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1890.] From Argin to Toski; or, The Nile Campaign of 1889.

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FROM ARGIN TO TOSKI;

OR, THE NILE CAMPAIGN OF 1889.

[The writer of this article, who is a very competent military critic, and has had exceptional opportunities of acquainting himself with details of the Nile Campaign, both by information from those engaged in it and by personally going over all the ground, wishes it to be understood that he is not connected with the Egyptian army.-ED. B. M.]

FROM the day that Khartoum fell, it was known in Cairo that a serious attempt at the conquest of Egypt would be made by the Mahdy or his successor the Khalifa. The dervishes, or soldiers of the Mahdy, were confident of the first signal success which might attend their arms being immediately followed by a general rising of the Egyptian peasantry in their favour. They had prepared for this invasion on a large scale and for a lengthened period. Abd-el-Rahmân, Wad-el-Najûmi, the dervish leader who had annihilated Hicks Pasha's army in the Soudan, and afterwards taken Khartoum, was chosen as the commander of the expedition. The title given to him was Kaid il Sirrya il Masria," or Commander-in-Chief of the army of Egypt. On the 28th of June 1889, Wad-el-Najûmi crossed the Egyptian frontier at Matûka, 10 miles to the south of Wady Halfa, and announced the commencement of the invasion by firing five guns. The dervish army, as it originally started from Khartoum, consisted of some 6000 fighting men, of whom 600 had rifles, with 7 guns. According to custom the blacks were the riflemen, while the Arabs were the swordsmen and spearmen. The Arabs were chiefly of the Jaâlin and Baggâra tribes. The former occupy great part of the country between Berber and Khartoum, while the latter

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inhabit the deserts of Kordofan to the south-west of Khartoum. After leaving Khartoum, Wad-elNajûmi concentrated his forces at Dongola, and started northwards on the 1st of Ramadan (corresponding to the first of May), in order to unite his forces to those of Abd-el-Halîm, the dervish commander at Sarras, and then march on Egypt. Sarras was the most northerly post of the dervish army: it is 30 miles south of Wady Halfa. Shortly after Wad-el-Najûmi's departure from Dongola, he was followed by Makîn-el-Nur and a body of about 500 men of the Baggåra tribe collected by YunisWad - Dekeim, the governor of Dongola. These were again followed by 1000 men of the Jaâlin tribe under Ali-Wad-Saâd from Berber. In case of success attending the invasion, all the emirs of the Soudan were preparing to follow the first army.

Wad-el-Najûmi himself-or the son of the astrologer, as his name implies was a man of humble origin of the Jaâlin tribe of Arabs. By religious zeal and a talent for war, he had risen to influence in his tribe, just as the Mahdy had risen among the Taâshi and Baggâra. His victory over Hicks Pasha, and his presence at the death of Gordon, had invested him with very great importance; while a native nobility of character made up in the eyes of all his followers

for his low birth. All the deserters from his force testified that Wad-el-Najumi bore the same privations as the poorest of his soldiers. He was a religious enthusiast of the type of Loyola, and had perfect confidence in the justice of the Mahdy's claims to be the conqueror of the world; he was consequently indifferent to the character of the means employed to accomplish that end. Both at Argin and Toski he displayed a consummate knowledge of the art of war. At the former battle he dissipated the attacks of Wodehouse Pasha through the whole of the forenoon, while at Toski he paralysed the Cavalry Brigade through a great part of the day. During the march from Argin to Toski he only twice allowed his opponents to see his army, and on both occasions so disposed of his men that he was credited with a far larger force than what he really possessed. Those of the deserters who brought such detailed and exaggerated reports of his numbers to the Egyptian officers were doubtless supplied by him with this information. From the first day of the campaign to the last he so impressed his personality on his opponents, that they invariably felt themselves in the presence of a very masterful enemy. In all their dealings with him, the English officers commanding the Egyptian forces felt that they were dealing with a man who had the instincts of a gentleIn the midst of a thousand difficulties he not only kept up his own courage, but sustained that of his followers. Alone of all the dervishes, his dead body has not been given to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field. It was recognised on the field of Toski, and buried on the banks of the Nile near a palm-grove.

man.

Owing to the singular position

occupied by Wad-el-Najûmi among the powerful Jaâlin Arabs, he was a source of considerable anxiety to the Khalifa and his tribe the Baggâra; and some suppose that he was sent to Egypt to accomplish a mission which the Khalifa well knew would result in failure, and possibly the death of its leader. Wad-el-Najûmi, however,remained loyal to the last, and refused to credit his chief with duplicity; while the conduct of Makîn-el-Nur and his Baggara contingent on the field of Toski renders it possible that there was foul-play on the part of the Khalifa or Yunis-WadDekeim, the governor of Dongola and near relative of the Khalifa.

