Anglo - Egyptian Darfur Expedition The Anglo - Egyptian Darfur Expedition of 1916 , was a military operation by forces from the British Empire and the Sultanate of Egypt , launched as a pre - emptive invasion of the Sultanate of Darfur . The British and Egyptian expedition was undertaken because they believed that the Darfurian leader , Sultan Ali Dinar , was preparing to invade Anglo - Egyptian controlled Sudan . The British commander of the Egyptian Army , Sirdar Reginald Wingate , organised a force of around 2 , 000 men , under the command of another British officer , Lieutenant - Colonel Philip James Vandeleur Kelly , to carry out the expedition . In March 1916 , Wingate ordered Kelly to cross the frontier and start the expedition . By May , the Anglo - Egyptian forces were approaching the Darfur capital of El Fasher . Then , following a decisive battle at Beringia , the Fur Army was almost completely defeated and the Anglo - Egyptian force captured the capital the next day . The Sultan Dinar had already left before their arrival . Darfur , a country similar in size to France , was now secured . The expedition was a complete success for the Anglo - Egyptians . The Sultan of Darfur tried to discuss surrender terms but the British believed he was just stalling for time , so they broke off the talks . Dinar had withdrawn into the mountains , but his location eventually became known to the Anglo - Egyptians . A small force was sent after him , and following a short engagement Dinar was killed in action in November 1916 and Darfur became a province of Sudan . Background . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Darfur , which means " land of the Fur " , was an independent country , located to the west of Sudan and east of what was then French Equatorial Africa . It is equal in size to France and can be divided into three regions : a semi arid region in the north , with very little rain , joining the Sahara desert ; a central region divided in two by the Jebal Marra volcano , which rises above sea level that is surrounded by sand and rock plains to the east and west ; and a southern region which has a rich alluvial type soil and a heavy annual rainfall . The Sultanate of Darfur was one of the kingdoms that stretched across the centre of Africa . In 1874 , it was invaded by its Islamic neighbours from the south , which resulted in the country being annexed by Egypt and joined with Anglo - Egyptian Sudan . This lasted until the Mahdist War ( 1881 – 1889 ) , when Anglo - Egyptian suzerainty was temporarily curtailed by the forces of Muhammad Ahmad , until Anglo - Egyptian control of the region was re - established following the battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898 . In 1899 , Ali Dinar became the Sultan of Darfur with the approval of the then Sirdar Lord Kitchener , on the condition that he paid an annual tribute to the British . Relations between Dinar and the Anglo - Egyptians were assisted by the Inspector - General Rudolf Carl von Slatin who had knowledge of the Darfur region and its people . The status quo remained until disputes started over what was Darfur ' s exact western boundary and who had " overlordship " over its frontier districts . The British believed the delay in resolving these disputes , along with anti - government propaganda , led to a change in Dinar ' s attitude towards them . Their beliefs were not helped by Dinar ' s refusal to allow any Europeans to enter Darfur . Dinar ' s domestic policies caused internal unrest among the Arab portion of the population who were generally against him , or in the case of the Rizeigat tribe from the south - west Darfur , " openly hostile " . On hearing the news of war between the British Empire and Turkey , Dinar became more defiant and in April 1915 renounced his allegiance to the Anglo - Egyptian Sudan Government , declaring himself pro - Turkish and making contact with them via the Senussi . At the time , Darfur had a population of just under 1 , 000 , 000 controlled by what was described as a " slave army " of about 10 , 000 men . By December , affairs had deteriorated to such an extent that a small unit from the Egyptian Camel Corps was dispatched to protect trade at Nahud , and at the same time act as a warning against Dinar ' s proposed offensive against the Rizeigat tribe . Dinar instead countered the deployment of the Camel Corps detachment by moving his own troops – forty cavalry and ninety infantry – to reinforce Jebel el Hella . However , by then the British believed he was preparing for an invasion of Sudan . Expedition . To counter the expected threat to Sudan , Sirdar Reginald Wingate gathered a force together at Nahud . The commander was British Lieutenant Colonel Philip James Vandeleur Kelly , of the 3rd The King ' s Own Hussars , on secondment to the Egyptian Army . The force was composed of : With medical and other non combat units , the force totalled around 2 , 000 men . Intelligence gathered supported the theory that Dinar was going to invade Sudan , so in March 1916 Wingate ordered Kelly to cross the border and occupy Jebel el Hella and Um Shanga . The two villages offered the only permanent water supplies that