Nearly 300 men fell out during the early part of the night, and
crawled and staggered back to Kosheh. Before the column reached Sadin Fanti
1,700 more sank exhausted to the ground. Out of one battalion 700 strong,
only sixty men marched in. Nine deaths and eighty serious cases of
prostration occurred, and the movement of the brigade from Kosheh to
Absarat was grimly called 'The Death March.'
The 'Death March' was the least of the misfortunes caused by the storms.
The violent rains produced floods such as had not been seen in the Soudan
for fifty years. The water, pouring down the broad valleys, formed furious
torrents in the narrower gorges. More than twelve miles of the railway was
washed away. The rails were twisted and bent; the formation entirely
destroyed. The telegraph wires were broken. The work of weeks was lost in
a few hours. The advance was stopped as soon as it had been begun.
At the moment when every military reason demanded speed and suddenness,
a hideous delay became inevitable.
In this time of crisis the success of the whole campaign hung
in the balance. Sir Herbert Kitchener did not then possess that measure of
the confidence and affection of his officers which his military successes
have since compelled. Public opinion was still undecided on the general
question of the war. The initial bad luck had frightened many. All the
croakers were ready. 'A Jingo Government' - 'An incapable general' -
'Another disaster in the Soudan' - such were the whispers. A check would be
the signal for an outcry. The accounts of 'The Death March' had not yet
reached England; but the correspondents, irritated at being 'chained to
headquarters,' were going to see about that. And, besides all this, there
were the army to feed and the Dervishes to fight. In this serious
emergency, which threatened to wreck his schemes, the Sirdar's organising
talents shone more brilliantly than at any other moment in this account.
Travelling swiftly to Moghrat, he possessed himself of the telephone,
which luckily still worked. He knew the exact position or every soldier,
coolie, camel, or donkey at his disposal. In a few hours, in spite of his
crippled transport, he concentrated 5,000 men on the damaged sections of
the line, and thereafter fed them until the work was finished. In seven
days traffic was resumed. The advance had been delayed, but it was
not prevented.
On the 5th of September the 1st (Lewis) and 2nd (MacDonald) Brigades
moved to Dulgo, and at the same time the remainder of the army began
to march across the loop from Kosheh by Sadin Fanti to Absarat.
Every available soldier had been collected for the final operation
of the campaign.
The Expeditionary Force was organised as follows:
Commander-in-Chief: The SIRDAR
The Infantry Division:
