Battle Story: Omdurman 1898 E-Book

William Wright

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The battle took place at Kerreri, 11km north of Omdurman in the Sudan. Kitchener commanded a force of 8,000 British regulars and a mixed force of 17,000 Sudanese and Egyptian soldiers. He arrayed his force in an arc around the village of Egeiga close to the bank of the Nile, where a gunboat flotilla waited in support, facing a wide, flat plain with hills rising to the left and right. The British and Egyptian cavalry were placed on either flank. Al-Taashi's followers, known as Ansar and sometimes referred to as Dervishes, numbered around 50,000, including some 3,000 cavalry. In a few hours and at a loss of less than 400 officers and men killed and wounded, the Anglo-Egyptian army defeated the 50,000 brave tribesmen who charged their enemy, regardless of the hail of Maxim bullets, many of them armed only with spears, swords and ancient chainmail armour. In concise detail, with orders of battle, maps and over fifty images, the author shows how Omdurman was a superb example of tactics in warfare. First-hand accounts from both sides help the reader to understand all the horrors and glory of that day including the famous charge of the 21st Lancers, often called the last great cavalry charge of the British Army. This was arguably the height of British Empire military dominance.

Leseprobe

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, let me thank all authors who have trod the desert sands before me and to whom I owe a debt; I especially acknowledge all those quoted in the text and thank them for their help. The illustrations are from my own collection and once again I am grateful for the care with which Krisztina Elias has re-photographed them. A big debt of gratitude to Shaun Barrington, my editor at The History Press, and the guiding light in all that I have written.

CONTENTS

Title

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Timeline

Historical Background

The Rise of the Mahdi

The British get Involved

Gordon Relief Expedition

Khalifa Abdullahi Assumes Power

Rebirth of the Egyptian Army

The Armies

The Anglo-Egyptian Commanders

The Mahdist Commanders

The Soldiers

The Kit

Supply and Transport

Tactics

The Re-Conquest Begins

Why it Happened

The Initial Egyptian Advance

On to Hafir and Dongola

Dongola to Abu Hamed

Atbara to Eve of Battle

British Troops Arrive

The Battle of the Atbara

Final Preparations

March to Omdurman

1 September 1898 – Day of the Gunboats

First Phase of the Battle

Night Attack?

Reveille

Mahdist Battle Plan

The Dervish Army Stirs

The 21st Lancers in Danger

Ibrahim al Khalil’s Assault

Death of Osman Azrak

The British Brigades

Fight in the Karari Hills

At the Egyptian Trenches

Dervish Bravery

The Charge of the 21st Lancers

Osman Digna’s Ambush

The Charge

In the Khor

The 21st Re-group

Reactions

Second Phase of the Battle

Sirdar Orders the General Advance

Kitchener’s Blunder

Black Flag Attack

Khalifa Abdullahi Leaves the Battlefield

Green Flag Attack

Charge of the Baggara Horsemen

Third Phase of the Battle

‘Cease Fire’

Sirdar Enters Omdurman

The Butcher’s Bill

Treatment of the Dervish Wounded

After the Battle

Pursuit of the Khalifa

Um Dibaykarat

The Legacy

Tactical Aspects

Strategical Aspects

Victors

Losers

Glory or Shame

Orders of Battle

British Forces

Mahdist Forces

Further Reading

Copyright

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1 Muhammad Ahmed el-Sayyid Abdullah – the Mahdi of Allah – the greatest fundamentalist Muslim warrior of the nineteenth century.

2 Gordon’s Last Stand by G.W. Joy, one of the most evocative imperialist paintings.

3 ‘Too Late’ by John Tenniel, Punch, 14 February 1885. This cartoon encapsulated a nation’s humiliation at the death of Gordon and fall of Khartoum.

4 Major-General Sir Horatio Herbert Kitchener, painted by H. von Herkomer. As Sirdar of the Egyptian Army and Commander in Chief of the Sudan re-conquest, it fell to him to avenge Gordon’s death.

