Turn 5
With the loss of Atbara the Nile River Steamers have split with the Ruby T heading back to Khartoum and the Hermes heading to Berber to try and bring supplies there and additional forces.
In the West the 1st Egyptians continue their march to El Obeid. The next stop is the well at W1, and as at Foga there are no Dervish units there to stop them on their march. The force at Ruwaba continues to Rahad where a force of Dervish is there to block their advance.
Battle of Rahad: (4 – 2, 2 units of Dervish, 2 rubs of Ansar, Dervish attack on camp) 2nd Egyptian Regiment, the 1st Cavalry Squadron, and the 2nd Camel Company. This force, flush with victory at Ruwaba, made the mistake by setting up camp too close to the well of Rahad. This allowed the Dervish to creep within Rifle range and cover of the walls of the small village. This also provided projection from the long range fire of the Egyptian infantry. On the first turn, one of the Ansar units decided that it would gain glory for Allah and the Mahdi and charged the zeriba alone. This unit was decimated by the rifle fire from the 2nd Egyptians. This allowed the other Ansar Rub to get with charge range and on the next run this rub and the other sword unit charged the zeriba. On the first attack the Egyptians held, but the next turn the Dervish broke through and was into the zeriba. With the 2nd Egyptians falling back, the 1st Squadron Cavalry moved out of the zeriba to let the dervish flow past. The 2nd Camels tried to support the 2nd Egyptians, but there were too many Dervish and they were pushed completely out of the zeriba. Things changed and the Dervish then suffered a morale break and the Egyptians counter-attacked. Realizing now that the fire of the 2nd Egyptian and the Camels would overwhelm them, the Dervish melted into the desert, sending reports to the Mahdi of their supposed victory of the Turks. As for the Egyptians, their losses were severe. The 1st Cavalry suffered 2 stands lost of which 1 stand recovered. But the 2nd Egyptians suffered the most losing 7 stands total of which only 4 recovered reducing them to 12 stands. The 2nd Camels came out of this battle with no loses. And Omar the camel supply boy survived another battle. This force did hold the well but this is considered a victory for the Dervish just by the amount of losses suffered by the Egyptians. These loses may come back to haunt them when they try to take El Obeid.
In the South the force at Kosti remains with the hope that the Gordon will send supplies.
In the East with the Revolt index dropping, the British force at Sinkat advances on the Shediyeb, where there are no Dervish forces to meet them. Things are looking good in the East. The force at Suakin waits one more turn for additional forces to arrive before they attempt to relieve Trinkitat
In the North is where the main action is. At Wadi Halfa the Sirdar orders all forces to begin marching south to help with the relief effort. This force advances to Suarda while the Egyptian force here continues the advance up the Nile. The first stop is Kerma where there is a small force blocking the Nile.
Battle for Kerma: (5 – 3, 2 units of Dervish, 2 Rubs of Ansar, Allied attack on Dervish camp). Again this battle was lopsided since 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.
The next stop is Dongola where the 5th Egyptian lost half is battalion due to the revolt. Here the Dervish decided to try something new and attack the column before it can deploy.
Battle for Dongola: (5 – 2 - 1, 4 units of Dervish, 2 rubs of Ansar and 1 rub of Fuzzy Wuzzy, 1 Ansar Cavalry unit, and 1 Cannon, Dervish attack on Allied Column)
The 1st Camel Company lead the way followed by the 5th Egyptians, then the Xth Sudanese, the Supply Train, the 6th Artillery and then the XIth Sudanese.
It’s a long way to Dongola!
As the column moved down the road, the Ansar Dervish appeared in the distance and dust was spotted to the left of the column out in the desert.
