Shortly before midnight on the 12th of March, 1896, the Sirdar received
instructions from Lord Cromer authorising an expedition into the Dongola
province and directing him to occupy Akasha. The next morning the news
was published in the Times, ostensibly as coming from its correspondent
in Cairo: and the Egyptian Cabinet was convened to give a formal assent
by voting the decree. On the 14th the reserves were called out. On the
15th the Khedive reviewed the Cairo garrison; and at the termination of
the parade Sir H. Kitchener informed him that the earliest battalions
would start for the front that night.
The Egyptian frontier force had always been kept in a condition of
immediate readiness by the restless activity of the enemy. The beginning
of the long-expected advance was hailed with delight by the British
officers sweltering at Wady Halfa and Sarras. On Sunday, the 15th of
March, three days after the Sirdar had received his orders, and before
the first reinforcements had started from Cairo, Colonel Hunter, who
commanded on the frontier, formed a small column of all arms to seize
and hold Akasha. At dawn on the 18th the column started, and the actual
invasion of the territory which for ten years had been abandoned to the
Dervishes began. The route lay through a wild and rocky country--the
debatable ground, desolated by years of war--and the troops straggled
into a long procession, and had several times for more than an hour to
move in single file over passes and through narrow defiles strewn with
the innumerable boulders from which the 'Belly of Stones' has derived
its name. The right of their line of march was protected by the Nile,
and although it was occasionally necessary to leave the bank, to avoid
difficult ground, the column camped each night by the river. The cavalry
and the Camel Corps searched the country to the south and east; for it
was expected that the Dervishes would resist the advance. Creeping
along the bank, and prepared at a moment's notice to stand at bay at
the water's edge, the small force proceeded on its way. Wady Atira was
reached on the 18th, Tanjore on the 19th, and on the 20th the column
marched into Akasha.
The huts of the mud village were crumbling back into the desert sand.
The old British fort and a number of storehouses--relics of the Gordon
Relief Expedition--were in ruins. The railway from Sarras had been
pulled to pieces. Most of the sleepers had disappeared, but the rails
lay scattered along the track. All was deserted: yet one grim object
proclaimed the Dervish occupation. Beyond the old station and near the
river a single rail had been fixed nearly upright in the ground. From
one of the holes for the fishplate bolts there dangled a rotten cord,
and on the sand beneath this improvised yet apparently effective gallows
lay a human skull and bones, quite white and beautifully polished by
the action of sun and wind. Half-a-dozen friendly Arabs, who had taken
refuge on the island below the cataract, were the only inhabitants of
the district.
The troops began to place themselves in a defensive position without
delay. On the 22nd the cavalry and Camel Corps returned with the empty
convoy to Sarras to escort to the front a second and larger column,
under the command of Major MacDonald, and consisting of the XIth and
XIIth Soudanese, one company of the 3rd Egyptians (dropped as a garrison
at Ambigole Wells), and a heavy convoy of stores numbering six hundred
camels. Starting from Sarras on the 24th, the column, after four days'
marching, arrived without accident or attack, and MacDonald assumed
command of the whole advanced force.
Akasha was now converted into a strong entrenched camp, in which an
advanced base was formed. Its garrison of three battalions, a battery,
and the mounted troops, drew their supplies by camel transport from
Sarras. The country to the south and east was continually patrolled, to
guard against a turning movement, and the communications were further
strengthened by the establishment of fortified posts at Semna, Wady
Atira, and Tanjore. The friendly Arab tribes--Bedouin, Kabbabish,
and Foggara--ranged still more widely in the deserts and occupied the
scattered wells. All this time the Dervishes watched supinely from
their position at Fuket, and although they were within a single march
of Akasha they remained inactive and made no attempt to disturb the
operations.
Meanwhile the concentration of the Egyptian army on the frontier was
proceeding. The reservists obeyed the summons to the colours of their
own free will and with gratifying promptness, instead of being tardily
dragged from their homes in chains as in the days of Ismail. All
the battalions of the army were brought up to war strength. Two new
battalions of reservists were formed, the 15th and 16th. The 15th was
placed at Assuan and Korosko on the line of communications. The 16th was
despatched to Suakin to release the two battalions in garrison there
for service on the Nile. The 1st Battalion of the North Staffordshire
Regiment was moved up the river from Cairo to take the place of the
Wady Halfa garrison of six battalions, which had moved on to Sarras and
Akasha. A Maxim battery of four guns was formed from the machine-gun
sections of the Staffordshires and Connaught Rangers and hurried south.