5 Major-General Sir William Gatacre, the unpopular commander of the British Infantry Division.

6 Colonel (acting Brigadier-General) Andy Wauchope, the intensely Scottish commander of the 1st British Brigade.

7 Colonel (acting Brigadier-General) Neville Lyttelton, the cool and perceptive commander of the 2nd British Brigade.

8 El Lewa (Major-General) Archibald Hunter, the energetic and ruthless field commander of the Egyptian Army.

9 El Miralai (Colonel) Hector Macdonald, the immensely popular tough ex-ranker commanding the 1st Brigade, Egyptian Division.

10 El Miralai (Colonel) John Maxwell, efficient commander of the 2nd Brigade, Egyptian Division.

11 El Miralai (Colonel) Robert Broadwood who commanded the Egyptian Cavalry. He was described as ‘a very good soldier and fellow too’.

12 A rare photograph of Osman Digna in his later years. Digna was a genius of irregular warfare who proved to be the most formidable opponent of the British in the Sudan 1883–99.

13 ‘On The Highway to Khartum’ by Linley Sambourne, Punch, 30 January 1897. This cartoon satirised the re-conquest with British Prime Minister Salisbury bouncing up the Nile on a camel.

14 The gunboat Melik commanded by Major W. ‘Monkey’ Gordon RE during the battle.

15 A contemporary photograph of an unknown dervish emir, clearly posed, but accurate in garb and weapons.

16 The flotilla – the Nile advance was necessarily slow yet painstakingly planned by Kitchener.

17 Egyptian infantry advance on the Mahdists at Firka, 7 June 1896.

18 A group of dervishes taken prisoner during the Firka battle. Men like these often joined the Egyptian Army.

19 Edouard Percy Cranwell Girouard, the French-Canadian railway builder extraordinaire.

20 Laying tracks for the Sudan Military Railway.

21 ‘Pushing on to the front.’ SMR work crews were self-contained with supplies and equipment.

22 A stylised illustration of the Battle of the Atbara which gives some idea of its fierceness.

23 One of the trenches in the Mahdist zariba at the Atbara filled with dead.

24 Proud and defiant, the handsome Emir Mahmud taken prisoner at the Atbara. The bloodstains are those of one of his bodyguard killed during the fight.

25 The young cavalryman Winston Churchill in his campaign dress.

26 Some cheerful Cameron Highlanders advancing towards Omdurman.

27 A quartet of war correspondents. Left to right: Bennet Burleigh (Daily Telegraph); Rene Bull, (Black and White); Frederic Villiers (Illustrated London News); and Hamilton Weldon (Morning Post).

28 The initial charge of the Mahdist army.

29 Kitchener observes and directs his battle from a small mound.

30 One of the gunboat crews in action on the Nile.

31 A rare photograph of Maxwell (mounted) talking with an aide just a few minutes before the initial dervish attack. Note the Egyptian troops resting or kneeling in their zariba trench.

32 A rare photograph of the 21st Lancers shortly before the famous charge, resting by the slopes of Jebel Surgham.

33 Captain Paul Kenna VC, 21st Lancers.

34 Beja friendlies – the curly-haired Hadendowa are the same tribe that slaughtered the 21st Lancers.

35 Lieutenant the Honourable Raymond de Montmorency VC, 21st Lancers.

36 The last full regimental charge of British cavalry.

37 Private Thomas Byrne VC, 21st Lancers.

38 The officers of the 21st Lancers, in a photograph taken some days after the battle. Colonel Martin is fourth from left, front row. Next to him (from left) are Majors Crole-Wyndham and Finn. Many of the men wear black armbands to commemorate their dead colleagues.

