Turn 4
Things could not be worse for the Anglo-Egyptians. Not only did the South revolt, but also the
East. Now all of the Sudan is up in
arms. Even with the defeats of the Mahdist forces at El Fasher and Wad Hamed
could not keep the South and East under control.
In the West the 1st Egyptians continue their
march to El Obeid. The next stop is Foga,
and as at Wadi Banda there are no Dervish units there to stop them on their
march. Maybe the reputation of the 1st
Egyptians is spreading and the Dervish are retreating before them or they are
at El Obeid waiting.
In the South the towns of El Duiem and Fashoda fall
immediately as they were undefended.
Khartoum is saved only by the size of the garrison. The concern is the force at Kosti, which was
planning to march west to retake El Obeid. With 4 units at Kosti they survive
the uprising and are now ready to break out and advance to El Obeid. Deciding
to leave the half battalion of the 3rd Egyptians at Kosti to maintain a link to
the north, the remaining units advance towards Ruwaba. This force consists of
the 2nd Egyptian Regiment, the 1st Cavalry Squadron, and
the 2nd Camel Company.
Battle of Ruwaba: (4 - 2, 2 units of Dervish,
1 rub of Ansar and 1 Rub of Fuzzies, Dervish attack on camp) The Egyptian units
had taken up a position behind a strong zeriba and waited for the Dervish to
attack. The 2nd Egyptians covered the front and the back while the
Cavalry and Camels covered the sides.
Both Dervish Rubs advanced quickly towards the zeriba.
The first round of fire was split between he 2 rifle units with the Ansar
taking causality. During the Egyptian
turn, both rifle units taking causality.
The fire from the lightly trained Dervish was un-affective. Now the
dervish needed to rush the zeriba but came up just short. This allowed the Cavalry and Camels to pour
in effect fire with most Dervish taking causalities.
The 2nd Egyptians seeing that the Dervish were
not going to attack the back of the zeriba pulled the stands from that side to
reinforce the front as this would be the turn the Dervish would attack in
Melee. The resulting move had 1 Fuzzy
unit attack the Cavalry, one Ansar attack the Camel, and the remaining 2 Sword
and Spear Ansar and Fuzzy attack the 2nd Egyptians. The resulting fire from the Egyptians checked
the Ansar in front of the Camel and the Fuzzy in front of the 2nd. The Fuzzy unit fighting the Cavalry was a
close battle, but the Fuzzies took tremendous casualties and retreated out of
close range. The Ansar attacking the 2nd
also was pushed back.
The fire on the next turn resulted in more casualties for
the Dervish and then the roll for Morale resulted in them melting away into the
desert. The Egyptians won this close
affair with the knowledge that they can stand toe to toe with the Dervish and
win. They were then able to rest and
water up and continue with the advance to El Obeid.
In the East, Trinkitat and Kassala fall as they are also
undefended. The Bashi Bazook force at
Tokar somehow survives the revolt and is able to continue on to Suakin. Here the Allies put great hope in General
Baker to begin the relief in the east.
With the arrival of the 2nd Bashi Bazooks, General Baker
decides to leave them and Section C of the 5th Egyptian Artillery to
defend Suakin. The British force under
the command of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Commander, consists of the 2nd
Battalion 46th and the 1st battalion 79th,
along with the Mounted Infantry and 3rd Royal Artillery 7pdr
Mountain Screw Battery begin to advance towards Berber/Atbara. At Sinkat the
forces encounters a Dervish force camped along the line of march. Since they
cannot leave a force behind them the British must attack the camp to clear the
way to the Nile.
Battle for Sinkat: (3 - 1, 2 units of Dervish,
1 unit of Jihadiya Ansar Rifle and 1 Cavalry unit, Allied attack on Dervish
town/camp) The Jihadiya Rifle unit had setup inside a zeriba, outside what you
would call Sinkat. The Cavalry was deployed outside the zeriba. The 3rd Royal Artillery was
flanked to the left by the 79th and to the right by the 46th. 
The Mounted infantry setup behind and to the left to f
the 79th. On the first turn the British advanced just inside of
effective rifle range but outside of range of the Remington’s that the Dervish
had. The first volley of rifle fire
resulted in no casualties but the fire from the mountain gun resulted in the
first lost against the Cavalry. It was
now the Dervish turn and the Cavalry tried to reach the Highlander unit but came
up short. The resulting fire removed another stand of Dervish Cavalry. Now it was time for the British to act and
the Mounted Infantry charged the Dervish Cavalry. This is where things started to go bad for
the Mounted Infantry. The Dervish Cavalry was able to beat off the British to
the point that they caused causality.
The infantry and artillery started to exchange shots with no
effect.
Now it was time for the Dervish Cavalry to charge. The
Mounted Infantry were able to react and countercharge. The Mounted Infantry
were then soundly defeated again losing a causality and the Dervish was able to
continue the charge into the Highlanders.
Here the Highlanders up held the honor of the British Army and won
decisively and the Dervish retreated back.
During this the Jihadiya decided to support the cavalry
and exit the zeriba. The resulting fire from the artillery and the 46th
resulted in the first causality. Now the British advanced and the fire into the
Jihadiya resulted in an additional lose.