were on the road to El Fasher , Dinar ' s capital . On 16 March , five companies from the Camel Corps and mounted infantry scouts , supported by a 12 - pounder artillery battery and a Maxim machine gun battery , crossed the Darfur frontier and four days later occupied Um Shanga . Their only opposition was from a small observation post which was forced to withdraw . Unexpectedly , upon arrival the Anglo - Egyptian force found the water supply at Um Shanga scarce . With the main body of his force expected to arrive that evening , having only two days supply of water with them , Kelly considered withdrawing back to Sudan . Instead , he divided his force , forming a fast moving column , consisting of thirty mounted infantry scouts , 240 men from the Camel Corps , two artillery pieces and eight Maxims , which left for Jebel el Hella at dawn on 22 March . Jebel el Hella . Kelly ' s flying column faced only slight opposition from Fur scouts until they reached a position from Jebel el Hella . There a force of 800 Fur horsemen tried to surround them , and were only prevented from doing so by Anglo - Egyptian machine gun fire . Advancing a further the flying column located a large concentration of Fur troops in a wooded valley , which they engaged with artillery and machine guns . Having forced the Fur troops to disperse , the column reached Jebel el Hella at 14 : 15 , and secured its wells without any further opposition . A small reconnaissance party was dispatched by Kelly to check on the wells at Lugud away , which were occupied in strength , when the remainder of Kelly ' s force arrived on 26 March . During their advance , the Anglo - Egyptian casualties were described as " insignificant " while the Fur forces had lost twenty men dead and wounded . With the occupation of Jebel el Hella complete , the Anglo - Egyptians had secured one of the invasion routes into Sudan . The main Fur Army was now located in their capital of El Fasher and was estimated to consist of between 4 , 000 and 6 , 000 riflemen with adequate supplies of ammunition . Their equipment ranged from older muzzleloader weapons , such as Martini - Henry and Remington rifles and shotgun s , to spears , shields and chain mail . They were supported by an unknown number of auxiliary troops armed only with spears . At the same time Dinar was concentrating his troops from other regions in the capital . Those in contact with the Anglo - Egyptian forces and some small number of reinforcements , were instead grouped at Burush and Kedada . Supply problems . Wingate believed that Dinar would avoid a large battle in the provinces , but would instead gather his troops at El Fasher , until the rainy period started , which would benefit their style of guerilla fighting and raids on the Anglo - Egyptian column and their lines of communication . However , Kelly ' s immediate concern was providing water and other supplies to his troops . The Anglo - Egyptian expedition coincided with a period of no rainfall and once all the native food supplies had been used , their nearest supply point was the railhead at El Obeid to the west . To overcome some of their supply problems Wingate started construction of a road suitable for trucks , which he had obtained to supplement his camel transport . The road would stretch from the rail line at Rahad to Taweisha then on to the capital of El Fasher , about . Once completed , a journey on the road by vehicles , from the rail line to the capital , would take four days . General Sir Archibald Murray , the commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force fighting in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign , arranged for the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) to send a flight of four aeroplanes , 15 - pounder guns and ammunition , wireless communication sets and light transport vehicles , to assist the expedition . April reconnaissance . In early April , Anglo - Egyptian reconnaissance patrols located small numbers of Fur troops at Burush , Um Eisheishat and Um Kedda . To their south the Fur troops deployed at Taweisha were withdrawn to Tulu . Kelly ordered a large reconnaissance force to head west to Abiad . They had three objectives : locate any water supplies , for their men and animals ; disperse any Fur troops at Burush and Um Kedada ; and deny the Fur forces access to the water wells at Abiad and at the same time secure the route between Nahud and El Fasher . On 3 April , the Anglo - Egyptian force , consisting of two mounted infantry companies , four artillery pieces , six Maxim machine guns and the 13th Sudanese Battalion companies , reached Burush by midday forcing out a Fur cavalry unit . The next day they continued their advance towards Um Kedada . This time they met a Fur force of 700 men , some entrenched in front of the wells , but the Anglo - Egyptian guns opened fire on them forcing them to withdraw . Four days later , on 8 April , the Anglo - Egyptian reconnaissance continued , reaching Abiad early the next day only to find that the Fur troops had left the previous evening . Leaving four Sudanese infantry companies and four guns behind the remaining Anglo - Egyptian reconnaissance force