DAYS OF WAITING AND PREPARATION.
"Everything comes to him who waits," but the weariness of it is
sometimes terrible. Oftentimes waiting is vain, without accompaniment
of hard work. The Sirdar made deliberate choice to carve out a career
in Egypt. He did so in the dark days when the outlook was the reverse
of promising, in nearly every aspect, to a man of action. Abdication
of our task of reconstruction was in the air, the withdrawal of the
British army of occupation a much-talked-of calamity. Through every
phase of the situation, Kitchener stuck to his guns, keeping to
himself his plans for the reconquest of the Soudan. He wrought and
watched while he waited, selecting and surrounding himself with able
officers, and exacting from each diligence and obedience in the
discharge of their duties. The Dongola campaign and the fortuitous one
of the Atbara against Mahmoud greatly strengthened his position. There
might be further delay, but his triumphal entry into Omdurman and the
downfall of the Khalifa were certain. The Sirdar had but to ask, to
receive all the material and men he wished for. He adhered to his
early decision to employ only as many British troops as were actually
necessary to stiffen the Khedivial army, and no more.
After the battle and victory of the Atbara in the spring, the British
troops, or Gatacre's brigade, marched back from Omdabiya by easy
stages to the Nile. The wounded and sick were conveyed into the base
hospital at Dakhala, whence they were afterwards sent down to
Ginenetta or, as it then was, Rail-head. From that point they were, as
each case required, forwarded by train and steamboat to Wady Halfa and
Cairo. It was at Darmali, 12 miles or more north of Dakhala, that the
British soldiers went into summer-quarters. On the 14th of April the
brigade mustered 3818 strong, made up as follows:--833 Camerons, 826
Seaforths, 969 Lincolns, and 665 Warwicks. Two companies of Warwicks
had been left in the Dongola province when the advance was made.
Besides the muster of battalions enumerated, the brigade included a
Maxim battery, detachments of the Army Service Corps, and other
details. The "Tommies" settled down in camp, living under peace
conditions, for with the rout of Mahmoud's men, the nearest dervish
force worth considering was as far off as Shabluka Cataract. Everybody
was bidden to make himself as snug as possible. Outlying houses and
walls were thrown down to secure a free circulation of air. As for
sunlight, that was shut out wherever practicable. The first home
drafts to make up for losses arrived at Darmali on the 23rd of April.
About 130 men then joined. It was thought desirable to maintain the
British battalions at their full strength, and some of them mustered
nearly one thousand strong. As the percentage of sick was continuous,
and the rate increased as the campaign progressed, the actual roll of
men "fit for duty" grew less as we neared Omdurman. Of course,
"youths," and all the "weedy ones," were in the first instance
rejected by the army doctors, and were never permitted to go to the
front. Men over 25 years of age were preferred, and it so happened
that both the Grenadier Guards and the Northumberland Fusiliers had a
high average of relatively old soldiers, and consequently few sick.
From the end of April until the end of May, dull hot days in the
Soudan, leave was granted to officers to run down to Alexandria and
have a "blow" at San Stefano, by the sea-side. There were quite a
number of deaths in the brigade shortly after the men got into camp,
the customary reaction having set in on account of the exposure and
strain precedent to the victory of the Atbara. To reduce the numbers
quartered at Darmali, the Lincolns and Warwicks, on the 19th of April,
were marched a mile farther north along the Nile, to Es Selim, where
they formed a separate encampment, the Camerons and Seaforths
remaining at the first-named place. The average daily number of sick
in the brigade at that period was 100 to 150. On one occasion there
were 190 men reported unfit for duty. Most of the cases were not of a
serious nature, and the patients speedily recovered and returned to
their places in the ranks. There was no lack of stores and even
dainties at the camps, for supplies were carried up by caravan,
escorted by Jaalin friendlies, from Berber and elsewhere. Much of the
sickness in the army was probably due to the men recklessly drinking
unboiled and unfiltered Nile water. At that season the river had sunk
into its narrowest bed, and there were backwashes and sluggish
channels full of light-green tinted water. More filters were procured,
and extra care was taken with all the water used for domestic
purposes.