The 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Egyptian Battalions from Cairo were passed in
a continual succession along the railway and river to the front. In all
this busy and complicated movement of troops the Egyptian War Office
worked smoothly, and clearly showed the ability with which it was
organised.
The line of communications from Cairo, the permanent base, to the
advanced post at Akasha was 825 miles in length. But of this distance
only the section lying south of Assuan could be considered as within
the theatre of war. The ordinary broad-gauge railway ran from Cairo to
Balliana, where a river base was established. From Balliana to Assuan
reinforcements and supplies were forwarded by Messrs. Cook's fleet
of steamers, by barges towed by small tugs, and by a number of native
sailing craft. A stretch of seven miles of railway avoids the First
Cataract, and joins Assuan and Shellal. Above Shellal a second flotilla
of gunboats, steamers, barges, and Nile boats was collected to ply
between Shellal and Halfa. The military railway ran from Halfa to
Sarras. South of Sarras supplies were forwarded by camels. To meet the
increased demands of transport, 4,500 camels were purchased in Egypt
and forwarded in boats to Assuan, whence they marched via Korosko to
the front. The British Government had authorised the construction of
the military railway to Akasha, and a special railway battalion was
collected at Assuan, through which place sleepers and other material at
once began to pass to Sarras. The strategic railway construction
will, however, form the subject of a later chapter, which I shall not
anticipate.
By the 1st of April, less than three weeks from the commencement of the
advance, the whole line of communications had been organised and was
working efficiently, although still crowded with the concentrating
troops.
As soon as the 16th Battalion of reservists arrived at Suakin, the IXth
Soudanese were conveyed by transports to Kossier, and marched thence
across the desert to Kena. The distance was 120 miles, and the fact that
in spite of two heavy thunderstorms--rare phenomena in Egypt--it was
covered in four days is a notable example of the marching powers of the
black soldiers. It had been determined that the Xth Soudanese should
follow at once, but circumstances occurred which detained them on the
Red Sea littoral and must draw the attention of the reader thither.
The aspect and history of the town and port of Suakin might afford a
useful instance to a cynical politician. Most of the houses stand on
a small barren island which is connected with the mainland by a narrow
causeway. At a distance the tall buildings of white coral, often five
storeys high, present an imposing appearance, and the prominent chimneys
of the condensing machinery--for there is scarcely any fresh water--seem
to suggest manufacturing activity. But a nearer view reveals the
melancholy squalor of the scene. A large part of the town is deserted.
The narrow streets wind among tumbled-down and neglected houses. The
quaintly carved projecting windows of the facades are boarded up. The
soil exhales an odour of stagnation and decay. The atmosphere is
rank with memories of waste and failure. The scenes that meet the eye
intensify these impressions. The traveller who lands on Quarantine
Island is first confronted with the debris of the projected
Suakin-Berber Railway. Two or three locomotives that have neither felt
the pressure of steam nor tasted oil for a decade lie rusting in the
ruined workshops. Huge piles of railway material rot, unguarded and
neglected, on the shore. Rolling stock of all kinds--carriages, trucks,
vans, and ballast waggons--are strewn or heaped near the sheds. The
Christian cemetery alone shows a decided progress, and the long lines of
white crosses which mark the graves of British soldiers and sailors who
lost their lives in action or by disease during the various campaigns,
no less than the large and newly enclosed areas to meet future demands,
increase the depression of the visitor. The numerous graves of Greek
traders--a study of whose epitaphs may conveniently refresh a classical
education--protest that the climate of the island is pestilential. The
high loopholed walls declare that the desolate scrub of the mainland is
inhabited only by fierce and valiant savages who love their liberty.
For eleven years all trade had been practically stopped, and the only
merchants remaining were those who carried on an illicit traffic with
the Arabs or, with Eastern apathy, were content to wait for better
days. Being utterly unproductive, Suakin had been wisely starved by the
Egyptian Government, and the gloom of the situation was matched by the
poverty of its inhabitants.
The island on which the town stands is joined to the mainland by a
causeway, at the further end of which is an arched gateway of curious
design called 'the Gate of the Soudan.' Upon the mainland stands the
crescent-shaped suburb of El Kaff. It comprises a few mean coral-built
houses, a large area covered with mud huts inhabited by Arabs and
fishermen, and all the barracks and military buildings. The whole is
surrounded by a strong wall a mile and a half long, fifteen feet high,
six feet thick, with a parapet pierced for musketry and strengthened at
intervals by bastions armed with Krupp guns.
