himself, in a brilliant but complicated interlaced move, swung his regiments and artillery through 90 degrees in time to meet the Green Standard assault head on. His 18 guns and eight Maxims proved too formidable to cope with, and the assault was repulsed with heavy losses to the Dervishes. It was later calculated that the Brigade had fired over 163,000 rounds of small- arm ammunition. By 11.30 a.m. the Dervish forces were in full retreat, and the battle was over. The Sirdar had 420 men killed and wounded, with the Sudanese losses approaching 30,000. Nearly 11,000 Mahdist dead were counted on the battlefield the next day. Machine-guns and artillery now ruled the battlefield.


At 2:45 p.m., Kitchener and his staff, together with Maxwell’s brigade of Sudanese, entered the city of Omdurman and, accompanied by the XIIIth Sudanese, advanced to the Khalifa’s house - only to find that he had fled. It was here that the Sirdar came close to an untimely end. When the Karreri battle was over and the troops advancing on Omdurman, which was expected to be fanatically defended, the 37th Battery of Artillery (Peake) was told to fire at anything that moved in the area of the Khalifa's house, presumably in the hope of eliminating him once and for all. However, as there was only a little sporadic opposition the city was entered very quickly, with the Khalifa's house the obvious first place to make for. In the rush no one remembered to inform Peake, and the result could well have been predicted. The artillery seeing movement at the Khalifa’s house opened up, and as the shells began exploding around them Kitchener and his officers beat a hasty retreat. Unfortunately, the Hon. Herbert Howard, the Times newspaper correspondent, was killed in the courtyard.


Two days later the martyred Gordon was remembered in a multi-denominational memorial service held amongst the ruins of his old palace. “Chinese” Gordon, now immortalised as “Gordon of Khartoum” had been avenged at last.


Gedaref (7 September - 26 December 1898) 33 clasps awarded to British army officers, and 9 clasps in total to Royal Navy and Royal Marine Artillery.


On 28 September, back at Gedaref, Ahmed Fadel made an assault on the town but was repulsed with heavy losses. He then hung around for a while, but when he heard of re-inforcements coming from Omdurman he decided to move south to the forests of Kordofan. This was not to be so easily done, as he ran into Colonel “Taffy” Lewis near Rosaires on Boxing Day. After a hard fight Fadel escaped to join the Khalifa in Kordofan, but 500 of his men were dead, and 1700 captured.


Thus ended the Sudan Wars which had begun nearly 20 years earlier, and which saw the death of Gordon, closely followed by that of the Mahdi himself, the abandonment of the Sudan, the years of devastation under the Khalifa, and ultimately the reconquest under Lord Kitchener.


Sudan 1899 Approximately 160 clasps awarded to the British army and 22 clasps to the Royal Navy and Royal Marine Artillery.


The Khalifa proved to be most elusive after his flight from Omdurman. As he moved south he was joined by substantial forces still loyal to him, many of whom had not managed to reach him in time for the battle of Karari (Omdurman). Several expeditions were sent to try to capture or finally defeat him.


The Blue Nile Expedition (The Kordofan Field Force) under the command of the Sirdar's brother, Colonel Walter Kitchener, left Kohi on 23 January 1899, with 1,604 officers and men. The force made an extremely arduous reconnaissance as far west as Sherkeila, nearly ran out of water and supplies, and returned to the White Nile, without making contact with the Khalifa. The force was broken up at Kohi on 5 February 1899.


The White Nile Expedition (Wingate’s Flying Columns), under the command of Sir Reginald Wingate, assembled at Kaka, just north of Fashoda, on the White Nile. By 19 October the force was comprised of some 7000 officers and men, However, when Fungor was reached it was learned that the Khalifa had once again disappeared. Lord Kitchener who was at Kaka stopped the operations, with the troops arriving back at Khartoum on 1 November.


Gedid (22 November 1899)


40 clasps awarded to British officers and 3 to Royal Marine Artillery Sergeants - the clasp is always accompanied by that for ‘Sudan 1899’


Following the Khalifa’s escape from Omdurman, it was at first thought that his intention was to retire south to the fairly inaccessible El Obeid or Darfur. However, following the failure of previous expeditions to trap him, the Khalifa had resolved to stake everything on one last desperate attempt to strike north to recapture his former capital of Omdurman, which if successful would rally all his followers for a new jihad. The Khalifa’s decision was probably based on erroneous tales of the great disasters that he was informed had overcome the two previous expeditions against him. On 12 November 1899, his advanced guard, under the Emir Ahmed Fedil, struck the White Nile opposite Abba Island, and immediately gave the game away by firing at the gunboat Sultan which was patrolling the river. The news quickly reached Khartoum. The IXth and XIIIth Sudanese Battalions were mobilised on 13 November and despatched at once to Abba Island under Colonel Lewis. Kitchener hurried south from Cairo, and arrived in Khartoum on the 18th. A field force of some 2,300 troops, including the IXth and XIIIth Sudanese who were already at Abba, was immediately formed, and the command entrusted to Sir Reginald Wingate.


This time there was to be no escape. The forces met at Umm Dibaykarat, near Gedid, on 22 November, in what was to be the last battle of the reconquest. The Khalifa’s force by now totalled about 4,200 fighting men, and a camp following of well over 6,000 women and children. Wingate deployed his force and waited, and true to form, having learned nothing from his previous experiences, the Khalifa chose to make a frontal assault on the Egyptian Army positions. The Dervish Ansar attacked with their usual fanatical bravery, but the Egyptians held firm. Once again the Maxims did their deadly work, and although they pressed the Egyptian line hard, the final result was by now inevitable. Once the outcome was seen to be inevitable, the Khalifa and his Emirs dismounted, kneeled on their prayer mats facing Mecca, and saying their prayers calmly awaited death and paradise. The IXth Sudanese did not disappoint them. The roll of Emirs who fell in the battle, or chose to die, is impressive. They included the Khalifa Abdullahi, Ali Wad Helu, Ahmed Fadil, Osman Sheikh Ed Din, the Khalifa's brothers Haroun and Ahmed, and Es Saddiq, one of the Mahdi’s sons. At least 45 other Emirs of lesser rank also fell that final day. Included in the long list of Emirs wounded was the Khalifa's young son and designated successor, who was adopted


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