In May there were route marches twice a week, the brigade going off at
5.30 a.m. and returning about 7.30 a.m., all in the cool of the
morning or such bearable temperature as there was in the 24 hours'
daily round in that month. During these exercises the troops had
plenty of firing practice, being taught to blaze away at bushes, and
occasionally at targets representing dervishes. In that way the
remainder of the million of tip-filed Lee-Metford bullets were
disposed of, for it had been arranged that there was to be a new
cartridge case for the Omdurman campaign. The latest pattern
"man-stopper" was a bullet fashioned with a hollow or crater at the
point, the nickel casing being perforated.
So the days droned past for the British soldiers, with little to do
beyond essaying the impossible of trying to keep cool. It was often
otherwise with the Egyptians, for they had to assist in getting the
railroad through to Dakhala from Ginenetta, in forwarding boats and
stores, and later on in establishing wood stations and cutting fuel
for the steamers. The first of the tropical summer rain showers fell
at Darmali on the 27th of May. On the 18th of June Major-General
Gatacre went off on a shooting excursion up the Atbara, taking with
him a party of ten officers and a few orderlies. They found relatively
little big game but plenty of gazelle and birds. The bodies of the
slain in Mahmoud's zereba at Omdabiya still lay where they fell,
unburied, but dried up and mummified by the sun. Natives had stripped
the place and carried off everything left behind by us. A number of
dervishes were seen lurking about, part of the defeated army of the
enemy, who were afraid to return to Omdurman, anticipating that the
Khalifa would have them killed. Indeed, it appeared that numbers of
the runaways had settled down at New Hilgi, and were attempting to
cultivate. As for the four or five thousand dervish cavalry that
Mahmoud had with him, they also never returned to Omdurman. Quite
probably they made their way back to their original homes in small
bands, rightly believing that Mahdism was doomed. Assured of pardon
and good treatment at our hands, fourteen of the Mahdists and a number
of women came in with General Gatacre's people. No attempt was made by
the dervishes in the neighbourhood to "snipe" the party. They returned
to Darmali on the 27th of June. With the sun gone north came the
rising of the Nile and fresh breezes. The gunboats kept diligently
patrolling the river, watching for any signs of movement on the part
of the Khalifa and his forces. The enemy were reported to be gathering
in large numbers at Omdurman for the coming conflict. As Shendy was
held by a small force of Egyptians, and Metemmeh nominally by the
Jaalin for us, frequent visits were made to those posts. Later on,
other shooting parties went up to Omdabiya and found that there was an
increase in the numbers of natives about, and that flocks and herds
were to be seen grazing in the vicinity. The tribesmen showed that
they had abandoned the Khalifa by tearing the dervish patches off
their clothing. All being quiet, and peace assured in the Dongola
province, the two detached companies of the Warwickshire left Korti
and joined their comrades in Es Selim camp.
July was a very busy month. The river flotilla and transport service
had all to be thoroughly organised for the impending advance. Gunboats
received the final touches and completed their armament. The steamers,
barges and giassas, native sailing craft, underwent thorough repair.
More and still more munitions of war and provisions were sent forward
and stored at Dakhala. That post grew into a formidable camp. The
three new twin-screw gunboats built on the Thames, besides other
ship-work reconstruction, were put together near Abadia, a village
above the Fifth Cataract and north of Berber. The railroad had been
hastily laid and completed to Abadia after the battle of Atbara.
Thither the sections of the barges and steamers needed for the
campaign had been sent by rail from Wady Halfa. Before that date,
engineering and other workshops had been erected at Abadia, which,
because of its favourable position, was chosen for a permanent camp
and industrial centre. Base-hospitals, too, were built there, in order
that the wounded and sick might travel as far as possible by water.