Three strong detached posts complete the defences of Suakin. Ten
miles to the northward, on the scene of Sir H. Kitchener's unfortunate
enterprise, is the fort of Handub. Tambuk is twenty-five miles inland
and among the hills. Situate upon a high rock, and consisting only of a
store, a formidable blockhouse, and a lookout tower, this place is safe
from any enemy unprovided with artillery. Both Handub and Tambuk were at
the outset of the campaign provisioned for four months. The third post,
Tokar Fort, lies fifty miles along the coast to the south. Its function
is to deprive the Arabs of a base in the fertile delta of the Tokar
river. The fort is strong, defended by artillery, and requires for its
garrison an entire battalion of infantry.
No description of Suakin would be complete without some allusion to the
man to whom it owes its fame. Osman Digna had been for many years a most
successful and enterprising Arab slave dealer. The attempted suppression
of his trade by the Egyptian Government drove him naturally into
opposition. He joined in the revolt of the Mahdi, and by his influence
roused the whole of the Hadendoa and other powerful tribes of the
Red Sea shore. The rest is upon record. Year after year, at a horrid
sacrifice of men and money, the Imperial Government and the old slaver
fought like wolves over the dry bone of Suakin. Baker's Teb, El Teb,
Tamai, Tofrek, Hashin, Handub, Gemaiza, Afafit--such were the fights of
Osman Digna, and through all he passed unscathed. Often defeated, but
never crushed, the wily Arab might justly boast to have run further and
fought more than any Emir in the Dervish armies.
It had scarcely seemed possible that the advance on Dongola could
influence the situation around Kassala, yet the course of events
encouraged the belief that the British diversion in favour of Italy had
been effective; for at the end of March--as soon, that is to say, as
the news of the occupation of Akasha reached him--Osman Digna separated
himself from the army threatening Kassala, and marched with 300 cavalry,
70 camelry, and 2,500 foot towards his old base in the Tokar Delta. On
the first rumour of his advance the orders of the Xth Soudanese to move
via Kossier and Kena to the Nile were cancelled, and they remained in
garrison at Tokar. At home the War Office, touched in a tender spot,
quivered apprehensively, and began forthwith to make plans to strengthen
the Suakin garrison with powerful forces.
The state of affairs in the Eastern Soudan has always been turbulent.
The authority of the Governor of the Red Sea Littoral was not at this
time respected beyond the extreme range of the guns of Suakin. The
Hadendoa and other tribes who lived under the walls of the town
professed loyalty to the Egyptian Government, not from any conviction
that their rule was preferable to that of Osman Digna, but simply for
the sake of a quiet life. As their distance from Suakin increased, the
loyalty of the tribesmen became even less pronounced, and at a radius of
twenty miles all the Sheikhs oscillated alternately between Osman Digna
and the Egyptian Government, and tried to avoid open hostilities with
either. Omar Tita, Sheikh of the district round about Erkowit, found
himself situated on this fringe of intriguing neutrality. Although he
was known to have dealings with Osman, it was believed that if he had
the power to choose he would side with the Egyptian Government. Early
in April Omar Tita reported that Osman Digna was in the neighbourhood
of Erkowit with a small force, and that he, the faithful ally of the
Government, had on the 3rd of the month defeated him with a loss of four
camels. He also said that if the Egyptian Government would send up a
force to fight Osman, he, the aforesaid ally, would keep him in play
until it arrived.
After a few days of hesitation and telegraphic communication with the
Sirdar, Colonel Lloyd, the Governor of Suakin, who was then in very bad
health, decided that he had not enough troops to justify him in taking
the risk of going up to Erkowit to fight Osman. Around Suakin, as along
the Indian frontier, a battle was always procurable on the shortest
notice. When a raid has taken place, the Government may choose the scale
of their reprisals. If they are poor, they will arrange a counter-raid
by means of 'friendlies,' and nothing more will be heard of the affair.
