BRITISH FORCES, 1884-5
The British troops sent to the Sudan in 1884-5 were small expeditionary forces, organized in brigades, sent to achieve limited objectives. They were wholly inadequate to take on the full force of Mahdiism in the Sudan, had that been their final aim. There were four separate theatres: the Eastern Sudan 1884, the Desert Column 1884-5, the Nile Column 1884-5, and the Eastern Sudan 1885. The two Eastern Sudan campaigns were fought around the environs of Suakin and presented no great supply problems.
The Desert and Nile columns, however, were intended to traverse the entire distance from the Egyptian border to Khartoum and stretched the army's resources to their limit. The Battle of Ginnis, fought just south of the Egyptian frontier on the last day of 1885, marked the final withdrawal from the Sudan and the end of the first Sudan War.
Tactics employed were fairly simple; troops usually advanced in dense, compact formations and fought in hollow squares. The troops were formed either into one large square, or two smaller squares in echelon, the one covering the other's flank. Guns and machine-guns were usually placed at the corners of the squares, where they were extremely vulnerable in an attack; they could not keep pace with the infantry if it charged or was forced back. Only at Kirbekan (Nile Column), Hashin (Eastern Sudan) and Ginnis did the British fight in line, and in each case they were on the offensive.
Cavalry was used mostly for scouting. Mass charges did not generally fare well against the Sudanese counter tactics in meleeing cavalry. By 1885 lancers were employed in the Eastern Sudan as the most effective cavalry against the agile and elusive Sudanese warrior. The ad hoc locally raised mounted infantry came into their own, since they outranged the cavalry with their rifles, and were more effective as scouts and skirmishers than the cavalry.
EASTERN SUDAN, FEBRUARY-MARCH 1884
Major-General Graham was given a force raised from troops diverted from India, Aden, Egypt and the Mediterranean. His objective was to relieve Tokar and secure Suakin from attack. This achieved, his troops were withdrawn. The numbers given here are for men actually involved in various engagements, not the total of men landed at Suakin.
1st Brigade (BULLER):
1st battalion 75th (Gordon Highlanders) 720-750 men
3rd battalion 60th (King's Royal Rifle Corps) 630 men
2nd battalion 89th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) 350-400 men
26th company Royal Engineers 100-150 men
6/1 Scottish Division, Royal Artillery*
- *armed with eight 7 pounders from the Royal Navy, mounted on Egyptian camel battery carriages
with leather collars on the trunions to make them fit.
2nd Brigade (DAVIS):
1st battalion 42nd Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) 730-760 men
1st battalion 65th (York& Lancs) 450-500 men
Royal Marine Light Infantry 478 men
Naval Brigade (3 Gatling, 3 Gardner guns) 125-163 men
M/1 Royal Artillery*
- two 6cwt and two 8 cwt guns borrowed from the Roya I Navy and mounted on field carriages with
field limbers.
Cavalry Brigade (STEWART):
10th Hussars 250-300 men
19th Hussars 360-430 men
Mounted Infantry 120-150 men
THE DESERT COLUMN, DECEMBER 1884-JANUARY 1885
The Desert Column, under the command of General Stewart, was designed as a mounted mobile column whose objective was to link up with Gordon's forces and enter Khartoum to hold it until the main body (the Nile Column) arrived. Four special camel regiments, raised from volunteers from the Brigade of Guards, heavy cavalry regiments, light cavalry regiments, and various infantry regiments already stationed in Egypt, were intended to act as special desert mounted infantry. In the end a fifth camel unit was raised when men from the Royal Sussex Regiment were also mounted on camels. The entire force, with the exception of the 19th Hussars who retained their horses, were mounted on camels. The numbers given below are those that set out from Korti.
Guards Camel Regiment: 19 officers, 395 men
Heavy Camel Regiment: 24 officers, 376 men
Mounted Infantry Camel Regiment: 24 officers, 359 men
1st Battalion 35th (Royal Sussex Regiment): 8 officers, 250 men
19th Hussars (2 squadrons): 8 officers, 127 men
26th Company Royal Engineers (1/2 company): 2officers, 25men
1/1 Southern Division, R.A. (1/2 battery)*: 4 officers, 34 men
- Three 2.5" rifled muzzle-loading screw guns, each carried by five camels.
Naval Brigade: 5 officers, 53 men
- One five-barrelled Gardner gun, carried on four camels.
The Light Camel Regiment (21 officers, 387 men) remained at Korti and guarded the supply line.
THE NILE COLUMN, 1884-5
This was the main force, under the command of Sir Garnet
Wolseley. It set off from Korti in whale-boats, taking the long river route
to Khartoum. It never reached its objective. In fact it fought only one
battle, that at Kirbekan, where a portion of General Earle's Flying
Column met and defeated a small Mahdist advance force. The Nile
Column was mainly an infantry force; the only
artillery was provided by the Egyptian Army. As the column advanced
various outposts were established along the way, and a number of
Egyptian regular and irregular soldiers were employed in various
capacities. The Nile Column as it assembled as Korti was as follows.
