THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXII, Issue 245, 22 October 1898, Page 4

THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN.

DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES. HEROES OF A I£ST CAUSE. A -toP-lon correspondent, under **** 'Jno 10th September, forwarda ua \ht story of the Battle of Omd*wm»n. aa told by tbe special correapon**', nt of tbti fDailj News" : First ( s*»y 8 the "Daily News" in reviewing * \t course "of battle) we ba**' 8 tna w> -.ole British force of infantry and standing to their arms, inside a zareba of mimosa thorns, on receiving information that tbe whole Dervish army was advancing. It must have been an impressive picture as the sun set on that huge semi-circle of soldiers who stood with their faces to the foe and tbeir backs towards the broad Nile. No wonder the Dervishes halted on seeing that formidable array and hesitated to attack. All night the tin i armies lay -within artillery range of each other, the Dervish advanced posts keeping up their old tactics by firing occasional but ineffectual rifle slots throughout the night to harass our troops. At six o'clock on the morning of 2nd September the Dervishes formed their order of battle and moved forward in successive masses aa if to cross the British front, but two of them changed direction when opposite tbe left and centre ofour semi-circle line, and came on evidently with intent to attack these points. Then our field batteries opened fire at a range of 2400 yards on the two masses that could be seen. Meanwhile a third mass, moving northwards, apparently with the object of attacking the right flank' , occupied by Egyptian troops, had disappeared behind hills opposite the Egyptian Cavalry and Camel Corps. In spite of artillery fire the enemy cam* on until our central battery of - Maxims opened on them. This fire instead of eheckiDg, only served to qaifkaa .thair movemenis, fin t to a ran, then to the impetuoas rush that, will be ae well remembered by all who fongbl at Tamai or Abn Klea. • Oar- speoial correspondent makes the first mention of rifle fire thai broke from ihe Dervish side at this moment, coveriag the rash of spearmen. Iheir ghirpshooters occupied high; ground, and with tactical skill brought their fire to ■ bear en the Maxima, evidently in hops of silencing them, and the regimtmU'w^ob- were nearest that battery nfbred severely. hour and,* hall of fighting _»jD>r^iah rubes were beaten oil, and scattered remnants of the enemy fell back diseomtitei, bnt nut ntiariy def«t r d- Then the Sirdar art-am- to advance in echelon, a formation that may, perhaps, need some explanation. General Gatacre's Division of British troops led, tke Rifle Brigade battalion being foremost, with its left on the river bank, aad the other regiments following, not directly in rear, but «?ach with ite front clear, so that lie lioaft were 1_« ajiuoceesion of steps, every batta'ioa being mere to the right, and therefore farther from the Nile than the ebe in front of it. lsr^thij *«Vay they gradually advanced towards Omdurman, threat-. inlng to push, a wedge between that city and the. enemy, who would thereby he forced further and farther. away into tbe deseit. General Hunter's division of Soudanese aud Egyptians followed in similar formation, so that the whole army touk the semblance ef a vast arc, its lef . on the. river, its right }njhe deser on rough ground that began to break into low. hills. In frost of all moved a cara 5 *- screen of the 21st Lancers. It wasj at this moment that Maado-ajtld , a : Brigade on the extreme left found itself confronted by the ■rained and nobroksn mass of, Derviafyetj fatter. Wad U^eln, the second KW& f '' J .'rta.K s wept .wddenly. doeu«npen his brigade, and upon Colonel Tudway's Camel Corps, cutting •Jf the Jatter .and menaciug the rear, whei e'Golliheon's Brigade was an escort for the transport aud reserve ammunition. Macdoi-ald, with eharaoteristic readiness, swung round te his right under fir/', and bore the brunt of a ferocious onslaught until Lewis, changing front, also brought his brigade up in sap-. port. Then there was General -Want-hope, who brought bis British Drigade into .the new alignment, aad wheeling still more to the right, epeaad an cxfilading fire on the Darvishee, who,. being thne eaught in fi «4 -üb4 naflV: ware mewed dewn before they could eharge heme, and the steady fin -fcMaetfouald's Brigade) .which had tmrUtg fuither round, ao that by this time its right flank —as fifing North, checking ajl attempts of the Dervishes to get In ! rear of enr forces.'' Ii was a beauiin : fnl taetieal movement brilliantlj i exeeuled, and by it the Lett forces ' of the enemy :were completely j crushed, simultaneously with this , final altemp. of 'the Dervishes our 21st Lancers made their brilliant oh<rge, aod though it involved a great sacrifice, 8000 Dervishta were thereby prevented from hurliug < themselves into the main fight. < Drfcribing the marvellous dash and bravery of ibe nemy, the cor- J respondent of the ' News " says :— i ) belieye that no civilieed iroopd in 1 tho world would have faced aa these savages did such . a murderous fire ' from artillery, Lei-Metfords, Max. j ims, and Martinis, bnt nothing ■ daonud them. Oaly death stopped 1 ihem. The main mass of the farce moved steadily forward, while cenatantly from its serried ranka, whose front lia*js were falling like reaped ©orn, bodies 60 to 200 strong wcnld ' detath themselves, shomting and shaking their sp;ars and banners in defiance, and make a desperate and hopeless eharee. These bodies were always led or accompanied by horsemen. Of course ihey never got within 100yds, asnething could have i lived in the zone of onr fire ; but tbey Versisted till the last man bud fallen, by which time a freeh band ] of fanatics had already started to their fate. - - Throughout the whole of our < force a feeling prevailed of deep \ admiration, at the splendid courage \ of the Dervi.hes, and regret at the 1 necessity of having to kill tbem. * Bevetll times eo-uiderable bodies of \ hersemen at templed to charge, *l- ' f aya wlUi the same result ; and once * party of s« foe* men, who by extraordinary chance survived, appeared quite near our zareba. They held ea together, till ono bv one they fell. The last man. shaking a f RJatiSfadii&SSS ! As we rode over the scene tf the ' Denit«'fir»^'_th*ad'.tb,e effect of 1 onr fee incredibly terrible. The ground was , aiinply littered with < dead. J'Where the Maxims had ' a owed down ihe charging parties in hog* awatbee frequently 15 torn mem were fennd lying abreaot on ] their faoea. The sight was tee hor- 1 tibia to linger over, aad wemeved] •a io where onr advaaeed krigadei

halted on the rid*- if front of ] which the Dervi>b , Bft brf ! Boughtto m akea' ank b « Tbe Lancer- „„.„ „„ front at th „™" f.?'" 18 onr that »h " *n lt was DOW ch>» : y m * !,e tlleir "P^ondid r "* £* in which unfortnnate'j they affered severely- Their orders, those usually given to oivalry, wero not to allow the enemy, when beaten, to go back to his stronghold They S aw a portion of the ervieh reserve hurrying through tho scrub in the di-ection of Omdurman, and they- charged. The ground was badly cut up by dry watercourses, and thoy soon discovered that they had to deal not with hundreds of fugititives, but with many thousand men who were nnbeaten and were re-forming for a fre,h attack. The result was di-a-i rous. Lieut. Robert Grenfell was killed. His horse fell aud bo bad no cbauce. His troop and Montmorency's suffered most. 'I he latter had five men si ie I and seven wounded.

The political prophets Eays ths " Tost " are already forecasting the result of the Tuspeka elec ion contesr, occasioned by the death of Mr Lirnach. Mr Rawlins, tbe Opposition candidate, appears to be regarded as having tha best chance of success. At the general election Mr Larnach oaly deflated him by 21 votes, and the Government does not appear to be able to obtain a strong candidate to run ngain^t bin) on this occasion.