At the beginning of 1897 the Sirdar's force at the front was in four
brigades, three Egyptian and one British. The Egyptian division of
three brigades was under Major-General Hunter; the first brigade, three
regiments of black hoofs, Sudanese, and splendid soldiers, and one of
Egyptian, was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel H.A. Macdonald, and
quartered at Berber. The second brigade, also consisting of three
Sudanese and one Egyptian regiment, and under the command of
Lieutenant--Colonel Maxwell, was about half-way between Berber and the
Atbara River; while the third brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis,
consisting entirely of Egyptians, was at the Atbara. The British
brigade, commanded by Major-General Gatacre, had its camp about a mile
away from the second brigade, and consisted of the 1st Lincolnshire,
Colonel Verner; the 1st Cameron Highlanders, Colonel Money; 1st
Warwickshire, under Lieutenant-Colonel Onagle Jones, and was afterwards
joined by the 1st Seaforth Highlanders, Colonel Murray. The whole force
in the field, exclusive of the railway battalion and the crews of the
gunboats, but including four batteries of artillery under
Lieutenant-Colonel Long and eight squadrons of Egyptian cavalry under
Lieutenant-Colonel Broadwood, amounted to about 14,000 men.
About the end of February it was known that Mahmoud was concentrating at
Shendy, and preparing to make an attack upon Berber, which being held
only by Egyptian troops he hoped to capture before the Sirdar could come
to its relief. Nor was this by any means an impracticable plan, for
Mahmoud's force consisted of some 20,000 horse and foot, with ample
supplies of arms and ammunition, guns, and transport animals; but
Mahmoud reckoned without the Sirdar.
On the 25th February the British brigade was ordered to proceed from Abu
Dis, to which point they had recently advanced, to Debeker, a village 10
miles or so south of Berber. The men had but just returned from a
16-mile route march, but the start was made without delay. The railway,
which was always being pushed ahead, was available for 17 miles out, and
by the evening of the 27th the whole force was on the march; while by
the evening of 3rd March they had reached their destination,--as good a
performance as even the records of British Infantry can show. To quote
the Special Army Order issued from the Horse Guards at the end of the
campaign, "The march of the British Brigade to the Atbara, when in six
days--for one of which it was halted--it covered 140 miles in a most
trying climate, shows what British troops can do when called upon."
On the 20th of March the entire force marched to Ras-el-Hudi, a point on
the bend of the river which Mahmoud would have to pass if he decided to
attack Berber. But Mahmoud, finding now that he would have the British
as well as Egyptians to deal with, changed his plans, and instead of
advancing intrenched his position, hoping to receive assistance from the
Khalifa. On the 26th a raid was made on Shendy by the steamboats, under
command of Commander Keppel and Lieutenants Beatty and Hood, R.N.; the
troops being commanded by Majors Hickman and Sitwell, Captain Sloman,
and Lieutenant Graham. This was completely successful: the dervishes
fled; Shendy, where was Mahmoud's reserve depot, was occupied, and the
forts and depot destroyed, and a large number of female prisoners
released. Attempts to draw Mahmoud out of his cover were unsuccessful,
and the Sirdar decided to attack him.
On April 7th the force, with the British leading, made a night-march,
and after a short rest took up a position about one and a half miles
from the enemy's camp, and about 4:30 a.m. a general advance in attack
formation was made. The British brigade was on the left, Macdonald's in
the centre, Maxwell's on the right, and Lewis's Egyptians were held in
reserve. The enemy were in a large irregular enclosure, with its rear
on the now dry bed of the river. The position was defended by trenches,
and in part by palisades; and was surrounded by a strong zareba, the
inside being full of shelter trenches and pits. After a bombardment by
12 guns and the rocket detachment, at 7:10 the general advance was
sounded, and with pipes and bands playing the infantry bore down upon
the zareba. In front of the British were the Camerons in line, and
behind them the Warwicks on the left, Seaforths in the centre, and
Lincolns on the right; General Gatacre, the Staff, and Colonel Money in
front. The zareba was soon reached and torn aside, and in a few minutes
our men were in the enclosure. The enemy fought bravely, and, refusing
quarter, died fighting. In every hut and trench the dervishes were hid,
and slashed and fired at their enemy till bayoneted, or shot themselves.
There were many hand-to-hand fights and many narrow escapes, but in
forty minutes the firing was over and the dervish army scattered and
annihilated. With the exception of Osman Digna, who with his usual luck
escaped, and three others, all the important leaders were killed, and
Mahmoud himself taken prisoner. He was found in a hole under his bed! a
rare instance of cowardice among dervishes. Of the British, Captains
Urquhart and Findlay of the Camerons, and Lieutenant Gore of the
Seaforths, who had only recently joined, were killed leading their men
over the trenches, besides 22 non-commissioned officers and men; and 10
officers and 82 non-commissioned officers and men wounded. The Egyptian
army lost 57 officers and men, and 5 British and 16 native officers and
365 non-commissioned officers and men wounded. The dervish losses were
estimated at over 3000 killed at and around the zareba; but of the whole
dervish army but very few, and none of the wounded, could have escaped
to Omdurman,--in fact the army was practically annihilated.
Among the many escapes from spear or bullet that occurred, none are more
curious than those of Corporal Lawrie of the Seaforths, which he related
in a letter home, afterwards published in a daily paper. A bullet took
off the toe of his shoe, his bayonet was bent by a shot; a shot passed
through his sleeve, his rifle was struck by a bullet; a dervish striking
at him with a spear only split his haversack; a shot entered the lid of
his ammunition pouch, passed into his coat pocket, smashing a penknife
and two pencils, tore four holes in his shirt, made a surface wound on
his left breast, and came out near his left shoulder through his coat
and pouch braces.