WHALERS SETTING SAIL ON THE NILE. The Graphic, Nov. 29, 1984.
1st battalion 38th (South Staffordshire) 600 men
2nd battalion 56th (Essex) 740 men
1st battalion 48th (Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry) 650 men
1st battalion 42nd Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) 675 men
1st battalion 75th (Gordon Highlanders) 720 men
1st battalion 50th (Royal West Kent) 750 men
1st battalion 18th (Royal Irish) 750 men
1st battalion 79th (Cameron Highlanders) 500 men
8th (RR), 11th, 26th companies Royal Engineers 400 men
Naval Brigade 70 men
19th Hussars 350 men
Egyptian Camel company 161 men
Egyptian Camel battery (six 7 pounders) 120 men
Canadian Voyageurs and West African Krumen 370 men
Egyptian soldiers (to haul the boats) 500 men
The Battle of Kirbekan 10 February, 1885:
556 South Staffordshire
437 Black Watch
83 (1 squadron) 19th Hussars
47 (1/2 company) Egyptian Camel company
24 Egyptian Camel battery (2 guns)
EASTERN SUDAN, FEBRUARY-MAY 1885
With the fall of Khartoum there was a spasm of military activity which sent a new expeditionary force under General Graham back to Suakin to establish a base for a second assault on the Nile. This was a better planned operation than the first campaign in the area, with twice as many troops, battalions closer to full strength, a railroad to be constructed, a balloon section, and colonial contingents from I ndia and Australia. All were withdrawn by the middle of the year, after fighting a few engagements around Suakin.
Guards Brigade (LYON-FREMANTLE):
1st battalion Coldstream Guards 840 men
2nd battalion Scots Guards 840 men
3rd battalion Grenadier Guards 834 men
New South Wales Regiment 500 men
Infantry Brigade (McNEILL):
1st battalion 53rd (Shropshire) 800 men
2nd battalion 70th (East Surrey) 600 men
1st battalion 49th (Berkshire) 650 men
Royal Marine Light Infantry 500 men
Indian Brigade (HUDSON):
9th Bengal Cavalry (Lancers) 581 men
15 (Ludhiana Sikhs) 725 men
17th Bengal Native Infantry 843 men
28th Bombay Native Infantry 245 men
F Company, Madras Sappers and Miners 150 men
Cavalry Brigade (EWART);
5th Royal Irish Lancers (2 squadrons) 248 men
20th Hussars (2 squadrons) 261 men
Mounted Infantry (4 companies) 196 men
Mounted Infantry Police 13 men
More companies were added to the Mounted Infantry from troops in Suakin, and a Camel Corps was also raised from the infantry there, including Sikhs and Australians.
Artillery:
6/13 Royal Horse Artillery (six 9 pounders)
5/1 Scottish Division, R.A. (mountain battery) (six 2.5" guns)
6/1 Ammunition Column, Scottish Division, R.A.*
- equipped with mules and camels; later manned the Gardner guns on th armou red train.
New South Wales Artillery (six 9 pounders)
Royal Engineers:
11th Company (attached to Mounted Infantry)
17th Company 105 men
24th Company 124 men
10th Railroad Company
2nd & 3rd sections Telegraph Battalion
Balloon Detachment
GINNIS, 30 DECEMBER 1885
By the end of 1885 most of the British troops in the Nile and Desert Columns had been withdrawn. A small force south of Wadi Haifa faced a growing advance force of Ansar. The battle of Ginnis forced the Mahdist advanced troops to retreat, allowing the British to withdraw to Wadi Haifa in safety. It was the last battle in which British forces wore their red coats, and it was the last time British and Egyptian army units were brigaded together.
1st Brigade (BUTLER):
1st battalion 49th (Berkshires)
1st battalion 50th (Royal West Kent)
2nd battalion 106th (Durham Light Infantry)
1 camel battery (6 guns) Egyptian artillery
60 man escort from 3rd Egyptian battalion
11th Company, Royal Engineers
2nd Brigade (HUYSHE):
1st battalion 19th (Yorkshire Regiment)
Cameron Highlanders (six companies)
9th Sudanese battalion (two companies) 152 men
3rd company Egyptian Camel Corps 39 men
a detachment of British Camel Corps
2/1 South Irish Division, R.A. (mule battery, 2.5" guns)
2 Gardner guns
Mounted troops (BLAKE):
1st Company Egyptian Camel Corps 111 men
1 company Mounted Infantry
20th Hussars
1 squadron Egyptian cavalry 57 men
Two companies of the 9th Sudanese, two companies of the Cameron Highlanders, and 200 men of the 3rd Egyptians were left in the forts, and the river boat LOTUS was manned by a detachment of Royal West Kents and a Gardner gun of the 9th Sudanese.
British and Egyptian Forces Sudan 1884-1898
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