If they are rich, they will mobilise two or three brigades, and make an
expedition or fight a pitched battle, so that another glory may be added
to the annals of the British army. In the present instance the Egyptian
Government were poor, and as the British Government did not desire to
profit by the opportunity it was determined to have only a small-scale
operation. The Governor therefore arranged a plan for a demonstration
at the foot of the hills near Khor Wintri by means of combined movements
from Suakin and Tokar. The garrison of Suakin consisted of the 1st and
half the 5th Egyptian Battalions; the 16th Egyptian reservists, who had
just replaced the IXth Soudanese, and were as yet hardly formed into a
military body; one squadron of cavalry, one company of Camel Corps, and
some detachments of artillery. The garrison of Tokar consisted of the
Xth Soudanese and a few gunners. From these troops there was organised
in the second week in April, with all due ceremony, a 'Suakin Field
Force.'
The plan of campaign was simple. Colonel Lloyd was to march out from
Suakin and effect a junction with the 'Tokar Column' at Khor Wintri,
where the Erkowit road enters the hills. It was then hoped that Osman
Digna would descend and fight a battle of the required dimensions in the
open; after which, if victorious, the force would return to Suakin and
Tokar.
In order to make the Suakin Column as mobile as possible, the
whole force was mounted on camels, of which more than 1,000 were
requisitioned, as well as 60 mules and 120 donkeys. Two hundred Arabs
accompanied the column to hold these beasts when necessary. Six days'
forage and rations, one day's reserve of water, 200 rounds per man,
and 100 shell per gun were carried. At five o'clock on the afternoon
of Tuesday, the 14th of April, the troops paraded outside the walls of
Suakin, and bivouacked in the open ready to march at daylight.
The next morning the column, which numbered about 1,200 men of all arms,
started. After marching for four or five hours in the direction of Khor
Wintri the cavalry, who covered the advance, came in contact with the
Dervish scouts. The force thereupon assumed an oblong formation: the
mixed Soudanese company and the two guns in front, three Egyptian
companies on each flank, the Camel Corps company in the rear, and the
transport in the centre. The pace was slow, and, since few of the camels
had ever been saddled or ridden, progress was often interrupted by
their behaviour and by the broken and difficult nature of the country.
Nevertheless at about four o'clock in the afternoon, Teroi Wells, eight
miles from Khor Wintri, were reached; and here, having marched nineteen
miles, Colonel Lloyd determined to halt. While the infantry were making
the zeriba, the cavalry were sent on under Captain Fenwick (an infantry
officer employed on the Staff) to gain touch with the Tokar force, who
were expected to have already reached the rendezvous. Apparently under
the belief that Omar Tita and his Arabs would give timely notice of
an attack, the cavalry seem to have neglected many of the usual
precautions, and in consequence at about five o'clock, when approaching
Khor Wintri, they found themselves suddenly confronted with a force of
about 200 Dervish horsemen supported by a large body of infantry. The
squadron wheeled about with promptitude, and began to retire at a
trot. The Dervish horsemen immediately pursued. The result was that the
Egyptians began a disorderly flight at a gallop through the thick and
treacherous scrub and over broken, dangerous ground. Sixteen horses
fell; their riders were instantly speared by the pursuers. Rallying
thirty-eight troopers, Captain Fenwick seized a rocky hillock, and
dismounting with the natural instinct of an infantry soldier, prepared
to defend himself to the last. The remainder of the squadron continued
their flight, and thirty-two troopers, under an Egyptian officer (whose
horse is said to have bolted), arrived at the Teroi zeriba with the
news that their comrades had been destroyed, or had perhaps 'returned
to Suakin,' and that they themselves had been closely followed by the
enemy. The news caused the gravest anxiety, which was not diminished
when it was found that the bush around the zeriba was being strongly
occupied by Dervish spearmen. Two mounted men, who volunteered for the
perilous duty, were sent to make their way through this savage cordon,
and try to find either the remainder of the cavalry or the Tokar Column.
Both were hunted down and killed. The rest of the force continued in
hourly expectation of an attack.
Their suspense was aggravated towards midnight, when the Dervishes began
to approach the zeriba. In the darkness what was thought to be a body of
horsemen was seen moving along a shallow khor opposite the right face of
the defence. At the same moment a loud yell was raised by the enemy on
the other side. An uncontrolled musketry fire immediately broke out. The
guns fired blindly up the valley; the infantry wildly on all sides. The
fusillade continued furiously for some time, and when by the efforts of
the British officers the troops were restrained, it was found that
the Dervishes had retired, leaving behind them a single wounded man.
Occasional shots were fired from the scrub until the morning, but no
fresh attack was attempted by the Dervishes.