39 Lieutenant Nevill Smyth, Queen’s Bays, who won a Victoria Cross saving the life of two war correspondents.

40 The heroic defence of the Khalifa’s black banner.

41 Behind the firing line at Omdurman.

42 MacDonald’s brigade going into action.

43 Macdonald’s Sudanese repelling the vast Mahdist attack on their brigade.

44 The Battle of Omdurman – ‘medieval warriors against Maxims’. (The Illustrated London News)

45 The dead photographed by Rene Bull within minutes of the ceasefire.

46 With the captured banner of the Khalifa the Sirdar prepares to ride into Omdurman town.

47 The damage done to the dome of the Mahdi’s tomb by British shellfire.

48 Kitchener released hundreds of the Khalifa’s prisoners; here Charles Neufeld is found in chains within hours of the British victory.

49 The dervish dead lie bloated in the sun on the battlefield.

50 Raising the British and Egyptian flags during the service held amidst the ruins of Gordon’s palace at Khartoum.

51 Camp followers were quickly at work looting the dead.

52 A rare photograph of a correspondent (almost certainly Rene Bull) trying to take a picture of a dying dervish (this may even be the same man who rose and chased him).

53 ‘The aftermath of the Battle of Omdurman’. (H.C.S. Eppings Wright, The Illustrated London News)

54 Dervish dead at Um Dibaykarat. The man in the centre is the young Emir Ahmed Fadil.

55 The Khalifa Abdullahi lies dead – killed by Maxim fire – at Um Dibaykarat surrounded by his faithful retinue.

56 ‘Thank You’ – Kitchener is honoured by Britannia in a Punch cartoon.

57. ‘Death of a gallant officer in the Soudan.’ (The Illustrated London News)

Maps: The Dongola Campaign, 1896. Page 65.

The Battle of Omdurman, First Phase. Page 93.

The Battle of Omdurman, Second Phase. Page 115.

INTRODUCTION

No battle demonstrates the apex of imperial expansion by western powers up to 1900, the end of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European warfare, the inevitable clash of modern technology with medieval-style armies, or local tribesmen hurling themselves at invading ‘infidel’ foreigners quite so well as Omdurman, 2 September 1898. Over the years several misconceptions have grown up around the events of that day; chief of these – inspired by the obvious inequality of warriors armed only with spears, hurling themselves in massed attacks against well-armed, well-trained troops using dum-dum bullets, heavy artillery and machine guns – is that the Mahdists were just a rabble without any coherent plan of attack. This is not true; the dervishes had been fighting the British for 15 years and developed proven and successful methods of campaigning.

At Omdurman the Khalifa Abdullahi and his commanders had a plan. It failed for three main reasons: firstly, it required precision timing; secondly, it failed sufficiently to take into account the possible reactions of the enemy; and thirdly, it lamentably overlooked the huge technological supremacy of the Anglo-Egyptians, especially their fast-action Maxim machine guns.

Coming during the high noon of the British Empire, just after Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the Battle of Omdurman was hugely popular amongst all classes of British society. The Press crowed that it liberated the Sudan, ended the tyrannical rule of the Khalifa, revenged the death of General Gordon in 1885 and expunged the national shame caused by the withdrawal from the Sudan. Politicians were delighted that Omdurman helped confirm British domination of the Nile valley to its uppermost reaches while removing the Mahdist threat for a moderate cost in men and money.

The Press made a media star out of the relatively unknown commander of the Egyptian Army chosen to plan and lead the advance to Omdurman – Horatio Herbert Kitchener, the Sirdar. This somewhat cold and aloof man would rise meteorically to become, by the time of the battle, more famous than most other Victorian generals. Kitchener was a poor tactician and the battle would display weaknesses in him and even worse ones in his opponent. Yet Kitchener’s carefully planned, methodical re-conquest of the Sudan, which he always hoped would end in a battle outside Omdurman (the Mahdist capital) was and remains a magnificent example of good logistical planning.

