Last Of All He Sent An Officer To Collinson
And The Camel Corps With Orders That They Should Swing Round To Their Right
Rear And Close The Open Part Of The "V".
By these movements the army,
instead of facing south in echelon, with its left on the river and its
right in the desert, was made to face west in line, with its left in the
desert and its right reaching back to the river.
It had turned nearly
a complete somersault.
In obedience to these orders Lyttelton's brigade brought up their left
shoulders, deployed into line, and advanced west; Maxwell's Soudanese
scrambled up the Surgham rocks, and, in spite of a sharp fire, cleared the
peak with the bayonet and pressed on down the further side; Lewis began to
come into action on Maxwell's right; MacDonald, against whom the Khalifa's
attack was at first entirely directed, remained facing south-west, and was
soon shrouded in the smoke of his own musketry and artillery fire.
The three brigades which were now moving west and away from the Nile
attacked the right flank of the Dervishes assailing MacDonald, and,
compelling them to form front towards the river, undoubtedly took much of
the weight of the attack off the isolated brigade. There remained the gap
between Lewis and MacDonald. But Wauchope's brigade - still in four parallel
columns of route - had shouldered completely round to the north, and was now
doubling swiftly across the plain to fill the unguarded space. With the
exception of Wauchope's brigade and of Collinson's Egyptians, the whole
infantry and artillery force were at once furiously engaged.
The firing became again tremendous, and the sound was even louder than
during the attack on the zeriba. As each fresh battalion was brought into
line the tumult steadily increased. The three leading brigades continued to
advance westward in one long line looped up over Surgham Hill, and with the
right battalion held back in column. As the forces gradually drew nearer,
the possibility of the Dervishes penetrating the gap between Lewis and
MacDonald presented itself, and the flank battalion was wheeled into line
so as to protect the right flank. The aspect of the Dervish attack was at
this moment most formidable. Enormous masses of men were hurrying towards
the smoke-clouds that almost hid MacDonald. Other masses turned to meet the
attack which was developing on their right. Within the angle formed by the
three brigades facing west and MacDonald facing nearly south a great army
of not fewer than 15,000 men was enclosed, like a flock of sheep in a fold,
by the thin brown lines of the British and Egyptian brigades. As the 7th
Egyptians, the right battalion of Lewis's brigade and nearest the gap
between that unit and MacDonald, deployed to protect the flank, they became
unsteady, began to bunch and waver, and actually made several retrograde
movements. There was a moment of danger; but General Hunter, who was on the
spot, himself ordered the two reserve companies of the 15th Egyptians under
Major Hickman to march up behind them with fixed bayonets.
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