All through the early months of the summer the preparations for the
final advance were steadily proceeding. A second British brigade
was ordered to the Soudan. A new battery of Howitzer artillery--the
37th--firing enormous shells charged with lyddite, was despatched from
England. Two large 40-pounder guns were sent from Cairo. Another British
Maxim battery of four guns was formed in Cairo from men of the Royal
Irish Fusiliers. Three new screw gunboats of the largest size and most
formidable pattern had been passed over the indefatigable railway in
sections, and were now launched on the clear waterway south of the
Atbara encampment; and last, but not least, the 21st Lancers [The author
led a troop in this regiment during the final advance to Omdurman; and
it is from this standpoint that the ensuing chapters are to some extent
conceived] were ordered up the Nile. Events now began to move rapidly.
Within three weeks of the arrival of the reinforcements the climax of
the war was over; within five weeks the British troops were returning
home. There was no delay at the Atbara encampment. Even before the whole
of the second brigade had arrived, some of its battalions were being
despatched to Wad Hamed, the new point of concentration. This place was
a few miles north of Shabluka, and only fifty-eight miles from Omdurman.
It was evident, therefore, that the decisive moment of the three years'
war approached. The Staff, the British infantry, one squadron, the guns,
and the stores were carried south in steamers and barges. The Egyptian
division marched to Wad Hamed by brigades. The horses of the batteries,
the transport animals of the British division (about 1,400 in number),
the chargers of the officers, some cattle, and most of the war
correspondents were sent along the left bank of the river escorted by
two squadrons of the 21st Lancers and two Maxim guns.
All the thirteen squadrons of cavalry remained three days at Wad Hamed.
After the fatigues of the march we were glad to have an opportunity of
looking about, of visiting regiments known in other circumstances, and
of writing a few letters. This last was the most important, for it
was now known that after leaving Wad Hamed there would be no post or
communication with Cairo and Europe until the action had been fought and
all was over. The halt was welcome for another reason. The camp itself
was well worth looking at. It lay lengthways along the river-bank, and
was nearly two miles from end to end. The Nile secured it from attack
towards the east. On the western and southern sides were strong lines of
thorn bushes, staked down and forming a zeriba; and the north face was
protected by a deep artificial watercourse which allowed the waters of
the river to make a considerable inundation. From the bank of this work
the whole camp could be seen. Far away to the southward the white tents
of the British division; a little nearer rows and rows of grass huts and
blanket shelters, the bivouacs of the Egyptian and Soudanese brigades;
the Sirdar's large white tent, with the red flag of Egypt flying from
a high staff, on a small eminence; and to the right the grove of
palm-trees in which the officers of the Egyptian cavalry had established
themselves. The whole riverside was filled by a forest of masts. Crowds
of gyassas, barges, and steamers were moored closely together; and while
looking at the furled sails, the tangled riggings, and the tall funnels
it was easy for the spectator to imagine that this was the docks of some
populous city in a well-developed and civilised land.
But the significance of the picture grew when the mind, outstripping the
eye, passed beyond the long, low heights of the gorge and cataract
of Shabluka and contemplated the ruins of Khartoum and the city of
Omdurman. There were known to be at least 50,000 fighting men collected
in their last stronghold. We might imagine the scene of excitement,
rumour, and resolve in the threatened capital. The Khalifa declares that
he will destroy the impudent invaders. The Mahdi has appeared to him in
a dream. Countless angelic warriors will charge with those of Islam.
The 'enemies of God' will perish and their bones will whiten the broad
plain. Loud is the boasting, and many are the oaths which are taken, as
to what treatment the infidel dogs shall have when they are come to the
city walls. The streets swarm with men and resound with their voices.
Everywhere is preparation and defiance. And yet over all hangs the dark
shadow of fear. Nearer and nearer comes this great serpent of an army,
moving so slowly and with such terrible deliberation, but always moving.
A week ago it was sixty miles away, now it is but fifty. Next week only
twenty miles will intervene, and then the creep of the serpent will
cease, and, without argument or parley, one way or the other the end
will come.
The road to the next camp was a long one; for though Royan island,
opposite to which the site had been selected, was only seven miles in
the direct line, it was necessary to march eight miles into the desert
to avoid the Shabluka heights, and then to turn back to the Nile.
The infantry were therefore provided with camel transport to carry
sufficient water in small iron tanks for one night; and they were
thus able to bivouac half-way, and to complete the journey on the next
morning, thus making a two days' march. The mounted troops, who remained
at Wad Hamed till all had gone south, were ordered to move on the 27th
of August, and by a double march catch up the rest of the army.
Wad Hamed then ceased for the time being to exist except in name. All
the stores and transport were moved by land or water to the south
of Shabluka, and an advanced base was formed upon Royan island.
Communications with the Atbara encampment and with Cairo were dropped,
and the army carried with them in their boats sufficient supplies to
last until after the capture of Omdurman, when the British division
would be immediately sent back. It was calculated that the scope of this
operation would not be greater than three weeks, and on the 27th the
army were equipped with twenty-one days' supplies, of which two were
carried by the troops, five by the regimental barges, and fourteen in
the army transport sailing-vessels. All surplus stores were deposited at
Royan island, where a field hospital was also formed.
The Expeditionary Force which was thus concentrated, equipped, and
supplied for the culminating moment of the River War, was organised as
follows:
Commander-in-Chief: THE SIRDAR
The British Division: MAJOR-GENERAL GATACRE Commanding
1st Brigade 2nd Brigade
BRIGADIER-GEN. WAUCHOPE BRIGADIER-GEN. LYTTELTON
1st Btn. Royal Warwickshire Regt. 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards
" " Lincoln Regiment " " Northumberland Fusiliers
" " Seaforth Highlanders 2nd " Lancashire Fusiliers
" " Cameron Highlanders " " Rifle Brigade
The Egyptian Division: MAJOR-GENERAL HUNTER Commanding
1st Brigade 2nd Brigade 3rd Brigade 4th Brigade
COL. MACDONALD COL. MAXWELL COL. LEWIS COL. COLLINSON
2nd Egyptians 8th Egyptians 3rd Egyptians 1st Egyptians
IXth Soudanese XIIth Soudanese 4th " 5th (half) "
Xth " XIIIth " 7th " 17th "
XIth " XIVth " 15th " 18th "
Mounted Forces
21st Lancers Camel Corps Egyptian Cavalry
COLONEL MARTIN MAJOR TUDWAY COLONEL BROADWOOD
4 squadrons 8 companies 9 squadrons
Artillery: COLONEL LONG Commanding
(British) 32nd Field Battery, R.A.(with two 40-pounder guns) 8 guns
" 37th " " " (5-inch Howitzers). 6 guns
(Egyptian) The Horse Battery, E.A. (Krupp). . . 6 guns
" No. 1 Field Battery, E.A. (Maxim-Nordenfeldt) 6 guns
" No. 2 " " " . . . . 6 guns
" No. 3 " " " . . . . 6 guns
" No. 4 " " " . . . . 6 guns
Machine Guns
(British) Detachment 16th Co. Eastern Division R.A.. 6 Maxim
" " Royal Irish Fusiliers . . 4 "
(Egyptian) 2 Maxim guns to each of the five
Egyptian batteries . . . . 10 "
Engineers
Detachment of Royal Engineers
The Flotilla: COMMANDER KEPPEL
1898 Class Armoured Screw Gunboats (3): the Sultan, the Melik, the Sheikh
each carrying: 2 Nordenfeldt guns
1 quick-firing 12-pounder gun
1 Howitzer
4 Maxims
1896 Class Armoured Screw Gunboats (3): the Fateh, The Naser, the Zafir
each carrying: 1 quick-firing 12-pounder gun
2 6-pounder guns
4 Maxims
Old Class Armoured Stern-wheel Gunboats (4): the Tamai, the Hafir*,
the Abu Klea, the Metemma
each carrying: 1 12-pounder gun
2 Maxim-Nordenfeldt guns
Steam Transport
5 Steamers: The Dal, The Akasha, the Tahra, The Okma, the Kaibar
[*The steamer El Teb, wrecked at the Fourth Cataract in 1897, had been
refloated, and to change the luck was renamed Hafir.]
The total strength of the Expeditionary Force amounted to 8,200 British
and 17,600 Egyptian soldiers, with 44 guns and 20 Maxims on land, with
36 guns and 24 Maxims on the river, and with 2,469 horses, 896 mules,
3,524 camels, and 229 donkeys, besides followers and private animals.
