The Battle of Atbara.

Manawatu Herald, 7 June 1898, Page 3

The Battle of Atbara.

» . . . — (Continued.) THE ATTACK. The Cameron Highlanders were entrusted with the duty of clearing • the left front with a hot rifle fire, while alternate companies tore openings in the zareba, or surmounted it by scaling ladders. Next followed the Lincolnshire Regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders, and Warwick ehire Regirnenfc with equal gallantry. The Soudanese attacked the centre, the Egyptain troop 3, trader General Hunter, clearing the rigjit. In the raceJEpr the honour «f which regi meri^fihonldije first in; it is hardly possible to award distinction, as all drove thejr way through the camp. The Sirdar, however, declared that the advance of the Carap«^ns~vas*otie of the finest feats _ jerformed for many years. The J ■; tail C|f bullets . f rom -f , the , -benches 'did not , check ior an instant "^thi^pfipai irresistible onslaught, and •only a minute elapsed from the time the combined forces crowned the ! crest of the ridge overlooking the camp till the Camerona and the Soudaness had torn down the zareba, and tnade way for th£ following regi meuts, which were advancing in column. . AN HEROIC DASH. Colonel Gatacre, accompanied by Private Cross of the Camerons, were actually the first to lay hands on the zareba. Cross bayoneted a big Dervish, who was aiming pointblank at Colonel Gatacre, who cooly continued to demolish the zareba, while commending the action of his plucky protector. Pluckily the soldiers sprang at the stockaded cover trench, five yards beyond which were from three to five rows of trenches, innumerable rifle pits, and on the British front three enclosed field works covered the one gun by which Colonel Murray had been shot early in the fray. THE FIGHT FOR THF KEEP. There was even a better fight for Mahmond's central keep. Colonel Gatacre's brigade turned that position, and thereby materially helped tq end the struggle, for at the keep the Soudanese troops lost heavily half of the companies being hora de combat. A simultaneous right attack by Soudanese brigades were also a grand spectacle, General Huntei himself cheering, and with hie helmet in his hand led the men on to the zareba. But thirty yards from the zareba Ihere was a strong stockade, backed by entrenchments, This had to be stormed, and a thrill ing quarter of an hour resulted Nothing could be more striking ci more picturesque than the way the?* formidable barriers were surmount* c in the face of a hot and continuous fire from the Dervish trencher "Without a moment's flinching, thi British Soudanese attacked thi camp and those of the enemy wh( were not killed were scattered acrosi the river into the Southern Desert. AFTER THE VICTORY. When victory was complete thi rifle pits and entrenchments wen choked with Dervishes, who hai been - bayoneted where they stood Over 2000 Dervishes were dead ii the zareba, while outside the slaii covered the ground for a considerabl distance. From the moment of th

advance .on the zareba by the infantry, till the work, was completed the actual fighting lasted only twenty-eight minutes. It was juat 8.40 a.m. when the troops gained the edge of the steoy band to tbe rear of, Atbara, where they drove the last Dervish out. Many of fche foe were shot during their flight across the sandy bed of the river.