In an age when fundamentalist warriors were just as prevalent as today, the Battle of Omdurman destroyed the Mahdiya and its attempts at global jihad. Now, in the twenty-first century, when British soldiers still face Muslim fundamentalists on the battlefield, fighting across inhospitable terrain, Kitchener’s strategy, the remarkable achievements of his spymaster, Reginald Wingate, along with the battle itself, can give much food for thought for soldiers and armchair historians alike.

TIMELINE

1881

12 August

Mahdists defeat Egyptians on Aba Island. Jihad proclaimed by Mahdi

1883

5 November

Hicks Pasha’s army wiped out at Sheikan

1885

26 January

Fall of Khartoum and death of Gordon

31 December

Battle of Ginniss

1888

3 August

Mahdist invasion of Egypt defeated at Battle of Toski

1896

1 March

Abyssinians defeat Italians at Battle of Adowa

12 March

Britain agrees to re-invade Dongola province, Sudan

15 March

Hunter leads Egyptian troops to Akasha

7 June

Battle of Firka

19 September

Artillery duel at Hafir

23 September

Anglo-Egyptian troops enter Dongola

1897

1 January

First track laid at Wady Halfa on Sudan Military Railway line to Abu Hamed

7 August

Battle of Abu Hamed

31 August

Kitchener occupies Berber

31 October

Railway reaches Abu Hamed

1898

1 January

Kitchener asks for British troop reinforcements

16 February

Anglo-Egyptian Army concentrates at Kenur

30 March

General Hunter reconnoitres Mahmud’s zareba

4 April

Second reconnaissance, Broadwood’s cavalry action

8th April

Battle of the Atbara

18 August

Final troops leave Atbara for the front

28 August

Concentration of the Anglo-Egyptian Army at Jebel Royan for final battle

31 August

Kerreri reconnoitred and shelled

1 September

Omdurman reconnoitred, forts silenced, Mahdists make preparations for battle

2 September

Battle of Omdurman and capture of city

4 September

Gordon memorial service held at Khartoum

9 September

Kitchener starts up Nile to meet French at Fashoda

22 September

Battle of Gedaref

24 September

Sirdar returns from Fashoda

1899

24 November

Action of Um Dibaykarat and death of the Khalifa Abdullahi

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Rise of the Mahdi

The astonishing man who was – for a short time – to humble Britain, was a boat builder’s son, born on 12 August 1844 at Dongola, a dismal provincial crossroads on the Nile. Twenty-five years earlier the Egyptian ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha, had invaded and conquered much of the Sudan in the name of his overlord, the Turkish Sultan. Egyptian rule was to be marked by sloth, corruption and oppression.

At the age of five Muhammad Ahmed’s family moved to Omdurman and the boy started attending a religious school in Khartoum. He was an intensely devout scholar who studied Arabic, mathematics and astronomy as well as theology. Within a few years his piety was obvious and he grew increasingly ascetic, studying Sufi mysticism. Ahmed then moved to the island of Aba, which lies on the White Nile, 160 miles south of Khartoum, and urged his brothers to join him. Living as a hermit in a cave by the Nile, his holy reputation grew.

‘Devote yourselves to God and abstain from worldly pleasures,’ he preached, ‘This world is for infidels’; Ahmed’s ‘infidels’ were the corrupt Egyptian government officials and their hated soldiers. An early adherent to his teaching was a young man of the Baggara tribe called Abdullahi al-Taishi. From the start the two men got along and realised each had qualities that the other lacked. Muhammad Ahmed was ‘a prophet and a preacher; a saint and a visionary; a man who could inspire and charm; one whose own fervour and conviction could make men follow wherever he led,’ while Abdullahi was ‘a man of action and affairs; a fighter and an administrator; one who combined a ruthless strength of will with a quick intelligence, and who had the force to translate theories into action. Where the one could inspire devotion, the other compelled obedience.’ The movement thus got a saint and enforcer.

1. Muhammad Ahmed el-Sayyid Abdullah – the Mahdi of Allah – the greatest fundamentalist Muslim warrior of the nineteenth century.