In 1898 Sir Herbert Kitchener was Sirdar of the Egyptian Army. He had organised his force for the purpose it was to fulfil, and had gradually crept onwards up the Nile, until, on September 3, 1897, he reached and occupied Berber. At that point he was, as it were, within striking distance of Khartoum. This view seems also to have been held by the enemy, for in December the Intelligence Department heard of warlike preparations on his part. This report precipitated the massing of the forces on our side. The Sirdar knew that he could call for the assistance of British troops when the real struggle was to take place, and he made his call in December.
Orders were immediately issued for the concentration of three battalions at Wady Halfa. The 1st Lincolnshire and the 1st Cameron Highlanders were already at Cairo, the 1st Warwickshire were moved from Alexandria, while the 1st Seaforth Highlanders at Malta were warned and shipped to Cairo in a very short space of time. This regiment was also pushed forward, as soon as others had been brought from Crete and Gibraltar and Burma, to maintain the usual garrison in Lower Egypt. The command of this service Brigade was given to Major-General W. F. Gatacre, C.B., D.S.O. Major d'Oyly Snow accompanied him as Brigade-Major, and Captain R. G. Brooke as A.D.C.
The General proceeded by train to Assouan, and by boat to Wady Halfa, which he reached on Thursday, January 25. It was here that he first met the Sirdar. But the troops had already passed on in front to Railhead, which was then the other side of Abu Hamed. From Wady Halfa the new Desert Railway, which was still under construction, leaves the Nile and strikes out to the south-east across the open country towards Abu Hamed, a journey of about 250 miles.
Writing from Camp Guheish, about seventeen miles south of Abu Hamed, on February 2, the General says:
"We arrived here last night about eight o'clock, after a long journey across the desert from Halfa. Such a desert—not a thing to be seen but sand and a few low black rocks jutting out of the plain. A few straw-coloured birds, like stonechats, and a wagtail I saw at one place; goodness knows what they live on. At one o'clock we were within one mile of Abu Hamed, and were steaming steadily along, when, in ploughing through a sand-drift, we went off the line, and had to turn to and clear the line with the few shovels on the train and our hands. Fortunately we were only a mile from Abu Hamed, so I sent on a messenger, and in fifty minutes a relief train came up, and, with the help of jacks, the engine was got on to the line again in four hours. It was fortunate we did not run off the line in the middle of the Desert, or we should have been delayed at least a day, and would have been put to inconvenience for food, though of course we had some. Well, I found Snow waiting for us, and we detrained our horses safely, and then, after going on another mile, we came to our camp, placed between the Nile and the railway—a howling desert, with a tremendous wind blowing night and day. The dust fills everything, but the climate up to date is magnificent, and I hope will continue so for a long time; quite cold at night and in the morning, sufficient to make me put on my great-coat, and at night, though of course I sleep in my clothes, I am glad of all the blankets I can put on.... The Maxim guns I left at Halfa temporarily, as we haven't got sufficient food for the mules yet, but as soon as the train is running through we shall have them up."
A fortnight later the railway had grown longer, and as Railhead advanced, so the British Brigade moved southwards and finally camped at Abu Dis.
Gatacre used the three weeks that the troops were encamped by the railway to get in touch with his Brigade—to feel and to improve their marching powers. His methods excited some comment at the time, but afterwards, when there was a real call for exceptional exertions, it was frankly admitted that the previous training had been of great value. "It is impossible to deny that, while discipline and health were successfully maintained, the general efficiency was greatly increased."[[1]]
[[1]] The River War, by Winston Spencer Churchill, vol. i. p. 366.
There were, however, two directions in which efficiency was seriously hampered—boots and bullets. The General writes on February 2:
"The present-shaped bullet .303 Lee-Metford rifle has little stopping power. Well, we have only this class of ammunition, so I am altering the shape of the bullet to that of the Dum-Dum bullet, which has a rounded point. I do this by filing the point off. Before I left Cairo I provided four hundred files and small gauges to test the length of the altered bullet, and daily here we have 2,800 men engaged on this work. I borrowed fifty railway rails and mounted them flat side uppermost, to form anvils on which to file. We have a portion of men unpacking, and another portion packing, so that the same men are always at the same work. The men are getting very sharp at it; it would make a capital picture. This is a terrible place for boots, and many of the men whose boots were not new at starting have mere apologies for boots on their feet. Fortunately, we have time to rectify this, and I have taken the necessary steps."