Astonishing as had been the rapidity with which the Wady Halfa Abu
Hamid portion of the desert railroad was laid, smarter work still was
done carrying the line through to the Atbara. The utmost energy was
put forth, after the defeat of Mahmoud, by the Director of Railways,
Major Girouard, R.E., to get the track completed to Dakhala, the
junction of the Atbara with the Nile. Not only the railroad battalion,
which was nearly 3000 strong, but every available Khedivial soldier,
laboured in some way or other at the task. They put their hearts and
thews to the toil, for it was recognised that its completion not only
solved the transport problem, but was a swift and sure means of return
to Egypt. The railroad battalion worked wonders in grading and laying.
Fellaheen and negro, they showed a vim and intelligence in
track-making that Europeans could not surpass. Native lads, some in
their early teens, clothed with little beyond a sense of their own
importance and "army ammunition boots," many sizes too big for their
feet, adjusted the fish-plates and put on the screw nuts. Then, for
those who bore the heavy burden of rails and sleepers and carried
material for the road bed, there were licensed fools, mummers, and
droll mimics, who by their antics revived the lagging spirits of the
gangs. There is an unsuspected capacity for mimicry in what are called
savage men. I have seen Red Indians give excellent pantomimic
entertainments, and aborigines in other lands exhibit high mumming
talent. In the railroad battalion there was an eccentric negro who was
a very king of jesters. From the Sirdar and the Khalifa downwards--for
he was an ex-dervish and had played pranks in Omdurman--none escaped
a parodying portrayal of their mannerisms. He imitated the tones of
their voice and twisted and contorted his face and body to resemble
the originals. Nothing was sacred from that mimic any more than from a
sapper. He showed us Osman Digna's little ways, and gave ghastly
imitations of trials, mutilations and executions by hanging in the
Mahdist camps. And these things were for relaxation, though maybe they
served as a reminder of the dervishes' brutal rule. There were
vexations and jokes of another sort for Major Girouard and those held
tightly responsible for the rapid construction and regular running of
the material trains, as indeed all trains were. When the line had been
laid beyond Abu Dis, for a time known as Rail-head, the camp and
quarters were moved on to the next station. Abu Dis sank in dignity
and population until only a corporal and two men were left to guard
the place and work the sidings. The desert railway being a single
track, frequent sidings are indispensable for the better running of
trains. All the control for working the system was vested in the Wady
Halfa officials. One night there came to them over the wires an
alarmist message to send no more trains to Abu Dis. It was the
corporal who urgently rang up his chiefs. What could it mean? Had they
deserted, or, more likely, were the dervishes raiding the district? A
demand was made from Wady Halfa for the corporal to explain what had
happened. His answer was naive, if not satisfactory: "The wild beasts
have come down from the hills, and we really cannot accept any trains
from any direction." "What do you mean?" was again queried back. So
the corporal and his two men responded: "Sir, there are wild beasts
all around the hut and tent; what can we do? We dare not stir out."
"Light fires, you magnoons," (fools), was the final rejoinder, and the
train service went forward as usual. It appeared that the hyenas and
wolves, wont to snap up a living around the men's camp, bereft of
their pickings were in a state of howling starvation, and had turned
up and made an appeal, by no means mute, to the station guard, which
the latter failed to understand or appreciate. In a remarkably short
space of time the hyenas and pariah dogs had adopted the habit of
scavengering around all the camps and snifting along the track, after
the trains, for stray scraps.
[Illustration: DARMALI (BRITISH BRIGADE SUMMER QUARTERS).]
