On September 2, 1898, the Battle of Omdurman was a general battle of the Second Anglo-Sudanese War between the Anglo-Egyptian expeditionary corps of Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener and the forces of the Sudanese rebels (the so-called Mahdists). 340 wounded casualties2=9,700 killed 13,000 wounded 5,000 capturedAt the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898), an army commanded by the British General Sir Horatio Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad. In Churchills view, the Sirdars move towards Omdurman was premature. On September 1, British gunboats shelled the Mahdist forts on both sides of the Nile and breached the wall of Omdurman, and Kitchener established a zeriba at Egeiga, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Omdurman on the west bank. Feeling that time was on his side, Kitchener paused his offensive and dispatched a gunboat flotilla up the Nile to seize the Mahdist stronghold at Shendi. One eyewitness described the appalling scene:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}. Detachment, Royal Engineers Winston Churchill donated skin graft from his arm to help fellow officer who was wounded after being struck by sword during 1898 Battle of Omdurman, report in medical journal reveals. Size of the armies at the Battle of Omdurman: Charge of the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War: picture by Ferdinando Tacconi. The Battle of Omdurman raged for five hours, but by its end more almost half of the Mahdist army had been wiped out, either killed or wounded. riverchase galleria mall hours . Kitchener's force lost 47 men killed and 382 wounded, the majority from MacDonald's command. The British troops wore the new khaki field uniforms with the characteristic pith helmet. Once past the Kerreri Hills, the 21st Lancers could see Omdurman in the distance, on the west bank of the River Nile and the ruins of the city of Khartoum in the angle of the confluence of the two great rivers, the Blue Nile and the White Nile. 1 review. As the front of the column reached the crest of the ridge, the casualties from the 21sts charge rode past, giving details of the action. Camel Corps on the Kerreri Hills at the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. He also observed agents of the government behaving in a manner that he could not reconcile with his own interpretation of Islam. Our road lay by the khor whereat the victorious army had watered in the afternoon of the 2nd, and thence across the sandy, rock . As the attack of Yakub from behind the Jebel Surgham melted away, Macdonald moved his other battalions, the X and then the XI, to positions in the new line, to the right of the IX, until his formation was in reverse, with another inverted L formed, this time facing north; the 2nd Egyptians remaining in reserve on the left. About four miles away to the half right, was what appeared to be a long zeriba, or thorn fence, with men behind it. Battle of Omdurman, (September 2, 1898), decisive military engagement in which Anglo-Egyptian forces, under Maj. Gen. Herbert Kitchener (later Lord Kitchener), defeated the forces of the Mahdist leader Abd Allh and thereby won Sudanese territory that the Mahdists had dominated since 1881. 12th Sudanese in the trench at the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. At El Obeid on 3 November 1883, an Egyptian force under General William Hicks, sent by the Egyptian government to put down the uprising, was defeated by the Mahdis army during the Battle of Shaykan. Inside the zeriba: Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. A flanking move from the Ansar right was also checked, and there were bloody clashes on the opposite flank that scattered the Mahdist forces there. . The cavalry on the Jebel Surgham and its surrounding ridges could see the full Dervish line, but it was not yet in sight of the infantry in the zeriba. Visit our dedicated Podcast page or visit Podbean below. They could never get near and they refused to hold back. In the wake of this conquest, it would be governed by the same multiracial Turkish-speaking ruling class that governed Egypt. Immediately in front of the advancing horsemen lay a wide rolling sandy plain, bounded on three sides by a line of rocky hills and ridges, and on the fourth side by the River Nile. Charge of the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War: picture by George Delville Rowlandson. The Dervishes suffered losses of 9,700 dead, probably around 12,000 wounded and some 5,000 prisoners. Kitchener continued his advance along the right bank of the Nile in 1897; in July a British column stormed Ab amad, and Berber was occupied in September. Casualties at the Battle of Omdurman: Posted to South Africa in March 1901, he was transferred to the 16th Lancers as Private 4634. Kitchener next took the city of Omdurman, but he was too late to catch the Khalifa, who managed to flee. Muammad Amad ibn Abd Allh was the son of a boatbuilder from Dongola, in northern Sudan, who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad. At 9.15am, the Sirdars force set off in column, heading for the Jebel Surgham Ridge; the two British brigades leading, followed by Maxwells and Lewiss brigades, with Macdonalds in the rear. AND, the Battle of Omdurman could/should be easily retitled "The Slaughter of Omburman" because once the Khalifa decided to meet the Anglo-Egyptian forces "head on"to defend his capital the result was a one-sided massacre with anywhere from 20 to 26 thousand devish's killed and wounded against less than 500 causualties for Kitchener's army. A further Egyptian infantry brigade joined the force, with a new British brigade, comprising 1st Northumberland Fusiliers and 1st Lancashire Fusiliers from Cairo, 1st Grenadier Guards from Gibraltar and 2nd Rifle Brigade from Malta. The Camel Corps reached the northern end of the zeriba and were saved from the pursuing Dervishes by a barrage of gunfire from the gunboats moored at that end of the camp. The Dervishes fired their rifles in reply and hurried on down the reverse face of the ridge, towards the British battalions on the left of the Sirdars line. He remembered