continued deeper into Darfur . The garrison left behind at Abiad was attacked on 14 and 15 April , but casualties are not recorded . By the end of the month the lines of communication road was secured , with large detachments of Anglo - Egyptian troops left at Abiad , Um Kedada , Burush , Lugud , Jebel el Hella and Um Shanga . At the same time a system of observation posts was established along the frontier from Gabr el Dar to Shebb manned by 260 friendly natives , who were issued with Remington rifles . Another 200 men belonging to the Kababish tribe occupied Jebel Meidob , observing the road from Darfur to the Senussi lands in the north . May advance to contact . In May , the Anglo - Egyptian forces started reinforcing their lines of communication and bringing forward supplies to enable them to continue the advance . The Fur Army did not leave them alone and on 5 May a force of 500 men attacked the Anglo - Egyptian garrison at Abiad and four days later the telegraph post east of Abiad was also attacked . On 12 May , an RFC reconnaissance aircraft flew over El Fasher dropping leaflets to the population . The leaflets denounced Dinar and promised that once he was removed there would be religious freedom and justice for all , and that the tribal leaders would remain in position , if they submitted and there would be an end to repression . By 14 May Kelly had completed his preparations to advance to El Fasher and had gathered a force at Abiad consisting of sixty mounted infantry scouts , four companies from the Camel Corps with two Maxim machine guns of their own , eight companies from the 13th and 14th Sudanese Infantry and the Arab Battalion . They were supported by eight artillery pieces , fourteen Maxim machine guns and a field hospital . Still suffering from a shortage of water Kelly divided the force into two columns . " A " Column would be slow moving , while " B " Column would be more mobile . They would reunite at a rendezvous point west of Abiad and from the village of Meliet , which had a well known supply of water . Reconnaissance patrols had located a small Fur garrison at Meliet and Kelly made that his first objective . Once Meliet had been captured the Anglo - Egyptians would be well positioned to attack the capital , El Fasher . Just after 04 : 00 on 15 May a small unit of mounted infantry scouts , captured a Fur observation post from Abiad , taking prisoner all bar two of the Fur soldiers who managed to escape on foot . The slow moving " A " Column left Abiad on 15 May followed by the " B " Column the next day . Both columns reached the rendezvous on 17 May . The same morning an RFC reconnaissance aircraft bombed a force of around 500 Fur troops at Meliat . The next day both of Kelly ' s columns reached the village , which had been evacuated by the Fur troops , leaving some of their supplies behind . On 19 May , RFC reconnaissance aircraft reported there was no trace of any Fur troops within . However , the Anglo - Egyptian force was exhausted from their cross country march and remained resting at Meliat . Battle of Beringia . At 05 : 30 on 22 May , the Anglo - Egyptian advance continued , but the nature of the country , which consisted mainly of rolling low level sand - hills , with plenty of concealed ground and scattered bushes , reduced visibility down to just a few hundred yards . From the start , large groups of Fur camaliers and cavalry were observed . So instead of sending out his scouts Kelly formed an advance guard of the mounted infantry , a camel company and four Maxim machine guns . At 10 : 30 , the Fur troops were observed in a strong entrenched position around the village of Beringia . The Fur Army commander , Ramadan Ali , had established a crescent shaped trench , mostly concealed from the advancing Anglo - Egyptians by a wadi . Ali ' s plan was for them advance close enough for him to ambush them with his trench system , believing that his larger force would overrun their artillery and machine guns before they could cause any serious damage to his troops . The Anglo - Egyptian artillery opened fire on the Fur trenches , driving the Fur troops back . To the Anglo - Egyptian left Fur horsemen were seen gathering and they were also engaged by the artillery at a range of . The Anglo - Egyptians formed a square and advanced , then started digging trenches of their own . At the same time , the advance guard were ordered to man a higher position to the right front and south - west of the square . To counter a threat from Fur cavalry from his left , Kelly sent a Camel Corps company and a Maxim machine gun section to secure the higher ground there . The Anglo - Egyptian forces were established from Beringia . The main Fur army position was south of the village , extending for to the east and west in a semi circle . Kelly ' s scouts could not get into a position to see all of the Fur Army positions so Kelly made the decision to launch an immediate attack . While he was organising the assault , Huddleston commanding the Camel Corps company escorting the artillery and machine guns on the right of the square , exceeded his orders and entered the village . Exiting to the south they came under heavy fire