I returned to Cairo early in July, where, having paid into the
Financial Military Secretary's hands the L50 security required of war
correspondents, intended to cover cost of railway fares south of Wady
Halfa, and for any forage drawn from the stores, I received the
official permit to proceed to the front. All the restrictions as to
the number of correspondents allowed up, which were imposed during the
Atbara campaign, were singularly enough removed, and the "very open
door" policy substituted. In consequence, there was a large number,
over sixteen in all, of so-called representatives of the press at the
front. As an old correspondent aptly observed, some of them
represented anything but journals or journalism, the name of a
newspaper being used merely as a cover for notoriety and medal
hunting. Having secured my warrant to join the Sirdar's army, I
started from Cairo for Assouan and Wady Halfa. The headquarters at
that date were still in Wady Halfa. On the 21st of July the first
detachments of the reinforcements that were to make up the British
force to a division, which Major-General Gatacre was to command, left
Cairo for the south. Thereafter, nearly day by day up to the 9th of
August inclusive, troops were sent forward. These consisted of
artillery, cavalry, the 21st Lancers, baggage animals, Royal
Engineers, Army Service Corps, Medical Corps, and the four battalions
of infantry which were to form the second British brigade. The brigade
in question comprised 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, the 1st
Northumberland Fusiliers, the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, and the 2nd
Battalion Rifle Brigade, together with a battery of Maxims manned by a
detachment of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Brigadier-General the
Honourable N. G. Lyttelton, C.B., commanded the second brigade, whilst
Major-General Gatacre's former command, the 1st British Brigade, was
taken over by Brigadier-General J. Wauchope. The first brigade was
made up of the Lincolns, Warwicks, Seaforths, and Camerons, with six
Maxims. To prepare for eventualities, and clench the special training
he had bestowed upon his men, Major-General Gatacre issued a printed
slip of notes, or hints, to his men. I give the salient points of that
production:--
"1. As the strength of a European force lies in the occupation of and
in movement over open ground, which gives it advantage of fire, so the
strength of a dervish force lies in fighting in depressions of the
ground, or in a jungle country out of which they can pour suddenly and
quickly their thousands of spear-armed warriors, who, unless checked
by a murderous fire, constitute a grave danger, even to a perfectly
disciplined force.
"It follows, then, that a force halted for the night must always be
protected where possible by a zereba, which will check under fire the
attacking dervishes.
"2. That a cleared zone be prepared along outer edge of the zereba.
"3. That a force, when moving, should march at a respectful distance
from jungle cover.
"4. It should have the ground in its front and on its flanks searched
out by cavalry, mounted infantry, or native levies.
"5. That when mounted troops have found the enemy, they must
invariably clear the front of the infantry to enable the latter to use
their rifles.
"6. That brigades must be so trained that each battalion and
individual soldier must know how to get into the best formation with
the least possible delay for meeting the attack of the spearmen, who,
it must be remembered, can move at least three times as quickly as a
British soldier can double.
"To carry out the above, a high standard of training and steadiness is
required, and battalions must be provided with a liberal supply of
cutting tools, felling axes, hand axes and bill hooks to enable them,
the instant the battalion marches into bivouac, to cut down small
trees or strong branches of prickly trees with which to construct a
thorn fence.
"Piquets must be withdrawn at dusk, otherwise they might get
surrounded and cut off, or, in falling back, would possibly suffer
from the defenders of the zereba.
"The protection of the zereba against surprise must depend on the
vigilance of its sentries and piquets which line the fence, and whose
strength will naturally depend on the proximity of the dervishes to
the force. With reliable information, and the ground properly
reconnoitred, a patrol of ten men per company, patrolling constantly
and noiselessly along the inner edge of the zereba, is adequate, so
long as the enemy's dem is say 15 miles distant (a day's march); when
nearer than this, the strength of the piquets to remain awake and
under arms will depend upon the circumstances of the moment.
"All night duties of this nature should be found by companies, so that
portions of the line along its whole length shall be on duty. Words of
command and orders must be given in a low tone; there must be no
shouting and no fires burning till the hour arrives for making the
morning tea. Men should always be allowed to smoke, but should be
warned of the danger of fire in zereba by a cigarette or match-end
thrown into dry grass.
"Officers must sleep immediately behind their men; a certain number
will always be on duty.
"All, officers and men, must sleep in their clothes, boots and
accoutrements, and each man must have his rifle with him. None but
sentries' should be loaded, and bayonets should not be fixed, even by
the patrols, except when there is expectancy of attack. Under no
circumstances should men sleep with their bayonets fixed, or serious
accidents will occur.
