Second battle of Jebel Gedir

date	May 30, 1882
place	Jebel Gedir , a mountain in South Kordofan
output	Victory of the Mahdists

Parties to the conflict
Khedivat Egypt	Ansar (Mahdists)
Commander
Yusuf Pasha Hasan al-Shallali †	Muhammad Ahmad
Troop strength
approx. 3,000-3,500 men	unknown
losses
very many dead, few prisoners	approx. 200 dead

The Second Battle of Jebel Gedir , also known as the Battle of Massa , was Egypt's third futile military undertaking to suppress the Mahdi uprising . This ended on May 30, 1882 with the destruction of the expedition army by the Mahdists .

prehistory

After the battle of Aba was won, Muhammad Ahmad and his followers fled to Mount Gedir. The governor of Faschoda, Raschid Bey , failed in an attempt to put an end to the Mahdi uprising there. His expedition was devastated on December 9, 1881.

Another attempt was initiated by Carl Christian Giegler , who between Rauf Pascha's recall in February 1882 and Abd al-Qadir Pascha's inauguration in May 1882 took over the office of Governor General of Sudan . To set up a new expeditionary army, he withdrew forces from the provinces of Khartoum, Kordofan and Sennar and gathered them in Khartoum . However, the garrison in Sennar was so weakened that they could hardly defend themselves against Amir wad Umar al-Makaschif , who had used the opportunity to rise in the name of Muhammad Ahmad (see: Sennar expedition ). He appointed Liwa Yusuf Pasha Hasan al-Schallali as the commander of the army . The expedition consisted of around 3,000 to 3,500 mostly untrained soldiers.

course

Yusuf's expedition left Khartoum in March 1882 and stayed in Kawa for a long time. Because of the better water supply, Yusuf decided to take the longer southern route via Faschoda . After a stay of 12 days, Yusuf's expedition left Faschoda on May 4th for the west. Since the beginning of the rainy season was delayed - crossing this arid area was risky in the dry season - a longer stop was made at the Funqur mountain. An exchange of letters between Yusuf Pasha and Muhammad Ahmad remained fruitless. On May 21, Yusuf moved further west and entered swampy, forested areas and reached the area around Gedir near Jebel al-Jarada on the evening of May 29. Due to the grueling march, the army was so exhausted that the Seriba was only insufficiently completed. The sleeping army was attacked by the Mahdists on the morning of May 30, before sunrise, and destroyed with the exception of a few survivors. The German photographer Carl Berghoff , who accompanied the expedition as a war correspondent , was among the victims .

consequences

At the beginning of the provisional takeover of the governorship, Giegler expressly renounced the military support offered to him from the Egyptian heartland, as he was too optimistic about the situation. After the defeat there weren't enough troops in Sudan to set up a field army against the Mahdists again . The Egyptian administration in Sudan was forced to be passive. The movement was given time to strengthen itself. Because the victory increased Muhammad Ahmad's prestige among the native population of Sudan again, which brought him more supporters and put him in a position to go on the offensive. After news of the outcome of the battle, the Governor General of Sudan, Abd al-Qadir Pasha, requested reinforcements from the Egyptian government. After the Egyptian army was disbanded after the Urabi rebellion was put down, 10,000 men in the former army had to be reactivated. It was not until the autumn of 1882 that the government was therefore able to send forces for an expeditionary army, which was later placed under the command of William Hicks and defeated by the Mahdists on November 5, 1883 at the Battle of Sheikan . As a result, the Sudan provinces were abandoned by Egypt.

literature

Mekki Shibeika: The Independent Sudan . Robert Speller & Sons, New York, 1959.