While the army were to move along the west bank of the river--the
Omdurman side--a force of Arab irregulars, formed from the friendly
tribes, would march along the east bank and clear it of any Dervishes.
All the debris which the Egyptian advance had broken off the Dervish
Empire was thus to be hurled against that falling State. Eager for
plunder, anxious to be on the winning side, Sheikhs and Emirs from every
tribe in the Military Soudan had hurried, with what following the years
of war had left them, to Wad Hamed. On the 26th of August the force of
irregulars numbered about 2,500 men, principally Jaalin survivors, but
also comprising bands and individuals of Bisharin; of Hadendoa from
Suakin; of Shukria, the camel-breeders; of Batahin, who had suffered
a bloody diminution at the Khalifa's hands; of Shaiggia, Gordon's
vexatious allies; and lastly some Gellilab Arabs under a reputed son of
Zubehr Pasha. The command of the whole motley force was given to Major
Stuart-Wortley, Lieutenant Wood accompanying him as Staff Officer; and
the position of these officers among the cowed and untrustworthy Arabs
was one of considerable peril.
While the infantry divisions were marching round the heights of Shabluka
to the camp opposite Royan island, the steamers and gunboats ascended
the stream and passed through the gorge, dragging up with them the whole
fleet of barges and gyassas. The northern end of the narrow passage had
been guarded by the five Dervish forts, which now stood deserted
and dismantled. They were well built, and formed nearly a straight
line--four on one bank and one on the other. Each fort had three
embrasures, and might, when occupied, have been a formidable defence to
the cataract.
Threshing up against the current, the gunboats and stern-wheelers one
after another entered the gorge. The Nile, which below is nearly a mile
across, narrows to a bare 200 yards. The pace of the stream becomes more
swift. Great swirls and eddies disturb its surface. High on either
side rise black, broken, and precipitous cliffs, looking like piles of
gigantic stones. Through and among them the flood-river pours with a
loud roaring, breaking into foam and rapids wherever the submerged rocks
are near the surface. Between the barren heights and the water is a
strip of green bushes and grass. The bright verdant colour seems the
more brilliant by contrast with the muddy water and the sombre rocks.
It is a forbidding passage. A few hundred riflemen scattered Afridiwise
among the tops of the hills, a few field-guns in the mud forts by the
bank, and the door would be shut.
The mounted forces marched from Wad Hamed at dawn on the 27th and,
striking out into the desert, skirted the rocky hills. Besides the 21st
Lancers and nine squadrons of Egyptian cavalry, the column included the
Camel Corps, 800 strong, and a battery of Horse Artillery; and it was
a fine sight to see all these horsemen and camel-men trotting swiftly
across the sand by squadrons and companies, with a great cloud of dust
rising from each and drifting away to the northward.
The zeriba of the camp at Royan had been already made and much of the
ground cleared by the energy of the Soudanese division, which had been
the first to arrive. An advanced depot was established at Royan island
which was covered with white hospital tents, near which there was a
forest of masts and sails. The barges and boats containing the stores
and kits awaited the troops, and they had only to bivouac along the
river-bank and shelter themselves as quickly as possible from the fierce
heat of the sun. The dark hills of Shabluka, among and beneath which
the camp and army nestled, lay behind us now. To the south the country
appeared a level plain covered with bush and only broken by occasional
peaks of rock. The eternal Nile flowed swiftly by the tents and
shelters, and disappeared mysteriously in the gloom of the gorge; and on
the further bank there rose a great mountain--Jebel Royan--from the top
of which it was said that men might see Khartoum.
The whole army broke camp at Royan on the 28th of August at four o'clock
in the afternoon, and marched to Wady el Abid six miles further south.
We now moved on a broad front, which could immediately be converted into
a fighting formation. This was the first time that it had been possible
to see the whole force--infantry, cavalry, and guns--on the march at
once. In the clear air the amazing detail of the picture was striking.
There were six brigades of infantry, composed of twenty-four battalions;
yet every battalion showed that it was made up of tiny figures, all
perfectly defined on the plain. A Soudanese brigade had been sent on to
hold the ground with pickets until the troops had constructed a zeriba.
But a single Dervish horseman managed to evade these and, just as
the light faded, rode up to the Warwickshire Regiment and flung his
broad-bladed spear in token of defiance. So great was the astonishment
which this unexpected apparition created that the bold man actually made
good his escape uninjured.