"And here, one word about 'alarms.' I do not refer to the assembly by
bugle sound, but what is ordinarily called a panic, in other words a
disgraceful absence of discipline and self-control, which, while
ruining the reputation of the corps concerned as a reliable battalion,
may be the cause of serious mischief, and must be disastrous to the
confidence the General Officer places in its officers and men.
"One of the great advantages accruing to an army on service is the
close association of the officer with the man; each learns something
from the other, and the officer will, in after years, appreciate the
value of the habit he gets into of talking to his men and of storing
up in his mind all sorts of dodges and hints, which assist troops in
the field to make themselves comfortable; more than this, it is in the
field only that the officer can get the opportunity of instilling into
the men's minds the necessity for deliberation under fire, the high
standard of the regiment, its past history, its superiority in
everything to all other regiments in the division, and his confidence
in his men to maintain such a standard of excellence. In many
expeditions it has happened that shots have been fired at nothing,
night after night, thus disturbing the whole force; such bad habits
must be firmly checked."
Before leaving Cairo I had the opportunity of witnessing a trial of
the new siege guns that were to be used in levelling the walls and
defences of Omdurman. To the eastward of Abbassieh barracks, near the
rifle ranges, 150 feet of stone wall had been erected. It was a
replica of part of the structure which the Khalifa had built around
the tomb of the Mahdi, his own grounds, that of his body-guard, and
the more important buildings situated in the centre of the dervish
capital.
The stout rectangular wall at Omdurman stood with its narrowest side
facing the Nile, and its longest sides ran inland from the river for
about a mile. It was twelve feet in height, and even more in places,
ten feet in thickness at the base, tapering to six feet at the top. It
was a well-made structure, laid in mortar and faced on either side
with dressed limestone blocks.
Shortly after six a.m. on the morning of 22nd July, a large number of
officers assembled at the Abbassieh ranges to watch the result of the
experiments of the sham bombardment. Lieutenant-General Sir Francis
Grenfell and staff, Major-General Lyttelton, and many others were
present. It was arranged that the new 5-inch howitzer battery, with
the "Lyddite" or high explosive shells, was to make the first attempt
to breach or throw down the wall. There were six of these new
howitzers, and they were worked by the 37th Field Battery, commanded
by Major Elmslie. Except that the bore was larger, there was little to
distinguish the pieces from the 15-lb. Maxim-Nordenfeldt automatic
recoil guns used at the battle of the Atbara. The latter cannon,
however, only used cordite, whereas the 5-inch howitzer shells are
filled with a picric compound resembling M. Turpin's melinite. For
over ten years Russia has had 100-lb. howitzer batteries in the field,
firing high explosives. It was the Sirdar who insisted upon the
necessity of being supplied with these light and handy cannon. Neither
the velocity nor the range of their shell-fire is great, but it is
enough--4000 yards or thereby--for all practical purposes, and is
fairly accurate. The explosion of the picric shells was very violent,
and the danger area about 300 yards from where they burst. It has been
found that, with about six or eight mules to draw the guns, the
battery was quite mobile. Egyptian drivers were employed, though the
men serving the guns were all British artillerymen. Even the drivers
of the 32nd Field Battery, commanded by Major Williams, had "gippy"
teamsters. Both batteries were drawn by smart Cyprus mules. The
howitzers opened fire at 750 yards from the wall. With few exceptions,
the Lyddite shells hit the mark. Range is given more by increase or
diminution of the charge than elevation or depression of the
howitzers. The guns kicked viciously and ran back at each discharge.
Bursting violently, the shells threw out big sheets of tawny flame,
followed by showers of stones and a cloud of dust and brownish smoke.
It was possible to see the missiles in their flight and note where
they struck. As each shell rushed through the air it made a noise not
unlike an express train passing under a bridge. There were salvoes of
two or three guns, and huge chunks were knocked out of the wall.