that all the former victories over the Egyptians had been won by the Dervishes attacking. Kitchener repulsed successive assaults on his right flank and rear, inflicting heavy losses, while the 21st Lancers ranged ahead of the main body of the Anglo-Egyptian army. The presence of Winston Churchill in the 21st Lancers would cause the charge to become part of the iconography of his life and to be graphically recorded in his books. Despite this decision, Churchill managed to obtain an attachment to the 21st Lancers, through his mothers influence, intending to combine his military duty with appointment as war correspondent for the Morning Post, thereby further alienating the Sirdar. The battle is widely called Omdurman, but the battle honour Khartoum was awarded to: 21st Lancers, Grenadier Guards, Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Lincolnshire Regiment, Lancashire Fusiliers, Seaforth Highlanders and Cameron Highlanders. Unfortunately for Churchill, the Sirdar held a strong antipathy towards newspaper correspondents and against Churchill in particular, in the light of Churchills reporting of theMalakand Campaign in Indiaand his subsequent book The Malakand Field Force. Mahmud had hoped to turn the Anglo-Egyptian left flank at Berber, but Kitchener was also on the move, following the right bank of the Atbara south from Berber. The battle took place 6.4 km. Watching the advancing Dervish line at the beginning of the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. Khedive's Sudan Medal (1897), Egyptian campaign medal awarded to British and Egyptian forces which took part in the Sudan campaign between 1896 and 1898. El Obeid (now Al-Ubayyi), the provincial capital of Kordofan, and Bra, a chief town of that province, fell after being besieged by the Mahds army. After fifteen vexatious years spent in trying to get here, an Anglo-Egyptian army has recovered Khartoum and occupied Omdurman. The victory of the BritishEgyptian force was a demonstration of the superiority of a highly disciplined army equipped with modern rifles, machine guns, and artillery over a force twice its size armed with older weapons, and marked the success of British efforts to re-conquer Sudan. If unsuccessful, the Khalifa could withdraw to Omdurman, with his most reliable and important force intact, to fight again or carry out some other stratagem. The . Grenadier Guards landing before the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. On 26 January 1885, the Dervishes overcame Gordons troops and massacred the entire garrison. It was a substantial handicap, for a regiment about to go on active service, to change its mounts, its main weapon, add several new officers and re-organise its sub-units. It irritated him that the charge by the 21st Lancers attracted more interest in Britain than the conduct of Macdonald and his Sudanese and Egyptian soldiers, with their British officers and non-commissioned officers and accompanying artillery and Maxim gunners. The 21st Lancers advanced at the walk, in a mass, towards the spot indicated by Grenfell. Everyone in the army was aware that battle was imminent, in view of the proximity of Omdurman, ten miles to the south. One tribesman, carrying a flag, rushed on to within 150 yards of the line, before being shot down. Kitchener next took the city of Omdurman, but . Kitchener, now aware of the problem, "began to throw his brigades about as if they were companies". Broadwood used his cavalry to draw off part of the advancing Ansar attackers under Osman Digna but the slower-moving camel troops, attempting to regain the protection of the zariba, found themselves being closely pursued by Green Standard horsemen. In their path was a party of around 100 Dervishes. Macdonalds IX Sudanese was the regiment in column of companies behind his right flank, as the brigade faced south-west. Maxim guns positioned between Maxwells Egyptian and Sudanese brigade and a British battalion at the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. In this process, the Dervishes acquired the rifles of the Egyptian soldiers, with a small number of artillery pieces and Maxims, so that in any Dervish force there was a percentage of men with firearms, although not particularly skilled in their use. The Mahdist total losses at Omdurman were about 10,000 killed, 10,000 wounded, and 5,000 taken prisoner. Maxwells brigade marched behind the British battalions, while moving more to the right, towards the Jebel Surgham. Abd Allh ordered Emir Abd al-Ramn al-Nujm and some 6,000 men into Egypt, but the Mahdist force was destroyed at Tshk in August 1889 by an Egyptian army commanded by Sir Francis Grenfell. Colonel Martin and his officers, and possibly his men, were thirsting to distinguish themselves in the coming campaign and the whole army knew that if there was an opportunity for a charge, the 21st Lancers would take it. However, there it was, where the 21st had seen it settle down for the night on the previous afternoon. Body of the Khalifa: Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898 in the Sudanese War. British occupation authorities in Cairo had long feared a possible Mahdist campaign against Egypt, but, when it finally came, it amounted to little. These gunboats were of the most modern design, with screws instead of side paddles, giving Commodore Keppel a total of ten vessels. At around the same time disaster struck the Khalifas flotilla. Kitchener was ennobled as a baron, Kitchener of Khartoum, for his victory. He knew that in all the recent defeats they had stood on the defensive. eBook. His men fired an average of 60 rounds each during the action; a considerable amount for singleshot weapons. [9][d] On a larger scale, the British advance allowed the Khalifa to re-organize his forces. Decorations were given for service in the campaign fairly freely. Kitchener was seeking revenge for the 1885 death of General Gordon. 4 Maxims The Sirdars army set off from the Wad Hamed camp on 28th August 1895, initially marching into the desert to circumvent the Shabluka Hills, before returning to the River Nile bank, and marching on to the Kerreri Hills. 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