the post of honour, and as the word of command rang out both
regiments dashed forward at the charge.
Determined not to let the “Faugh-a-Ballagh Boys” be the first in,
Lieutenant Edwards of the Highlanders raced ahead with his storming party
towards the nearest redoubt. He reached the parapet well in advance of
the others, and pulled himself to the top. Then, jumping down among the
Egyptian gunners, revolver in one hand and sword in the other, he shot
the first who attacked him, an officer, through the head.
Another grappled with him, and this man, too, he shot; but while engaged
in this struggle a third Egyptian ran up and knocked him down with
a rammer. Three Highlanders leapt into the battery at this critical
moment, and Edwards was soon upon his feet to lead his men in a charge
upon the guns. His scabbard had been shot away in the fight, and his
claymore broken in two, so after emptying his revolver the lieutenant
took the sword of the artillery officer he had killed and carried on the
fight with that. And in less time than it takes to tell the battery was
captured with its four Krupp guns, all the Egyptian gunners being slain.
After which achievement Edwards sat down on the parapet to bind up the
scalp wound he had received with a towel, in Indian “puggaree” fashion,
afterwards marching to Tel-el-Kebir station, two and a half miles off,
with this decoration on his head. A few months later he wore another
decoration, the Victoria Cross having been bestowed upon him for his
gallantry.
Although it is not a V.C. exploit, I am tempted to include a remarkable
feat performed at Tel-el-Kebir by Major Dalbiac, of the Royal Artillery,
that Dalbiac who fell at Senekal twenty years later.
During the battle the battery which he commanded ran short of ammunition
and no more was to be had. In this dilemma the major resolved that at
all events his guns should not stand idle, so, with a touch of humour
characteristic of him, he ordered them to be limbered up, and took them
forward at a gallop. One can imagine the surprise of the “Gyppies” when
the entire battery came racing up one side of the earthworks and down the
other into their midst, putting them fairly to rout!
In 1883 broke out the Mahdi’s rebellion in the Soudan, which was to give
us endless trouble and to cost the life of Gordon. After Hicks Pasha
had perished miserably at Shekan, and Colonel Valentine Baker with his
Egyptians had been routed at Tokar, Gordon was sent out from England to
conquer the Soudan, and with him went Sir Gerald Graham, who defeated
Osman Digna, the Mahdi’s right-hand man, at El Teb and Tamai.
In the first of these battles, fought on February 29th, 1884, two V.C.’s
were earned; one by a quartermaster-sergeant of the 19th Hussars, who
saved his colonel’s life; and the other by a naval captain who is now the
well-known Admiral Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson, K.C.B. The latter won his
Cross for conspicuous bravery, which his chief, the gallant Sir William
Hewett, V.C., knew well how to appreciate.
The Naval Brigade contributed to form a huge square which moved steadily
down upon the massed Arabs, to whom this was a novel form of fighting. As
the troops approached closer little parties of the enemy dashed out to
fling themselves bravely but vainly upon the bayonets of the front ranks
or be shot down ere they could get so far. The principal Arab attack was
directed against the side on which the sailors were with their Gardner
guns and here Captain Wilson found his opportunity to distinguish himself.
So impetuous was the Arabs’ rush at one time that a slight gap was made
in the square. Seeing this, a fresh party dashed up to break through the
opening, but they had to reckon with Wilson. In a flash he recognised
the danger, and, springing out to meet the enemy, he engaged them
single-handed.
The first Arab he ran through with his sword, but with such vigour that
the blade broke off at the hilt. Nothing daunted at being thus left
weaponless, the stalwart captain clenched his fists and, as the other
Arabs ran in upon him brandishing their spears, let drive right and left
at them in true British style. One after another in quick succession the
sons of the desert were sent rolling over on the ground, and then, some
of the Yorks and Lancasters coming to his assistance, the enemy were
dispersed.
Wonderful as it may appear, Captain Wilson received only a few slight
wounds in this extraordinary pugilistic encounter. In all probability the
surprising nature of his attack so disconcerted the Arabs that they were
at a loss to know how to act.
At Tamai, which was fought on the 13th of the following month, there were
likewise two V.C.’s gained. The first of these fell to the 60th Rifles.
A private of the Royal Sussex having been badly hit, Lieutenant Percival
Marling of the Rifles took him up on his horse, but the poor fellow fell
off almost immediately. Dismounting, the lieutenant nobly gave up his
horse for the purpose of carrying the wounded man off the field, and
although it was a critical moment fought his way to safety on foot.
Private Thomas Edwards, the second hero of the fight, was a “Black Watch”
Highlander who was on transport service with the Naval men, having in his
charge two mules loaded with ammunition. His gun of the battery was under
the command of Lieutenant Almack, R.N., “one of the bravest officers on
the field that morning,” to use Edwards’ own words.
In a sudden rush of the enemy the gun--a Gatling--was surrounded, and of
the three standing by it one, a sailor, was instantly speared. Two of the
“Fuzzy-Wuzzies” then made for Edwards, who put his bayonet through both
of them. The lieutenant, however, was less lucky. Attacked by several
Soudanees, he succeeded in disposing of one with his sword, but before
he had time to recover another nearly sliced his right arm off with a
slashing cut.
In a twinkling Edwards shot the Soudanee dead. There then ran up, he
says in his own account of the incident, three more Soudanees, who threw
themselves upon the helpless officer as he leant against the gun-carriage
and ran their spears through his body. Seeing that Almack was killed and
that he could do nothing more, the brave Highlander, who, by the way,
received a wound on the back of his right hand, took his two mules and
retired, keeping up a fire upon the enemy as he fell back.
Yet another V.C. hero of the Soudan was Gunner Albert Smith, of the
Royal Artillery, the scene of his gallantry being Abu Klea.