Meanwhile Captain Fenwick maintained his solitary and perilous position
on the hillock. He was soon surrounded by considerable bodies of the
enemy, and as soon as it became dark he was sharply attacked. But
the Dervishes fortunately possessed few rifles, and the officers and
troopers, by firing steady volleys, succeeded in holding their ground
and repulsing them. The sound of the guns at Teroi encouraged the
Egyptians and revealed the direction of their friends. With the daylight
the Dervishes, who seem throughout the affair to have been poor-spirited
fellows, drew off, and the detachment, remounting, made haste to rejoin
the main body.
The force, again united, pursued their way to Khor Wintri, where they
found the column from Tokar already arrived. Marching early on the
15th, Major Sidney with 250 men of the Xth Soudanese, the only really
trustworthy troops in the force, had reached Khor Wintri the same
afternoon. He drove out the small Dervish post occupying the khor, and
was about to bivouac, when he was sharply attacked by a force of Arabs
said to have numbered 80 horsemen and 500 foot. The Soudanese fought
with their usual courage, and the Dervishes were repulsed, leaving
thirty dead upon the ground. The regulars had three men wounded.
Up to this point Colonel Lloyd's plan had been successfully carried out.
The columns from Suakin and Tokar had effected a junction at Khor Wintri
on the Erkowit road. It now remained to await the attack of Osman Digna,
and inflict a heavy blow upon him. It was decided, however, in view
of what had occurred, to omit this part of the scheme, and both forces
returned together without delay to Suakin, which they reached on the
18th, having lost in the operations eighteen Egyptian soldiers killed
and three wounded.
Their arrival terminated a period of anxious doubt as to their fate.
The town, which had been almost entirely denuded of troops, was left in
charge of Captain Ford-Hutchinson. At about two o'clock in the afternoon
of the 16th a few stragglers from the Egyptian cavalry with half-a-dozen
riderless horses knocked at the gates, and vague but sinister rumours
spread on all sides. The belief that a disaster had overtaken the
Egyptian force greatly excited the Arabs living within the walls, and
it appeared that they were about to rise, plunder the town, and massacre
the Christians. Her Majesty's ship Scout was, however, by good fortune
in the harbour. Strong parties of bluejackets were landed to patrol the
streets. The guns of the warship were laid on the Arab quarter. These
measures had a tranquillising effect, and order reigned in Suakin until
the return of the Field Force, when their victory was celebrated with
appropriate festivities.
It was announced that as a result of the successful operations the
Dervish enterprise against the Tokai Delta had collapsed, and that
Osman Digna's power was for ever broken. In order, however, that no
unfortunate incident should mar the triumph, the Xth Soudanese were sent
back to Tokar by sea via Trinkitat, instead of marching direct and the
garrison of Suakin confined themselves henceforward strictly to their
defences. Osman Digna remained in the neighbourhood and raided the
friendly villages. On the arrival of the Indian contingent he was
supposed to be within twelve miles of the town, but thereafter he
retired to Adarama on the Atbara river, where he remained during the
Dongola campaign. The fact that no further offensive operations were
undertaken in the Eastern Soudan prevented all fighting, for the
Dervishes were, of course, unable to assail the strong permanent
fortifications behind which the Egyptians took shelter. They
nevertheless remained in actual possession of the surrounding country,
until the whole situation was altered by the successful advance of
powerful forces behind them along the Nile and by the occupation of
Berber.
After the affair of Khor Wintri it was evident that it would not be
possible to leave Suakin to the defence only of the 16th Battalion of
reservists. On the other hand, Sir H. Kitchener required every soldier
the Egyptian army could muster to carry out the operations on the Nile.
It was therefore determined to send Indian troops to Suakin to garrison
the town and forts, and thus release the Xth Soudanese and the Egyptian
battalions for the Dongola Expedition. Accordingly early in the month of
May the Indian Army authorities were ordered to prepare a brigade of all
arms for service in Egypt.
The troops selected were as follow: 26th Bengal Infantry, 35th Sikhs,
1st Bombay Lancers, 5th Bombay Mountain Battery, two Maxim guns, one
section Queen's Own (Madras) Sappers and Miners--in all about 4,000 men.
The command was entrusted to Colonel Egerton, of the Corps of Guides.
On the 30th of May the dreary town of Suakin was enlivened by the
arrival of the first detachments, and during the following week the
whole force disembarked at the rotten piers and assumed the duties of
the defence. It is mournful to tell how this gallant brigade, which
landed so full of high hope and warlike enthusiasm, and which was
certainly during the summer the most efficient force in the Soudan, was
reduced in seven months to the sullen band who returned to India wasted
by disease, embittered by disappointment, and inflamed by feelings of
resentment and envy.
