THE CHARGE OF THE BLACKS.
Mr Burleigh has sent to the Daily Telegraph a detailed account of the fighting in front of Suakim, in which he praises the dash of tho black troops in the Egyptian army. He says:—"By 0.15 a.m. the firing was decidedly warm; at sevcu it was hot, and a quarter of an hour later it was at its hottest. Tho Blacks were at this time within 500 yards of tho extreme left and rear of the hostile position, or just north of Shaata Fort. Concealment was now out of the question for tho Dervishes, and boldly did they meet the exigency of their situation. I do not think there were more than 1,30') rebels, all told, in the countless trenches and pits, but every man of them, regardless of the murderous hail from our lines, showed himself, and, rifle in hand, hastened to repel tho attack. A fierce fusillade and sharp discharge of shell was directed against the Black battalions, the Dervishes paying little heed to the fire from our line of works. In long lines the Black soldiers tramped deliberately onward. Two hindred yards from the enemy's trenches, ascending the last low slope, the 11th, 10th and 9th halted, and, lying down, raked the entire length of a quarter of a mile of the main rebel trench, which they had turned. This enfilading fire shook even tho Dervishes, and within three minutes I noted the day was won, for already Fome of the rebels left the first rows of works and walked back to the next. Their friends, too, in the rear lino showed a di-position to wander off to tho bush. The brave Englishmen who led the Blacks, disdaining cover and well to tho front, cheered th u ir men on. Not much persuasion was needed, and with a yell tho 9th rose up and made for tho eud of the first treuch, a corner of which, turned at right angles to the main line, was strongly held by the fanatical foe. Steel met steel, for the whole contingent of the Blacks went in with eager frenzy to avenge past events. Their Martini rifles and bayonets in a twinkling proved too much for Dervish swords, spears, and Remingtons. All was soon over. In that corner one big brawny negro, jumping about like one possessed, bayoneted half a score of the enemy himself. Those of the foe who could get away made off, but few escaped. This first success hastened matters. At exactly 7.40 the charge was delivered. Just a quarter of an hour afterwards, going on from trench to trench without halt, the now jubilant Blacks had swept the whole extent of the rebel works. These extended for nearly a mile in lines parallel with the Shaata and Geraeiza forts, and westward for three-quarters of a mile. When tho first lines were carried the Borderers and the Welsh Regiment went out to support the Blacks, bu 1 ; beyond firinsr they had little to do, and no hand-to-hand work. The retreat of the rebels was quickened by renewed heavy and accurate cannonade from the lines. So rapid was the movement off the field that although the Arabs contrived to carry off many of their dead and wounded they had to ab indon their two guns, which were brought down from Khartoum. Thcso were captured in the redoubts in which thoystood, one by the 9th and the other by the 11th Black Battalion. They are both, nine-pounder rifled howitzers. With them were also taken several boxes of ammunition for tho guns as well as for rifles. An examination disclosed that all of it had come from Khartoum arsenal. About 500 rebel dead wore left in tho trenches and on tho field. The Blacks have lost four killod, I now learn, and sixty wounded, whilst fresh cases of Rlight wounds are still coming in. Barrow with his cavalry pressed the fugitives as closely as possible. His determined front towards Handoub checked the advance of slight reinforcements of rebels getting in in timo from that direction. About 100 of the enemy's cavalry were out in detached parties. When the trenehewero carried two troops of tho 20th Hussars pushed a mile to the westward, in pursuit of thirty Arab horsemen. The latter, who were on slightly weorlv horses, fell back across a little khor. This was a cunning ruse on their part. Slap they came, at the charge, went the Twentieth, led by two lieutenants. Checked, however, by the steop banks of tho unseen khor, their horses were at a dead stop when they reached tho Arabs, who, assisted by a few riflemen in tho bushes, fell upon our soldiers. A hand to hand encounter ensued, in which Troopers Thomas, Howse, Newton and Jordon were killod. The Hussars retired and reformed, two others of our men having been slightly wounded and au olliccr having a narrow escape in the milk. As already telegraphed, two of
our men's sabres were clean cut through by tho Soudanese home-made broadswords. Tho rebels in turn speedily fell back, upon our men treating them to a volley or two. Twenty of the new magazine rifles wore used during the actiou by the Welsh and Borderers, and tho marksmen expressed their entire satisfaction with the weapon. Upwards of twenty prisoners were brought in, all of them being more or less severely wounded. Four of them have died to-night. One of them is Dareer Moussa Digna, nephew of Osman, and a noted leader himself Osman Naib, who leads tho rebels, was with the cavalry, and was evidently caught napping, as he was unable to get from Handoub in time to join his men in tho trenches. The enemy appeared to hive been living on starvation rations, most of the dead being very thin and illnourished. Here and there they had collected heaps of our unexploded bombs and shells, sticking them up in front of their works in mockery. For some time past they had rather given way to a spirit of banter, rigging up dummies for us to fire at, shouting taunts from their trenches and creeping towards ours, where one night they put filth into several of the tin watched mortars." In a further telegram the correspondent says :—" A nephew of General Gordon, who is on the Sirdar's staff, had much to do in planning our works and placing the guns. Singularly enough, many of the soldiers in the Black, or Soudanese battalions, had been with Gordon, while others were with him to
the end in Khartoum. The splendid big Black of whom I wrote yesterday is called AM Khoor. He was a private, and has just been made sergeant. Ali is an old acquaintance, for he joined us at Metemmeh, having come down on one of the four steamers which met General Stewart's force wheu they reached the Nile at that point in January, 1885. These Soudanese allies are all armed with the Martini-Henry, that weapon having superseded, in the Khedive's forces, the old Remingtons. Ali used his rifle and bayonet with such vehemence yesterday that he broke about six inches off the point of the latter, and corkscrewed the stump left in the most wonderful way ; but then this was an Enfield bayonet, and but little worse than a hundred more, which were twisted and bent by the Black troops in their furious charge. Ali, however, not only managed to break and twist his bayonet, but the barrel of his rifle has also a double bend at the muzzle, and shows traces of giant strength having been exerted whilst lie continued to thrust and stab with the distorted steel. I think I omitted to tell you yesterday that in advancing to storm the trenches those Bhcks who were in the second ranks, and therefore unable to fire, shouted, danced, and brandished their rifles aloft. It was the native way of taunting the enemy, the shrill cries and shaking of weapons in the air being the familiar practice of the Arabs themselves. The native Egyptian officers with the Black battalions exhibited great courage in leading their men. One of them, Lieut. Ali Abdullah, of the 9th Battalion, broke his sword whilst fighting hand to hand with the enemy. The rebels, who were without spears or swords, when unable longer to reload their guns, threw stones and pieces of broken shell just as the Blacks wore closing upon them, Others tried to club their rifles; hut our Soudanese, leaping among them, overcame all opposition in a few seconds.
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Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 16 February 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)
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1,423THE CHARGE OF THE BLACKS. Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 16 February 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)
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