Pieces of flying debris frequently dropped at no great distance from
the gunners. It was plain that the shells were bursting upon impact,
and only blowing away the face of the wall to the depth of but a foot
or two. Had there been thick shells with retarding fuses the structure
might have been breached in two or three rounds.
After a preliminary ten rounds had been fired, the wall was closely
inspected. It was seen that infantry might have clambered over the
debris to the top of the structure and jumped down upon the other
side. A strange feature was that wherever the "Lyddite" explosive
failed to detonate the stones and ground around had been transformed
to a deep chrome colour. The battery was moved closer, to about 350
yards from the wall, and the firing was recommenced at that range.
Much better results were obtained, and the upper part of the wall was
knocked away, and easy, practicable breaches made. One of the other
advantages of these new guns is that with reduced firing charges they
become reliable mortars, and the high explosive shells can be dropped
over a wall or building, so as to drive the defenders from their
works. Not a man would have escaped injury had there been an enemy
behind the wall, for blocks of stone were scattered in all directions.
When the howitzers had finished their practice, six rounds were fired
from two 40-lb. Armstrong guns, which were also ordered to assist in
breaching Omdurman's walls. Next to the 7-lb. screw guns the 40-lb.
Armstrong is reputed to be the most accurate shooting cannon in the
British service. Mounted on lofty carriages, these siege guns were
laid to fire at 800 yards range. Oddly enough, one of the 40-lbs.
scored as high a percentage of misses as the howitzers. The great
velocity of the 40-lb. shells, filled with the slower-bursting
gunpowder, carried them well into the part of the wall aimed at, with
the result that, in a few seconds, they made a good breach. The
morning's experiments were concluded by a detachment of the Royal
Irish Fusiliers, under Captain Churches, firing their Maxims against
targets representing bands of dervishes, the dummy enemy being, as
usual, riddled with bullets.
From Cairo to Dakhala, evidence was not lacking that the form and
movement of preparations for the general advance were growing apace.
Every train and boat going south was overloaded with officers, men,
and transport animals, together with munitions of war galore for the
campaign. The gunboats and deserters brought in reports that the
dervishes were concentrating at Omdurman. The strongly defensible
positions of Shabluka, together with the mud forts, had been evacuated
by the dervishes. Very quickly the Sirdar sent small bodies of troops
up stream to occupy suitable positions for wood-cutting and forming
advance camps. In that way the river pass at the Sixth Cataract was
seized without the long anticipated fight for that difficult bit of
country. The Nile highway was at length in the Sirdar's undisputed
possession up to within thirty miles of Omdurman.
There is no dustier journey by rail, or one of an altogether more
uncomfortable nature, than from Cairo to Shellal. It is bad enough in
the so-called winter season, for you have to breathe an atmosphere of
dust the whole way, and are powdered and almost suffocated before you
reach Luxor. The same trip taken in midsummer, in the stuffy, crowded
carriages of the Egyptian lines, is real martyrdom, or something akin
thereto. High speed or over twenty-five miles an hour is not
attempted. Although the journey ordinarily occupies thirty-two hours,
I was forty hours _en route_. There are no refreshment-bars or
restaurants for the supply of palatable food or drink for the fierce
needs of the passengers. I made some provision for the trip, and
managed to survive it, as I have done before, but I cannot forget its
tortures any more than the newest of new-comers. Not until we reached
Assouan could we secure a fair supply of water and get a bath and an
enjoyable meal. That same afternoon, I, with three other
correspondents, was allowed to take passage on barge No. 9, which,
with two giassas, was taken in tow up to Wady Halfa by a sternwheeler.
Among others proceeding on the craft to join the army were
Major-General Wauchope and Surgeon-General Taylor, and a number of
other army medicoes, fresh in their new dignity as officers of the
"Royal Army Medical Corps." Under the instruction of Surgeon-General
Taylor, Surgeon-Major Wilson was good enough to present each of us
with a packet of first field dressings, a kindness which I
appreciated, but of which I hoped not to have need.
[Illustration: GROUP OF STAFF OFFICERS.--COLONEL WINGATE IN CENTRE.]