Battle of Kirbekan

Battle of Kirbekan
	Part of the Mahdist War
	; Richard Caton Woodville, Jr.ː The War in the Soudan, the battle of Kerbekan (c. 1900)
Date	10 February 1885
Location	Mahdist Sudan mnaseir
Result	British Victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Mahdist State
Commanders and leaders
William Earle †	Musa abu higel
Strength
1,000	9,000
Casualties and losses
60 killed	2,000 killed

The Battle of Kirbekan was a battle in the Mahdist War. It was fought February 10, 1885, when the British Nile Column, about 1,000 strong, under General Earle, stormed the heights of Kirbekan, which were held by a strong Mahdist force, and totally routed them, with heavy loss.

Background

The British lost 60, among whom was General William Earle, killed.[1] It was the first appearance of the Egyptian Army Camel Corps under Bimbashi Marriott in action.[2] A brass plaque on the North wall of Lichfield Cathedral commemorates the death of Lieutenant colonel Philip Eyre of the First South Staffordshire Regiment in the battle.

A British map of the battle

Forces

The British forces involved in the battle were:[3]

Squadron from 19th Hussars
1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
1st Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
D Company, 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
45 Boatmen from Canada

References

Thomas Benfield Harbottle, Dictionary of Battles, (New York, 1906)
The Melik Society | Sudan Campaign Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
"Sudan Wars, 1884-1889". 2007-10-20. Archived from the original on 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2020-08-21.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Thomas Benfield Harbottle, Dictionary of Battles, (New York, 1906)

[2] The Melik Society | Sudan Campaign Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

[3] "Sudan Wars, 1884-1889". 2007-10-20. Archived from the original on 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2020-08-21.