The story of this fierce battle makes exciting reading. Late in December
of 1884, Sir Herbert Stewart with a “flying column” of 1500 men was
marching across the Bayuda Desert to Metemmeh, on his way to relieve
Khartoum and Gordon. He had under him a picked fighting force, including
some of the Guards, and they started out from Korti with high hopes of a
speedy march to their goal. They little dreamt of what lay before them.
The water-bottles of the men were soon emptied, and when it was necessary
to refill them it was found that the wily Mahdi had dried up the wells
along the line of route. Only after a toilsome journey of eighty miles
was water reached, though even then it was hardly worth the name. Such as
it was, however, it was priceless to the Tommies, who were half mad with
thirst, and every available receptacle was filled with water.
Another march of a hundred and twenty miles brought the column in sight
of the wells at Abu Klea, and in sight, too, of a strong force of the
enemy. All through the weary night the men waited impatiently by their
arms until morning came to give them a chance of getting at the wells.
Then, in the form of a hollow square, the column advanced, “like some
huge machine, slow, regular, and compact, despite the hail of bullets
pouring in from front, right, and left, and ultimately from the rear.”
Altogether there were over ten thousand Arabs opposed to the little
force, hemming them in all round. There was no avenue of retreat; the
column had to go forward and cut its way through.
Then it was that for the first time in history a British square was
broken. With the utmost fury the Soudanees swept down upon a corner
of the phalanx and by sheer weight of numbers forced a way inside. It
was indeed a critical moment. Colonel Fred Burnaby, of the Royal Horse
Guards, was among the first to be killed, though not before he had slain
several of his assailants; and as more spearsmen poured in, the slaughter
was terrible. But in time the troops rallied. The square was re-formed,
and not one of those daring black-skinned foemen who got inside escaped
to boast of his valour.
It was in this desperate struggle of bayonet versus spear and sword that
Gunner Smith saw his officer, Lieutenant Guthrie, prone on the ground and
at the mercy of the enemy. The gunner had only a handspike for weapon,
but with this he rushed forward, hurling himself like a thunderbolt upon
the Soudanees. He was in the nick of time. One of the warriors was in the
very act of plunging his spear into Guthrie’s breast when the handspike
crashed upon his head and stretched him lifeless.
Standing over the fallen lieutenant’s body, Smith kept the enemy at bay,
and he was still at his post when the ranks had recovered from the shock
of the onset and filled up the gap in the square. Then he was relieved of
his charge, but unfortunately his gallantry had not availed to save the
lieutenant’s life. Guthrie had been mortally wounded when he fell.
* * * * *
Taking a leap of several years, I may fittingly tell here of how some
more recent V.C.’s of the Soudan were won. At Omdurman, where on
September 2nd, 1898, the Khalifa was finally routed, the 21st Lancers
covered themselves with glory through a famous charge, and three of their
number inscribed their names on the Roll of Valour.
It was after the Khalifa’s futile attempt to storm the zereba where the
British troops lay strongly entrenched that the Lancers’ opportunity to
distinguish themselves came. While the main body of the army marched
steadily forward in the direction of Omdurman, the 21st, under Colonel
R. H. Martin, were sent to Jebel Surgham to see if any of the enemy were
in hiding there and to prevent any attempt on their part to occupy that
position.
Away down the bank of the Nile rode the four squadrons, A, B, C, and D,
meeting with scattered parties of dervishes who fired fitfully at them.
Just south of Surgham, behind the hills, some seven hundred or more
Soudanese cavalry and infantry were suddenly espied hiding in a khor, or
hollow, and Colonel Martin passed the word that these were to be cleared
out.
Forming in line, the Lancers galloped forward. As they neared the khor
a sharp musketry fire broke out, which emptied a few saddles, and then
to their dismay they saw that instead of only a few hundred of the enemy
there were nearly three thousand Mahdists concealed there. There was no
time for hesitation. Go forward they must. So, rising in his stirrups,
with sword on high, the colonel cried “Charge!” and, closing in, the
squadrons dashed into their foes.
They went down a drop of three or four feet, plunging into the thick
of the Mahdists. Cutting and thrusting fiercely, they forged their way
through, and with pennons proudly flying at last gained the steep ascent
beyond. Many men, however, were left behind, and but for the devotion of
some like Private Thomas Byrne the number must have been still larger.
Byrne saw four dervishes pursuing Lieutenant Molyneux, who was wounded
and on foot, and although he was himself crippled with a bullet in his
right arm he rode back to the rescue. He tried to use his sword, but
there was no strength in his arm; the weapon dropped from his limp grasp,
and he received a spear wound in the chest. By this time Lieutenant
Molyneux was out of danger, so Byrne galloped off to his troop, which he
regained without further injury. The brave Irish private got the Cross
for his pluck, and, as Mr. Winston Churchill comments in his account of
the deed,[3] Byrne’s wearing it will rather enhance the value of the
Order.
One of the officers to fall in the charge was Lieutenant Robert Grenfell.
To save him, or at least recover his body, Captain P. A. Kenna and
Lieutenant de Montmorency, accompanied by Corporal Swarbrick, dashed back
into the midst of the enemy. They were unsuccessful, De Montmorency’s
horse bolting as they tried to lift poor Grenfell on to it; but the
attempt was a courageous one, and both officers were gazetted V.C. a
little later, Corporal Swarbrick being awarded the Distinguished Service
Medal. Just before this gallant action, I may mention, Captain Kenna had
distinguished himself by saving the life of Major Crole Wyndham, whose
horse had been shot under him, an act which alone entitled him to the
distinction.
[3] _The River War_, vol. ii. p. 141.