On the 29th the forces remained halted opposite Um Teref, and only the
Egyptian cavalry went out to reconnoitre. They searched the country for
eight or nine miles, and Colonel Broadwood returned in the afternoon,
having found a convenient camping-ground, but nothing else. During the
day the news of two river disasters arrived--the first to ourselves, the
second to our foes. On the 28th the gunboat Zafir was steaming from
the Atbara to Wad Hamed, intending thereafter to ascend the Shabluka
Cataract. Suddenly--overtaken now, as on the eve of the advance on
Dongola, by misfortune--she sprang a leak, and, in spite of every effort
to run her ashore, foundered by the head in deep water near Metemma.
The officers on board--among whom was Keppel, the commander of the whole
flotilla--had scarcely time to leap from the wreck, and with difficulty
made their way to the shore, where they were afterwards found very cold
and hungry. The Sirdar received the news at Royan. His calculations
were disturbed by the loss of a powerful vessel; but he had allowed
for accidents, and in consequence accepted the misfortune very
phlegmatically. The days of struggling warfare were over, and the
General knew that he had a safe margin of strength.
The other catastrophe afflicted the Khalifa, and its tale was brought to
the advancing army by the Intelligence spies, who to the last--even when
the forces were closing--tried to pass between them. Not content with
building batteries along the banks, Abdullah, fearing the gunboats, had
resolved to mine the river. An old officer of the old Egyptian army,
long a prisoner in Omdurman, was brought from his chains and ordered to
construct mines. Two iron boilers were filled with gunpowder, and it
was arranged that these should be sunk in the Nile at convenient spots.
Buried in the powder of each was a loaded pistol with a string attached
to the trigger. On pulling the string the pistol, and consequently the
mine, would be exploded. So the Khalifa argued; nor was he wrong. It
was resolved to lay one mine first. On the 17th of August the Dervish
steamer Ismailia moved out into the middle of the Nile, carrying one of
the boilers fully charged and equipped with pistol detonator. Arrived
at the selected spot, the great cylinder of powder was dropped over
the side. Its efficiency as a destructive engine was immediately
demonstrated, for, on the string being pulled by accident, the pistol
discharged itself, the powder exploded, and the Ismailia and all on
board were blown to pieces.
Undeterred by the loss of life, and encouraged by the manifest power of
the contrivance, the Khalifa immediately ordered the second of the two
boilers to be sunk in the stream. As the old Egyptian officer had been
killed by the explosion, the Emir in charge of the arsenal was entrusted
with the perilous business. He rose, however, to the occasion, and,
having first taken the precaution of letting the water into the boiler
so as to damp the powder, he succeeded in laying the second mine in
mid-stream, to the joy and delight of Abdullah, who, not understanding
that it was now useless, overwhelmed him with praise and presents.
Beguiled with such stories and diversions, the day of rest at Wady el
Abid passed swiftly. Night brought beetles, bugs, and ants, and several
men were stung by scorpions--a most painful though not dangerous affair.
Towards morning it began to rain, and everyone was drenched and chilled
when the sun rose across the river from behind a great conical hill and
dispersed the clouds into wisps of creamy flame. Then we mounted and set
out. This day the army moved prepared for immediate action, and all
the cavalry were thrown out ten miles in front in a great screen which
reached from the gunboats on the river to the Camel Corps far out in the
desert.
When we had advanced a little further, there arose above the scrub the
dark outlines of a rocky peak, the hill of Merreh. The whole of the 21st
Lancers now concentrated, and, trotting quickly forward, occupied this
position, whence a considerable tract of country was visible. We were
hardly twenty-five miles from Khartoum, and of that distance at least
ten miles were displayed. Yet there were no enemy. Had they all fled?
Would there be no opposition? Should we find Omdurman deserted or
submissive? These were questions which occurred to everyone, and many
answered them affirmatively. Colonel Martin had meanwhile heliographed
back to the Sirdar that all the ground was up to this point clear, and
that there were no Dervishes to be seen. After some delay orders were
signalled back for one squadron to remain till sunset in observation on
the hill and for the rest to return to camp.
With two troops thrown out a mile in front we waited watching on the
hill. Time passed slowly, for the sun was hot. Suddenly it became
evident that one of the advanced troops was signalling energetically.
