Posted on 11/21/2002 3:10:36 PM PST by Sparta
In 1898 Kitchener led a force of 8,200 British troops, 17,600 Sudanese and Egyptians up the Nile to capture a city in the Sudan called Omdurman, the Dervish capital across the river from Khartoum. The army camp formed an arc with it's back to the Nile river, in which there were several armed gunboats anchored. Macdonald's brigade was posted in the center of the arc.
It was feared the Dervishes would launch a night attack on the camp from the surrounding hills, so the troops slept with their rifles. In the morning the men in the camp could see the Dervishes advancing, the 1st battle began with a charge from the Dervish army. With the British army pounding the oncoming force with howitzers and machine guns, the attack was short lived and after the battle 2,000 Dervishes lay dead in front of the British lines.
Kitchener assuming the battle was over ordered the troops to advance on Omdurman. Hector Macdonald's brigade was in reserve about a mile or two north of the main body of Kitchener's force, Macdonald commanded a force of 3,000 Sudanese and Egyptians and most unlikely would not be used. Later a Camel Corps' officer arrived at Macdonald's line and informed Macdonald that a sizable force of about 20,000 Dervishes was advancing towards Macdonald's line.
Macdonald's 3,000 troops were all that stood between the main force and the oncoming Dervishes. Kitchener was unaware of the danger and had his troops marching in columns with their rear flank to the attacking Dervishes, and ordered Macdonald to break camp and join the rest of the army. Macdonald had gotten the order from Kitchener, Macdonald replied: "I no do it. I'll see them damned first. We maun just fight!" Macdonald called his commanders to order and quickly mapped out in the sand a plan of defense. Macdonald wheeled his troops into a half circle and had the task of meeting the attacking Dervishes from two directions. If Macdonald's line was to fail, it could result in the destruction of the army. Dervishes attacked in wave after wave, the attack was so heavy that one of the lines of Macdonald's Sudanese battalions broke, and had to resort to hand to hand fighting.
"The valiant blacks prepared themselves with delight to meet the shock, notwithstanding the overwhelming numbers of the enemy"- Winston Churchill
Meanwhile Kitchener was now aware of the grave danger the army was in and ran about desperately shouting orders and trying to reverse his army, and put them back into fighting formations. Macdonald's brigade met the attacking Dervishes with heavy fire, Macdonald kept his troops well organized and disciplined, he continually maneuvered the lines to meet the ongoing threat of the attacking Dervishes.
"Amid the roar of the firing and the dust, smoke and confusion of the charge of front, the general [Macdonald] found time to summon the officers of IX Sudanese around him, rebuked them for having wheeled into line in anticipation of his order, and requested them to drill more steadily in brigade."- Winston Churchill
Before long other regiments began to arrive and backup Macdonald's lines, the firing upon the Dervishes was so intense that they began to retreat, fleeing into the desert. At the battles end 10,000 Dervishes lay dead, 16,000 wounded, and 5,000 prisoners. The battle was over the British army saved, the army lost 48 men and 382 wounded. At the end of the day, when the ammunition from Macdonald's brigades was counted, there were two rounds per man. The British army won the battle and avenged the death of General Gordon of Khartoum. Macdonald was the hero of the day and truly saved the British army.
"The charging Devishes succeeded everywhere in coming to within a hundred or two hundred yards of the troops, and the rear brigade of Sudanese, attacked from two directions, was only saved from destruction by the skill and firmness of its commander, General Hector Macdonald."
Winston S.Churchill
"Macdonald had handled his troops with masterly skill, and had snatched victory from the jaws of peril."
Lord Kitchener
Story based on sources:
Death Before Dishonour 1982 Toll of The Brave 1963 Hector Macdonald: His Rise Through The Ranks And His Contributions To The British Empire 1980 My Early Life: W.S.Churchill 1930
The use of Soft Point Ammo, from the Dum Dum Arsenal in India helped the Brits...That is how a .303 stops a Dervish.
Presumably the Officer in the bottom painting is Winston C, with his famed Model 1896 Mauser semi-automatic pistol.
... If the mahdi was a true prophet and if Mohammed's allah were a true god he would have won ...The mahdi did win. He had departed this world long before the British columns reached Obdurman. The British commanders had to content themselves with an artillery strike on the mahdi's tomb. As for Sudan, it remains in the indissoluble embrace of the Prophet to this day. Where, however, is the British empire?
This happened twice. You probably refer to the earlier siege of Vienna, about 1530 by Suleiman the Magnificent. That was a failure. The armies gave up and withrew.
Another attempt was made circa 1683, IIRC. That was a disaster, with the Ottoman armies surprised by a relieving force and routed.
May I suggest the Siege of Malta (1568?)for a future post. There's a great book by Ernle Bradford about the battle but you may be able to find a shorter article about how the vastly outnumbere Knights of Saint John withstood a massive siege by the religion of piece.
Another suggestion would be the exploits of Decatur along the Barbary Coast.
He'd been given permission to carry his personally owned pistol rather than a saber that day, having previously suffered a slight injury to his right arm. Interestingly, some authorities list his actions that day as being the first documented account of the use of an autoloading handgun in combat.
And here we are, a hundred-four years later. And beneath the seat of my pickup truck sits a C96 Mauser *broomhandle* pistol that he'd have found instantly familiar, quite capable of doing the job it did then just as effectively for me. Due to a quirk in local firearms laws, it's the best immediate choice available to me for the purpose, and if called upon, I expect it'll serve me well.
But the *DumDum* arsenal *manstopper* loads were soft-nosed pistol ammunition meant to drop an adversary with an edged weapon immediately, and fired in the .455 MkI and .450 pistols of the day, I'd expect they did. Winston carried the C96 for ease of reloading, but missed out on a 20-round magazine like mine has....
And I think the Sudanese batallions at least, and possibly some of the Brits at Omdurman were still using the Martini-Henry. Churchill's own description of a mangled recipient of one of the Martini slugs, which needed little help in the stopping department, mentions their use.
-archy-/-
Kindly make that 64, and add me to the list, please.
-archy-/-
Check out my freeper profile for an interesting Civil War rendition from Don Trioni, a really talented artist.
-archy-/-
OK, you got me. Put me on the list. :-)
After the field was won:
for many thousand bodies were
Lay rotting in the sun:
But things like that, you know must be
After a famous victory."
Robert Southey
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