The Fuzzy Wuzzy Rub appeared on the flank of the column using the cover of a rocky out cropping to get close to the column. Further down the road, the Dervish Smooth Bore cannon unlimbered and fired a long range shot into the flank to the 1St Camel Company causing causality as they had turned to face the Fuzzies. The 5th Egyptians also deploy to confront the Fuzzies who the charged out of the rocks. The charge into the Egyptians was checked due to the rifle fire, but the Fuzzies made contact with the 1st Camel. The result forced the Fuzzies back disordered.
With the Ansar Cavalry being down on the Supply Train the 1st Camel and 5th Egyptian retreated back to the road to cover the supplies. The Xth Sudanese also deployed along the road with the 6th artillery unlimbering behind them. The XIth Sudanese deployed as they came on the board and began moving around some cover to out flank the Fuzzies. The Dervish Cavalry charged the 1st Camels, who passed their Reaction test and formed Square. This could have been the turning point if the Dervish cavalry would have won the melee as they would have hit the 5th Egyptians in the flank, but due to the valor of the Camels they were able to repel the Dervish Cavalry.
During this time the 6th Artillery was pounding the Fuzzies almost to the point that there was nothing left. Next one of the Dervish Ansar Rubs moved within Charge range of the 5th Egyptians and the Xth Sudanese and the die roll for the Fuzzies forced them to charge. The resulting rifle fire checked all the charges and forced the Dervish back and goes prone. At this point the XIth Sudanese appeared around the brushing out cropping and charged the Fuzzies in the flank and the Xth Sudanese charged the Ansar Rifle and remaining Fuzzy Rifles. Both Sudanese won and the XIth even continued to charge the prone Ansar.
At this point eh battle was called as the Dervish did not have enough to force any additional causality and the Egyptian forces were consolidated. The 1st Camels lost a stand along with the 5th Egyptians. The Xth Sudanese lost a stand but this stand was returned to active duty.
The steamer Hermes, which has the 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Squadrons onboard, advances to Berber to bring reinforcements and supplies. Here the Dervish have decided to not put up a fight as they are more than likely sacking Atbara and punishing the locals for their support of the Turks. The Hermes was only able to bring in 2 turns of supplies, but with the Egyptians at Dongola, this should be enough for them to hold out.
Finally in the South the 3rd Egyptians hold out for one more turn, but they may need to advance to try and gather supplies as they are down to 1 turn.
There is no movement from Khartoum as they are hoping the Ruby T will bring enough supplies to last.
The Ruby T’s first obstacle is getting past Metemma. Here there are no Dervish forces. As at Berber the local forces are at Atbara. Next is the 6th cataract, which the Ruby T does not make it though on the first attempt. The supplies for Khartoum will have to wait. With the 4th Egyptian on board it should be no problem to clear the cataract on the next turn.
The supply situation at Berber is in good shape, increasing from 4 turns to 5 with the additional supplies from the Hermes. Khartoum and Kosti only have 1 turn of supplies. Hopefully the Ruby T can make it through and bring more supplies and troops to Khartoum, but the 3rd Egyptian may have to sally out of Kosti
Reinforcements are still slow to arrive at Suakin but at Aswan another large force arrives from Alexandria. Also the 2nd Infantry Brigade and the 5th Artillery Battery arrive from England and are now part of the reinforcement forces. 4 units arrive at Aswan. 1 unit arrives from India at Suakin which may be the last unit for several turns as the British are reluctant to post Indian units on the African continent just yet. There is rumor of a revolt in the Northwest Frontier and some units may be needed back to India.
At Aswan the following arrive:
Cavalry Brigade Commander
1st Squadron 5th Lancers
2nd Squadron 5th Lancers
Light Camel Regiment
Artillery Brigade Commander
2nd Royal Artillery 9pdr RML Battery
At Suakin the following arrive:
C Company Mounted Infantry
Closing out the turn the revolt index in the West goes up to 5. The North goes down to 4 due to the win at Dongola. The East stays at 2. The South the index also goes back up to 5 after the disaster at Rahad in the West. The Mahdist gains 53 points this turn for a total of 190 points, almost half way there.
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