The message was spelt out. The officer with the troop perceived
Dervishes in his front. We looked through our glasses. It was true.
There, on a white patch of sand among the bushes of the plain, were a
lot of little brown spots, moving slowly across the front of the cavalry
outposts towards an Egyptian squadron, which was watching far out to the
westward. There may have been seventy horsemen altogether. We could
not take our eyes off those distant specks we had travelled so far, if
possible, to destroy. Presently the Dervish patrol approached our right
troop, and apparently came nearer than they imagined, for the officer
who commanded--Lieutenant Conolly--opened fire on them with carbines,
and we saw them turn and ride back, but without hurrying.
The camp to which we returned was a very different place from the one we
had left in the morning. Instead of lying along the river-bank, it was
pitched in the thinner scrub. The bushes had on all sides been cut down,
the ground cleared, and an immense oblong zeriba was built, around
which the six brigades were drawn up, and into which cavalry, guns, and
transport were closely packed.
Very early next morning the advance was continued. The army paraded by
starlight, and with the first streak of the dawn the cavalry were again
flung far out in advance. Secure behind the screen of horsemen and Camel
Corps, the infantry advanced in regular array. Up to the 27th of August
the force marched by divisions; but on and after the 30th of August
the whole force commenced to march in fighting formation. The British
division was on the left, the Egyptian army on the right. All the
brigades marched in line, or in a slight echelon. The flank brigades
kept their flank battalions in column or in fours. Other British
battalions had six companies in the front line (in company column of
fours) and two companies in support. The Egyptian brigades usually
marched with three battalions in the front line and one in reserve, each
of the three in the front line having four companies in front and two in
support.
The spectacle of the moving army--the grand army of the Nile--as it
advanced towards its goal was especially wonderful in the clear air
of the early morning; a long row of great brown masses of infantry
and artillery, with a fringe of cavalry dotting the plain for miles in
front, with the Camel Corps--chocolate-coloured men on cream-coloured
camels--stretching into the desert on the right, and the white gunboats
stealing silently up the river on the left, scrutinising the banks
with their guns; while far in rear the transport trailed away into the
mirage, and far in front the field-glass disclosed the enemy's patrols.
Day after day and hour after hour the advance was maintained. Arrived at
the camping-ground, the zeriba had to be built; and this involved a
long afternoon of fatigue. In the evening, when the dusty, tired-out
squadrons returned, the troopers attended to their horses, and so
went to sleep in peace. It was then that the dusty, tired-out infantry
provided sentries and pickets, who in a ceaseless succession paced the
zeriba and guarded its occupants.
The position of the next camp was a strong one, on a high swell of open
ground which afforded a clear field of fire in every direction. Everyone
that night lay down to sleep with a feeling of keen expectancy. One way
or the other all doubts would be settled the next day. The cavalry would
ride over the Kerreri Hills, if they were not occupied by the enemy,
and right up to the walls of Omdurman. If the Dervishes had any army--if
there was to be any battle--we should know within a few hours. The
telegrams which were despatched that evening were the last to reach
England before the event. During the night heavy rain fell, and all the
country was drenched. The telegraph-wire had been laid along the ground,
as there had been no time to pole it. The sand when dry is a sufficient
insulator, but when wet its non-conductivity is destroyed. Hence
all communications ceased, and those at home who had husbands, sons,
brothers, or friends in the Expeditionary Force were left in an
uncertainty as great as that in which we slept--and far more painful.
The long day had tired everyone. Indeed, the whole fortnight since the
cavalry convoy had started from the Atbara had been a period of great
exertion, and the Lancers, officers and men, were glad to eat a hasty
meal, and forget the fatigues of the day, the hardness of the ground,
and the anticipations of the morrow in deep sleep. The camp was watched
by the infantry, whose labours did not end with the daylight. At two
o'clock in the morning the clouds broke in rain and storm. Great blue
flashes of lightning lit up the wide expanse of sleeping figures, of
crowded animals, and of shelters fluttering in the wind; and from
the centre of the camp it was even possible to see for an instant
the continuous line of sentries who watched throughout the night with
ceaseless vigilance. Nor was this all. Far away, near the Kerreri Hills,
the yellow light of a burning village shot up, unquenched by the rain,
and only invisible in the brightest flashes of the lightning. There was
war to the southward.