from the Fur defenders and were forced to withdraw , pursued by some of the Fur troops . However , when they came within range of the Anglo - Egyptian square , their artillery and machine guns opened fire on their open flank . Seeing this , the remainder of the Fur Army left their trenches and attacked the southern side of the square in strength . The south of the square was manned from left to right by an artillery battery , three infantry companies , another artillery battery , one infantry company and a Maxim section . There was then a gap of around before another infantry company and a Maxim section were positioned facing east . Kelly now reinforced the south of the square with two Maxim sections and a company from the Arab Battalion . The Fur attack lasted around forty minutes , but it eventually failed and the nearest they got to the square was around . Kelly ordered an infantry counter - attack , supported by his artillery , with the Maxim guns advancing alongside the infantry . The Fur Army broke and the survivors retreated , leaving 231 dead , ninety - six seriously wounded and another 1 , 000 less seriously wounded behind , from a force of over 3 , 600 . Anglo - Egyptian casualties were four officers wounded , five other ranks dead and eighteen wounded . At 16 : 00 , Kelly resumed his advance to El Fasher stopping for the night just short of the capital . The Fur Army were not defeated and a force of 500 cavalry and 300 infantry attacked the Anglo - Egyptian camp at 03 : 00 23 May . Kelly ' s artillery opened fire with starshell s , lighting up the battleground . The attack was defeated , Fur casualties are not known , but the only Anglo Egyptian casualty was a wounded gunner . Later that day , at 06 : 00 the Anglo - Egyptians were just about to break camp , when several hundred Fur troops appeared on their left flank . They were engaged and forced to withdraw by artillery , machine gun fire and aerial bombardment . At 10 : 00 , Kelly and his mounted troops entered the capital , finding it deserted except for some women . Sultan Ali Dinar had left El Fasher accompanied by 2 , 000 troops after hearing about the defeat at Beringia . Captured in the city were four artillery pieces , 55 , 000 rounds of small arms ammunition and 4 , 000 rifles . Dibbis and Kulme . Sultan Ali Dinar , fled to the Jebel Marra mountains to the south - west of El Fasher , with around 2 , 000 men , Kelly ' s troops were unable to immediately pursue him , due to a lack of supplies and exhaustion . However , Dinar approached the Anglo Egyptians offering to discuss surrender terms . Discussions continued until 1 August , when Kelly broke off the talks , as it had become apparent that Dinar was just stalling for time . Dinar ' s followers had started to desert him and at that point he was only left with around 1 , 000 men . Kelly ' s troops had at that stage occupied Kebkebia west of El Fasher . Huddleston , with his own Camel Corps troops and men from the 13th Sudanese Infantry , two artillery pieces and four Maxim machine guns – 200 men in total – were sent to occupy Dibbis south - west of El Fasher . They reached Dibbis on 13 October , engaging a Fur force of 150 riflemen and 1 , 000 men armed with spears , defeating them after a short fight . Following this , Dinar once again approached the Anglo Egyptians to discuss terms . When once again it appeared Dinar was only stalling , Kelly dispatched 100 men from the 13th Sudanese Infantry to reinforce Huddleston . Huddleston had discovered Dinar was in hiding at Kulme to the west . The remaining Fur troops were in a poor condition , hungry and diseased and little resistance was expected to Huddleston ' s troops . Without waiting for reinforcements Huddleston marched on Kulme . Occupying the village almost unopposed on 3 November , they captured several hundred prisoners and most of Dinar ' s remaining military stores . Some of his immediate family also surrendered at the same time . Dinar , avoiding battle , fled to Jebel Juba to the south - west of Kulme . Two days later , on 5 November , Huddleston with 150 men , an artillery piece and four Maxim machine guns , mounted on captured horses , set off in pursuit . Huddleston reached Dinar ' s camp on 6 November and opened fire at a range of . The Fur troops fled , followed by Huddleston ' s force , around from the Fur camp . Huddleston ' s troops discovered the body of Dinar shot through the head . Aftermath . After the expedition , the independent country of Darfur , and its inhabitants , became part of Sudan . The £500 , 000 bill for the cost of the expedition was sent to the Egyptian Government in Cairo for payment by the Egyptian taxpayers . The British commanders of the operation were also recognised . In 1917 , Wingate became the British High Commissionaire for Egypt . The commander of the Anglo - Egyptian expedition , Kelly , became the first Governor of the Darfur province with his office located in the Sultan ' s palace throne room until May 1917 . He was then promoted to brigadier general and given command of the 5th Mounted Brigade , which was part of the Australian Mounted Division fighting in Palestine . References . Footnotes Citations