Battle of Ferkeh
|
---|
Part of the
Mahdist War
|
Anglo-Egyptian troops storm the village of Ferkeh (illustration from a British book)
|
Date
| 7 June 1896
|
---|
Location
| |
---|
Result
|
British?Egyptian victory
|
---|
|
Belligerents
|
---|
Mahdist State
|
United Kingdom
Egypt
|
Commanders and leaders
|
---|
Osman Azrak
Hammuda
†
|
Sir Herbert Kitchener
|
Strength
|
---|
3,000?4,000 men
|
9,000?9,500 men
|
Casualties and losses
|
---|
44 emirs killed
4 emirs captured
800?1,500 soldiers killed
500 soldiers wounded
500?600
prisoners of war
|
20 soldiers killed
81?83 soldiers wounded
|
|
---|
Mahdist uprising (1881?1885)
British-Egyptian expeditions (1885?1889)
Ethiopian campaigns (1885?1889)
Italian campaigns (1890?1894)
British-Egyptian reconquest
(1896?1899)
|
The
Battle of Ferkeh
(or
Firket
) occurred during the
Mahdist War
in which an army of
Mahdists
was surprised and routed by Egyptian forces, led by
Sir Herbert Kitchener
, on 7 June 1896. It was the first significant action of the
reconquest of Sudan
, which culminated in the September 1898
Battle of Omdurman
.
Background
[
edit
]
In June 1896, at the start of the Sudan campaign, Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian force was advancing on
Dongola
, in Northern Sudan. Ferkeh was a small fortified village on the banks of the
Nile
. It was the first important Mahdist position that was encountered and was occupied by 3,000 Mahdist warriors, led by the
Emirs
Hammuda and
Osman Azrak
.
[1]
Kitchener's force, nominally in service of the
Khedive
of Egypt but in fact under direct British control, was composed of Egyptian and Sudanese soldiers, led by British officers. It numbered 9,000 men, accompanied by three batteries of
field guns
and one battery of
Maxim guns
.
[2]
Apart from officers with the Egyptian Army, the Maxim battery were the only European troops present and was manned by detachments from the
North Staffordshire Regiment
and the
Connaught Rangers
.
[3]
The latter, according to some sources, wore red coats, not khaki. If so, that would be the last time in which British troops fought in red (the
Battle of Ginnis
, on 30 December 1885, was the last time that it certainly occurred.)
[
citation needed
]
Battle
[
edit
]
Kitchener divided his force into two columns. One was formed mostly of
infantry
and had to march along the Nile to attack Ferkeh from the North. The other consisted of
cavalry
, camel-mounted infantry and
horse artillery
units and was sent through the desert to attack from the Southeast. Both columns departed in the evening of the 6th and marched through the night, deploying at dawn in the morning of the 7th.
[4]
The attack caught the Mahdists completely by surprise, and they made only uncoordinated attacks against the deploying Egyptians during which Emir Hammuda was killed. Many of the Mahdists then turned and fled. The cavalry column should have cut off their retreat but were hidden from view by the terrain. Many, including Osman Azrak, made good their escape along the Nile. Other Mahdists stayed in their fortifications in the village and fought to the end. The Egyptians had to clear the position with
bayonets
.
[4]
The battle lasted less than three hours, from 04:30 to 07:20, and resulted in the deaths of 20 Egyptians and 800 to 1,000 Mahdists.
[4]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
In strategic terms, Ferkeh was not a major battle since it was only an outpost of the Mahdist State that had been surprised and overrun. However, the battle had a significant psychological effect since it was the first substantial victory of the Egyptian Army after it had been reorganised by the British. Also, the battle showed that the Mahdist forces could be defeated, which boosted the Egyptian Army's morale, and unsettled their opponents at the onset of the reconquest campaign.
[5]
Those present were later awarded the
Khedive's Sudan Medal
with clasp 'Firket' and
Queen Victoria's Sudan Medal
.
[3]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Barthorp, page 139.
- ^
Churchill, page 222.
- ^
a
b
Joslin, page 181.
- ^
a
b
c
Churchill, pages 225-233.
- ^
Ziegler, pages 22-23.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Barthorp, Michael. (1984),
War on the Nile
, Blandford Press, London
ISBN
0713713100
- Bruce, George. (1981),
Harbottle's Dictionary of Battles
, Van Nostrand Reinhold (
ISBN
0-442-22336-6
).
- Churchill, Winston S. (1899),
The River War - an account of the Reconquest of the Sudan, volume I
, Longmans, London.
- Joslin, Litherland and Simpkin (eds). (1988),
British Battles and Medals
, Spink
ISBN
0907605257
- Ziegler, Philip (1974),
Omdurman
, Collins, London
ISBN
0-00-211612-X
External links
[
edit
]