Battle of Omdurman At the Battle of Omdurman ( 2 September 1898 ) , an army commanded by the British General Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al - Taashi , the successor to the self - proclaimed Mahdi , Muhammad Ahmad . It was a demonstration of the superiority of a highly disciplined European - led army equipped with modern rifle s , machine gun s and artillery over a vastly larger force armed with older weapons , and marked the success of British efforts to re - conquer the Sudan . However , it was not until the 1899 Battle of Umm Diwaykarat that the final Mahdist forces were defeated . Omdurman is today a suburb of Khartoum in central Sudan , with a population of some 1 . 5 million . The village of Omdurman was chosen in 1884 as the base of operations by the Mahdi , Muhammad Ahmad . After his death in 1885 , following the successful siege of Khartoum , his successor ( " Khalifa " ) Abdullah retained it as his capital . Battle account . The battle took place at Kerreri , 11 km north of Omdurman . Kitchener commanded a force of 8 , 000 British regulars and a mixed force of 17 , 000 Sudanese and Egyptian troops . He arrayed his force in an arc around the village of Egeiga , close to the bank of the Nile , where a gunboat flotilla waited in support , facing a wide , flat plain with hills rising to the left and right . The British and Egyptian cavalry was placed on either flank . Abdullah ' s followers , known as " Ansar " and sometimes referred to as " Dervishes " , numbered around 50 , 000 , including some 3 , 000 cavalry . They were split into five groups — a force of 8 , 000 under Osman Azrak was arrayed directly opposite the British , in a shallow arc along a mile ( 1 . 6 km ) of a low ridge leading onto the plain , and the other Mahdist forces were initially concealed from Kitchener ' s force . Abdullah al - Taashi and 17 , 000 men were concealed behind the Surgham Hills to the west and rear of Osman Azrak ' s force , with 20 , 000 more positioned to the northwest , close to the front behind the Kerreri hills , commanded by Ali - Wad - Helu and Sheikh ed - Din . A final force of around 8 , 000 was gathered on the slope on the right flank of Azrak ' s force . The battle began in the early morning , at around 6 : 00 a . m . After the clashes of the previous day , the 8 , 000 men under Osman Azrak advanced straight at the waiting British , quickly followed by about 8 , 000 of those waiting to the northwest , a mixed force of rifle - and spearmen . The British artillery opened fire at around 2750 m ( about 1 . 7 miles ) , inflicting severe casualties on the Mahdist forces before they even came within range of the Maxim gun s and volley fire . The frontal attack ended quickly , with around 4 , 000 Mahdist casualties ; none of the attackers got closer than 50 m to the British trenches . A flanking move from the Ansar right was also checked , and there were bloody clashes on the opposite flank that scattered the Mahdist forces there . Kitchener was anxious to occupy Omdurman before the remaining Mahdist forces could withdraw there . He advanced his army on the city , arranging them in separate columns for the attack . The British light cavalry regiment , the 21st Lancers , was sent ahead to clear the plain to Omdurman . They had a tough time of it . The 400 - strong regiment attacked what they thought were only a few hundred dervishes , but in fact there were 2 , 500 infantry hidden behind them in a depression . After a fierce clash , the Lancers drove them back ( resulting in three Victoria Cross es being awarded ) . On a larger scale , the British advance allowed the Khalifa to re - organize his forces . He still had over 30 , 000 men in the field and directed his main reserve to attack from the west while ordering the forces to the northwest to attack simultaneously over the Kerreri Hills . Kitchener ' s force wheeled left in echelon to advance up Surgham ridge and then southwards . To protect the rear , a brigade of 3 , 000 mainly Sudanese , commanded by Hector MacDonald , was reinforced with Maxims and artillery and followed the main force at around 1 , 350 m . Curiously , the supplies and wounded around Egeiga were left almost unprotected . MacDonald was alerted to the presence of around 15 , 000 enemy troops moving towards him from the west , out from behind Surgham . He wheeled his force and lined them up to face the enemy charge . The Mahdist infantry attacked in two prongs and MacDonald was forced to repeatedly re - order his battalions . The brigade maintained a punishing fire . Kitchener , now aware of the problem , " began to throw his brigades about as if they were companies " . MacDonald ' s brigade was soon reinforced and the Mahdist forces were forced back ; they finally broke and fled or died where they stood . The Mahdist forces to the north had regrouped too late and entered the clash only after the force in the central valley had been routed . They pressed Macdonald ' s Sudanese brigades hard , but the Lincolnshire Regiment was quickly brought up and with sustained section volleys repulsed the advance . A final desperate cavalry charge of around 500 horsemen was utterly destroyed . The march on Omdurman was resumed at about 11 : 30 . Aftermath . Around 10 , 000 Mahdists were killed , 13 , 000 wounded and 5 , 000 taken prisoner . Kitchener ' s force lost 47 men killed and 382 wounded , the majority from MacDonald ' s command . One eye - witness described the appalling scene : Controversy over wounded Mahdists killed after the battle began soon afterwards . Churchill thought Kitchener was too brutal in his killing of the wounded . The Khalifa escaped and survived until 1899 , when he was killed in the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat . Several days after the battle , Kitchener was sent to Fashoda , due to the developing Fashoda Incident . Kitchener was ennobled as a baron , Kitchener of Khartoum , for his victory . Four Victoria Cross es were awarded , three to members of the 21st Lancers , as a result of this action : 2nd Lieutenant Raymond H . L . J . De Montmorency , Captain Paul A . Kenna , Pte . Thomas Byrne and one to Capt . Nevill Smyth of the 2nd Dragoon Guards ( Queen ' s Bays ) . Winston Churchill was present at the battle and he rode with the 21st Lancers . He published an account in 1899 as " " The River War : An Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan " " , which is the basis for this article . Present as a war correspondent for " The Times " was Colonel Frank Rhodes , brother of Cecil , who was shot and severely wounded in the right arm . For his services during that battle he was restored to the army active list . The Battle of Omdurman has also lent its name to many streets in British and Commonwealth cities , for example ' Omdurman Road ' in Southampton and ' Omdurman Street ' in Freshwater , Sydney . Fictional accounts . The 1939 film adaptation of the novel " The Four Feathers " is set in the time of this battle , and covers other aspects of the Sudan Campaign . The 2008 novel " After Omdurman " by John Ferry is partly set during the 1898 re - conquest of the Sudan , with the book ' s lead character , Evelyn Winters , playing a peripheral role in the Battle of Omdurman . In the British television sitcom " Dad ' s Army " , the character of Corporal Jones often refers to the days he spent serving under General Kitchener at the Battle of Omdurman . The 1972 film " Young Winston " includes a depiction of the initial Anglo - Egyptian artillery bombardment at the start of the battle as well as a recreation of the charge of the 21st Lancers . The 2009 novel " The Devil ' s Paintbrush " by Jake Arnott involves a retelling of the life of Hector MacDonald , and includes the battle and Kitchener ' s railway - building drive through Sudan . The 2005 novel " The Triumph of the Sun " by Wilbur Smith depicts the siege of Khartoum and the Battle of Omdurman with mixture of historical and fictional characters In art . The subject of the battle made its appearance in several oil paintings exhibited in Britain at the time . In particular , the charge of the 21st Lancers held special appeal and several artists portrayed the scene including Stanley Berkeley , Robert Alexander Hillingford , Richard Caton Woodville , William Barnes Wollen , Gilbert S . Wright , Edward Mathew Hale , Capt . Adrian Jones , Major John C . Mathews , and Allan Stewart . The pictorial press covered the campaign extensively and employed several artists to record the events .