The Highlanders fired into the Cavalry resulting in additional loses.
At this point the Dervish morale took a turn for the
worse and both units retreated. This
effectively ended any resistance at Sinkat.
The 2 looses for the Mounted Infantry were only minor wounds and both
stands were returned to duty after a short rest at Sinkat.
The small force at Hadiga survives the revolt and is able
to advance on Atbara. The 3rd Egyptians are unfortunately not as
lucky as the rest of the forces and they do not survive the uprising and either
joined the ranks of the Mahdi or melted into the desert never to be found. This is
a tough lose to the relief of Atbara as they had silently marched all
the way from Kassala and this small force would be helpful in the coming
battle.
With the Ruby T now ready to sail to Atbara the forces
are in place to relieve the siege.
Battle for Atbara: (5 – 2 - 2), 5 units
of Dervish, 3 rubs of Ansar, 1 Jihadiya Rifle and 1 Fuzzy Rub plus 1 Cannon,
Allied attack on dervish camp) Realizing that this was going to be a difficult
battle, the order of the day was to try and get the relief column to Atbara and
save as many troops as possible. There
was enough room on the Hermes to transport all troops. The Dervish were in 2 zeribas located outside
of town within easy reach of the road from Suakin. The Hermes began shelling the camps to little
effect. This made the Dervish come out and move against the town. The Ruby T showed up but due to the large
force decided not to disembark the 4th Egyptians and helps out with
long range fire from its 12 pounder. Now
the relief column of the 2nd Egyptian Squadron and the 2nd Gendarme
showed up. They tried to advance as far
away from the Dervish camps, but the Dervish caught up to the Gendarme and keep
pushing them away from the town. The 2nd
Squadron made it to the town, but took causality just before entering
cover. By now the Hermes had turned
around and made it to the dock. And the Ruby T streamed past and turned
around. The town effectively blocked
most fire out into the desert and could not offer the Gendarme any
support. All the while the 3rd
Squadron made the outer most defenses trying to hold off the Dervish
horde. The Jihadiya unit made it to the
river bank and tried to put some fire onto the Hermes, but both steamers fire
back causing them to retreat. As the 2nd squadron tried to make it
to the dock an Ansar unit attacked them in the rear and was just able to defeat
them, the fire from the steamers pushed them back allowing the 3rd
squadron to just make it onto the Hermes.
The 2nd Gendarme disappeared out into the desert with full
Fuzzy Rub surrounding them. It is
assumed that they died at the hands of the Fuzzies. This was a costly battle as
the 2nd Squadron was reduced by one stand as the casualties were
high, 2nd Gendarme was complete eliminated, and Atbara was lost to
the Dervish giving them 10 more points. The Hermes decided to sail north to try
and bring supplies to Berber and the Ruby T headed back south in an attempt to
get needed supplies to Khartoum.
In the North General Wolseley finally issues the orders
to begin advancing up the Nile. Under
the command of the 2nd Egyptian Infantry Brigade consisting of the
remnants of the 5th Egyptian Regiment, the Xth and XIth Sudanese
Regiments, the 1st Camel Company and the complete 6th
Artillery Battery begin the march up the Nile. The remaining British units
remain at Wadi Halfa until more reinforcements arrive later this month. Akasha
is the first stop for this force
Battle for Akasha: (5 – 4, 1 unit of Dervish,
1 Rub of Ansar, Allied attack on Dervish camp) This battle was very lopsided
since there was only 1 Rub of Ansar Nile Dervish and the attacking Egyptians
had the whole 6th Artillery Battery to stand back and bombard the
Dervish. After several turns the Dervish
gave up the fight and melted back into the desert. This must have been a force just to keep tabs
on the Allied forces to let the Mahdi know when they would be advancing up the
Nile. The next stop is Suarda where there were no Dervish to be found. The word of the Egyptian advance must be
traveling fast to the Mahdi.
Further north, the reinforcements at Aswan, the 89th
Royal Irish, the Camel Corp Commander and the Guard Camel Regiment advance to
Wadi Halfa to join up with the rest of the British forces there.
The supply situation here is still in good shape with
Berber dropping from 5 turns to 4 with relief soon close as Atbara and coming
form Egypt. Khartoum and Kosti only have 2 turns of Supplies. Hopefully the Ruby T can return and bring
more supplies and troops
Reinforcements are still slow to arrive at Suakin but at
Aswan the largest force so far arrives from Alexandria. 5 units arrive at
Aswan. 2 units arrive from India at
Suakin. At Khartoum the locals form a Turkish Battalion to supplement the
forces there.
At Aswan the following arrive:
Egyptian 7th Artillery Battery and Commander
1st Battalion 60th KRRC
Royal Marine Light Infantry
Heavy Camel Regiment
1st Royal Artillery 9pdr Battery
At Suakin the following arrive:
2nd Battalion 56th Essex
Company B Mounted Infantry
Closing out the turn the revolt index in the West stays
at 4 The North it stays at 5 due to the win at Suarda and the loss at
Atbara. The East goes down to 2 due to
the loss at Sinkat. The South the index also goes down by 1 to 4 with the win
at Ruwaba. The Mahdist gains 56 points this turn for a total of 137 points.
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