The Indian Contingent Landed In The Full Expectation Of Being Immediately
Employed Against The Enemy.
After a week, when all the stores had been
landed, officers and men spent their time speculating when the order to
march would come.
It was true that there was no transport in Suakin, but
that difficulty was easily overcome by rumours that 5,000 camels were on
their way from the Somali coast to enable the force to move on Kassala
or Berber. As these did not arrive, General Egerton sent in a proposed
scheme to the Sirdar, in which he undertook to hold all the advanced posts
up to the Kokreb range, if he were supplied with 1,000 camels for
transport. A characteristic answer was returned, to the effect that it was
not intended to use the Indian contingent as a mobile force. They had come
as a garrison for Suakin, and a garrison for Suakin they should remain.
This information was not, however, communicated to the troops, who
continued to hope for orders to advance until the fall of Dongola.
The heat when the contingent arrived was not great, but as the months
wore on the temperature rose steadily, until in August and September the
thermometer rarely fell below 103 degrees during the night, and often rose to 115 degrees
by day. Dust storms were frequent. A veritable plague of flies tormented
the unhappy soldiers. The unhealthy climate, the depressing inactivity,
and the scantiness of fresh meat or the use of condensed water, provoked
an outbreak of scurvy. At one time nearly all the followers and 50 per cent
of the troops were affected. Several large drafts were invalided to India.
The symptoms were painful and disgusting - open wounds, loosening of the
teeth, curious fungoid growths on the gums and legs. The cavalry horses
and transport animals suffered from bursati, and even a pinprick expanded
into a large open sore. It is doubtful whether the brigade could have been
considered fit for active service after September. All the Europeans
suffered acutely from prickly heat. Malarial fever was common. There were
numerous cases of abscess on the liver. Twenty-five per cent of the British
officers were invalided to England or India, and only six escaped a stay in
hospital. The experiences of the battalion holding Tokar Fort were even
worse than those of the troops in Suakin. At length the longed-for time of
departure arrived. With feelings of relief and delight the Indian
contingent shook the dust of Suakin off their feet and returned to India.
It is a satisfaction to pass from the dismal narrative of events in the
Eastern Soudan to the successful campaign on the Nile.
By the middle of April the concentration on the frontier was completed.
The communications were cleared of their human freight, and occupied only
by supplies and railway material, which continued to pour south at the
utmost capacity of the transport. Eleven thousand troops had been massed
at and beyond Wady Halfa. But no serious operations could take place until
a strong reserve of stores had been accumulated at the front. Meanwhile the
army waited, and the railway grew steadily. The battalions were distributed
in three principal fortified camps - Halfa, Sarras, and Akasha - and
detachments held the chain of small posts which linked them together.
Including the North Staffordshire Regiment, the garrison of Wady Halfa
numbered about 3,000 men. The town and cantonment, nowhere more than 400
yards in width, straggle along the river-bank, squeezed in between
the water and the desert, for nearly three miles. The houses, offices,
and barracks are all built of mud, and the aspect of the place is brown
and squalid. A few buildings, however, attain to the dignity of two
storeys. At the northern end of the town a group of fairly well-built
houses occupy the river-front, and a distant view of the clusters of
palm-trees, of the white walls, and the minaret of the mosque refreshes
the weary traveller from Korosko or Shellal with the hopes of civilised
entertainment. The whole town is protected towards the deserts by a ditch
and mud wall; and heavy Krupp field-pieces are mounted on little bastions
where the ends of the rampart rest upon the river. Five small detached
forts strengthen the land front, and the futility of an Arab attack at
this time was evident. Halfa had now become the terminus of a railway,
which was rapidly extending; and the continual arrival and despatch of
tons of material, the building of sheds, workshops, and storehouses lent
the African slum the bustle and activity of a civilised city.
Sarras Fort is an extensive building, perched on a crag of black rock
rising on the banks of the Nile about thirty miles south of Halfa. During
the long years of preparation it had been Egypt's most advanced outpost
and the southern terminus of the military railway. The beginning of the
expedition swelled it into an entrenched camp, holding nearly 6,000 men.
From each end of the black rock on which the fort stood a strong stone wall
and wire entanglement ran back to the river. The space thus enclosed was
crowded with rows of tents and lines of animals and horses; and in the fort
Colonel Hunter, commanding the district known as 'Sarras and the South,'
had his headquarters.
From Sarras the army seemed to have chosen a double line of advance.
The railway reconstruction followed the old track which had been prepared
through the desert in 1885. The convoy route wound along by the river.
Both were protected from attack. The 7th Egyptians guarded Railhead,
while the chain of small posts secured the road by the Nile to Akasha.
The advanced base grew during the months of April and May into a strong
position. Only once did the Arabs venture to approach within artillery
range. A small body of horse and camel men made a sort of haphazard
reconnaissance, and, being seen from the outpost line, were fired on at a
great distance by a field-gun.
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