Of the other emirs with him, the best known were Abd-el-Halîm and Osman Azrak. Abd-el-Halîm was the commandant of Sarras, an unscrupulous and truculent but very brave man. He lost an arm at Argin, but was present in the very front of the fight at Toski, and fell early in the engagement. His body was easily recognised by the loss of the left arm. Osman Azrak is an Arab chief, a famous freebooter and plunderer, who has personally engaged many officers of the Egyptian army in frontier raids and forays. There is nothing of the religious enthusiast about him; he may fitly be compared to the stark mosstrooper of the type of William of Deloraine. Like Osman Digna, he has figured as killed in many official reports. The last time was at Toski, though he made good his escape, and is ready for a future raid if opportunity offers.

As Wad-el-Najûmi marched northwards from Dongola, he plundered the country and forced the original inhabitants, or Berabra, as they are called, to accompany his army as hewers of wood and drawers of water. No mercy was shown to those who refused. Har

rowing tales of cruelty were reported by deserters as having been committed on those who tried to evade this duty. He left the country a complete desert behind him. On reaching Sarras he halted there five days, joined Abd-el-Halîm's force to his, and marched northwards along the left or western bank of the Nile, leaving only 100 men to garrison Sarras. Towards the end of June he reached the Egyptian frontier, and halted there three days. His army in all probability consisted of 3500 fighting men, of whom 600 were riflemen. He had 7 guns and about 350 camels for transport. His camp-followers consisted of about 8000 men, women, and children, bringing the total number to11,000. It will afterwards be explained why 11,000 has been chosen in preference to any of the other estimates, which range from 10,000 to14,000. He had had the option of invading Egypt either by way of Abu Hamed and the Murâd wells, or by either bank of the Nile. He considered the desert journey via the Murâd wells as too difficult: he chose the western bank of the Nile for various reasons; among others was the existence of a kind of oasis called the Kurkur, stretching in a direction generally parallel to the Nile from a point 50 miles north-west of Korosko to a village about 25 miles north of Assuân called Banbân. Banbân and Diran are the names of two villages on opposite banks of the Nile, where, on the final abandonment of the Soudan, most of the refugees from Dongola settled. These men promised to aid the dervishes, and encouraged them to think that there would be a rising in their favour. It was Wad-el-Najûmi's intention first to take Argin, a large village on the western bank of the river about 8 miles north of Wady Halfa, establish a strong

garrison there, and cut the communications between Wady Halfa and Assuân. On being reinforced by Makîn-el-Nur and Ali-WadSaâd,he intended proceeding northwards and establishing a strong post at Abu Simbel, about 50 miles north of Wady Halfa. Opposite Abu Simbel, on the eastern bank of the Nile, is the termination of a well-known caravan road crossing the desert from Abu Hamed. After this he hoped to hurry across the desert, gain the Kurkur, and strike the Nile at Banbân, near which latter place he intended making a strong intrenched camp at Gebel Silsila, and cutting the communications between Assuân and Cairo.

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On the 29th June, Wad-elNajûmi and Osman Azrak made a reconnaissance from Matûka as far as a point opposite Wady Halfa. The first impression which Halfa, with its well-ordered defences and its strong position, would have made on an ordinary invader, would have been one of depression; but it gives a good insight into the mind of Wad-el-Najûmi, and the buoyancy of his hopes, to know that the first expression which fell from his lips was, "O Wodehouse, four days hence my horses will be feeding in your stables!" On the night of the 30th June he made a false advance towards the north in order to enable him to see what position the Egyptian army would take up. The Egyptian forces advanced quickly to Argin on the 1st July, but finding the dervish advance a false one, they returned to Halfa on the same evening. Having taken his dispositions, Wad-elNajûmi made a hurried march to Argin on the night of the 1st July with an advance-guard of about 1500 men, appeared on the hills overlooking the village at 7.30 A.M. on the 2d, and fell on the Egyptian position an hour afterwards

Within three or four hours of his own arrival at Argin, the whole of his army and camp-followers reached his new position.

It is now time to consider the composition of the forces guarding the Egyptian frontier. The frontier extended from Silsila, about 35 miles north of Assuân, to Matûka, about 10 miles south of Halfa. The distance from Assuân to Halfa along the river is 214 miles, so that the whole length of the frontier was 260 miles. At Halfa there were stationed the 9th, 10th, and 13th Sudanese battalions, and the 7th Egyptian battalion, with about 200 cavalry, 100 camel corps, and four batteries of field and garrison artillery. There were small detachments of regular and irregular troops at various posts along the river, amounting altogether to over 1000 men. At Assuân there were 700 troops, while in the various desert posts there were 700 irregulars. The total force on the frontier consisted of about 6000 men, under the command of Wodehouse Pasha. Very few of these men could be moved, as they were scattered over a very large area guarding intrenched posts, while the Murâd wells were occupied by a dervish force with reserves at Abu Hamed, and there was a very persistent rumour of a dervish advance on Assuân through the Eastern desert.