The Indian contingent landed in the full expectation of being
immediately employed against the enemy. After a week, when all the
stores had been landed, officers and men spent their time speculating
when the order to march would come. It was true that there was no
transport in Suakin, but that difficulty was easily overcome by rumours
that 5,000 camels were on their way from the Somali coast to enable the
force to move on Kassala or Berber. As these did not arrive, General
Egerton sent in a proposed scheme to the Sirdar, in which he undertook
to hold all the advanced posts up to the Kokreb range, if he were
supplied with 1,000 camels for transport. A characteristic answer was
returned, to the effect that it was not intended to use the Indian
contingent as a mobile force. They had come as a garrison for Suakin,
and a garrison for Suakin they should remain. This information was not,
however, communicated to the troops, who continued to hope for orders to
advance until the fall of Dongola.
The heat when the contingent arrived was not great, but as the months
wore on the temperature rose steadily, until in August and September the
thermometer rarely fell below 103° during the night, and often rose
to 115° by day. Dust storms were frequent. A veritable plague of flies
tormented the unhappy soldiers. The unhealthy climate, the depressing
inactivity, and the scantiness of fresh meat or the use of condensed
water, provoked an outbreak of scurvy. At one time nearly all the
followers and 50 per cent of the troops were affected. Several
large drafts were invalided to India. The symptoms were painful and
disgusting--open wounds, loosening of the teeth, curious fungoid growths
on the gums and legs. The cavalry horses and transport animals suffered
from bursati, and even a pinprick expanded into a large open sore. It is
doubtful whether the brigade could have been considered fit for active
service after September. All the Europeans suffered acutely from prickly
heat. Malarial fever was common. There were numerous cases of abscess on
the liver. Twenty-five per cent of the British officers were invalided
to England or India, and only six escaped a stay in hospital. The
experiences of the battalion holding Tokar Fort were even worse
than those of the troops in Suakin. At length the longed-for time
of departure arrived. With feelings of relief and delight the Indian
contingent shook the dust of Suakin off their feet and returned to
India. It is a satisfaction to pass from the dismal narrative of events
in the Eastern Soudan to the successful campaign on the Nile.
By the middle of April the concentration on the frontier was completed.
The communications were cleared of their human freight, and occupied
only by supplies and railway material, which continued to pour south at
the utmost capacity of the transport. Eleven thousand troops had been
massed at and beyond Wady Halfa. But no serious operations could take
place until a strong reserve of stores had been accumulated at the
front. Meanwhile the army waited, and the railway grew steadily. The
battalions were distributed in three principal fortified camps--Halfa,
Sarras, and Akasha--and detachments held the chain of small posts which
linked them together.
Including the North Staffordshire Regiment, the garrison of Wady Halfa
numbered about 3,000 men. The town and cantonment, nowhere more than 400
yards in width, straggle along the river-bank, squeezed in between the
water and the desert, for nearly three miles. The houses, offices, and
barracks are all built of mud, and the aspect of the place is brown and
squalid. A few buildings, however, attain to the dignity of two storeys.
At the northern end of the town a group of fairly well-built houses
occupy the river-front, and a distant view of the clusters of
palm-trees, of the white walls, and the minaret of the mosque refreshes
the weary traveller from Korosko or Shellal with the hopes of civilised
entertainment. The whole town is protected towards the deserts by a
ditch and mud wall; and heavy Krupp field-pieces are mounted on little
bastions where the ends of the rampart rest upon the river. Five small
detached forts strengthen the land front, and the futility of an Arab
attack at this time was evident. Halfa had now become the terminus of
a railway, which was rapidly extending; and the continual arrival and
despatch of tons of material, the building of sheds, workshops, and
storehouses lent the African slum the bustle and activity of a civilised
city.
Sarras Fort is an extensive building, perched on a crag of black rock
rising on the banks of the Nile about thirty miles south of Halfa.
During the long years of preparation it had been Egypt's most advanced
outpost and the southern terminus of the military railway. The beginning
of the expedition swelled it into an entrenched camp, holding nearly
6,000 men. From each end of the black rock on which the fort stood a
strong stone wall and wire entanglement ran back to the river. The space
thus enclosed was crowded with rows of tents and lines of animals and
horses; and in the fort Colonel Hunter, commanding the district known as
'Sarras and the South,' had his headquarters.
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.