It may elucidate matters to note here that there are 13 battalions in the Egyptian army, of which the first eight are Egyptians proper with a nominal strength per battalion of about 650 men. The remaining five battalions are Sudanese, with a nominal strength per battalion of about 700 men. During the Nile campaign of 1889 the battalions engaged had an average strength of 500 men each on the field. The 9th Sudanese

battalion is the crack regiment of the Egyptian army. It has seen the greatest amount of service, and for steadiness and bravery is surpassed by none. It contains a very large number of real blacks born in the Soudan. Some of the battalions contain a considerable proportion of blacks born in Egypt. These men are much the same as the Egyptians, and lack that perfect ignorance of fear which characterises the Sudanese proper. There are no braver troops in the world than the real blacks. The Egyptians proper from Assuân to Cairo are better soldiers than those from the provinces north of Cairo. Between Dongola and Halfa, and between Halfa and Assuân, live the Berabra, who provide no soldiers of any kind. The artillery, cavalry, and camel corps are all composed of Egyptians proper. The Sudanese are too uncivilised to know how to treat animals properly,and are consequently enlisted solely in the infantry.

Wodehouse Pasha,a LieutenantColonel of Artillery in the English army, and a Lewa in the Egyptian army, was comparatively a junior officer for so important a post as that of Commandant of the Egyptian frontier; but his conduct during the campaign more than justified the confidence the Government placed in him. His ready determination to make a desert of the west bank of the Nile in advance of Wad-el-Najû mi, and the prompt method in which it was carried out, has introduced a new method of warfare on the Nile. It has made the Egyptian frontier at Wady Halfa impregnable. His resolve to continue the advance on the battlefield of Argin after the arrival of the whole of Wad-elNajûmi's force averted a disaster similar to that of Maiwand. His appreciation of the great ability of the dervish leader made him

confident that he was right in following the enemy down the Nile and cutting off his supplies, rather than risking an engagement in the desert, where Najûmi, with his vast experience of that kind of warfare, and his superior force, might have had the advantage. Subsequent events fully justified his plan of campaign, though it may be remarked that the extreme desirability of obtaining accurate information of the dervish numbers would have justified him in sending his reconnaissance parties far nearer to the enemy, and thus learning their exact strength, even at the risk of very serious casualties on his own side. As a special characteristic of him, it may be mentioned that few men are more highly gifted with the power of attaching those about them to themselves.

The officer second in command on the frontier was Hunter Bey, formerly Lieutenant-Colonel of the 9th battalion, but at the time of the dervish invasion Commandant of Halfa. He had seen a great deal of service, having been engaged in almost all the important actions on the Nile since 1883. At the battle of Argin, the difficult operation of clearing a determined enemy out of the village at the point of the bayonet was intrusted to him, and brilliantly performed; while at Toski he commanded the first division of the Infantry Brigade, which did practically the whole of the fighting on that day.

As soon as Wodehouse Pasha was assured of the dervish advance on Egypt, he detailed off all the available troops under his command to form a flying column. This column consisted of a battery of field and another of garrison artillery, with 150 men, under Bimbashi Hasan Radwân; of about 200 cavalry under Bimbashi Beech; 100 camel corps under Bimbashi

Dunning, Intelligence Officer; and the 9th, 10th, and 13th Sudanese battalions-altogether about 2000 men, with 200 horses, 20 mules, 100 camels, and 8 Krupp guns. Four armed stern-wheelers were attached to the force. Each cruiser was armed with 2 Nordenfeldt guns and an English 9-pounder. They bore the historic names of Abu Klea, Tamai, Teb, and Metemmeh. Hunter Bey was second in command, while Bimbashi Hickman was orderly officer to the Pasha, and Dr Morse medical officer. Towards the end of June and the beginning of July the Nile is at its lowest, and there are scarcely any crops on the ground. The dates are green, and unfit for food for ordinary people, but they would have provided food for the inhabitants of the Soudan, who are accustomed at times to live on pounded date-seeds. The Pasha gave orders that all the villagers on the west bank of the river from Halfa to Tômas, a distance of 70 miles, should be moved over to the other bank, with all their cattle and possessions of every kind. He had all the green dates pulled off and destroyed, so that the dervish force would have to move along what was practically a desert. He felt confident that hunger would compel them to surrender at discretion if their advance was retarded sufficiently. He himself intended keeping up with the enemy and taking every opportunity of harassing them and preventing them from making a lodgment on the edge of the Nile. learning their numbers he telegraphed for reinforcements, emphasising the fact that Wad-elNajûmi's was the first of a series of armies which were making their way down the Nile. About Halfa itself there was no anxiety. Halfa is naturally a very strong place for the kind of warfare on the fron

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