of the Senussi is conjectural. The Turkish troops with them may have numbered 1,000; the Muhafizia or Senussite regulars were perhaps 5,000 strong. In addition there was an irregular body of tribesmen, Arabs and Arabized Berbers, probably numbering 20,000, all well armed and accustomed to desert warfare, but undisciplined and untrustworthy. The Senussites were well supplied with rifles and small-arms munitions; they had field guns and machine-guns; they had an ample camel transport and many of their troops were well mounted. With them were about 100 Europeans; Ga'far Pasha was commander- in-chief, and was accompanied by Sidi Ahmad and Nuri Bey.
Through bad leadership, or from other causes not explained, the Senussi offensive was not carried out as planned. When the advance across the Libyan plateau was made, Siwa oasis was also occupied; but no further progress towards the Nile by that route was then attempted. Moreover, 'Ali Dinar of Darfur, who had formally renounced his allegiance to the Sudan Government in April 1915, while preaching a jihad and indulging in abusive letter writing, 1 did not carry out his threat of invasion. Thus at the outset the British had to deal only with the enemy advance along the Mediterranean coast.
Orders for the formation of a Western Frontier Force were issued on Nov. 20. Maj.-Gen. A. Wallace, who was given the command, took up his headquarters at Matruh on Dec. 7. His troops consisted of Yeomanry, Territorials, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians and Egyptians, with a squadron of armoured cars and a squadron of aeroplanes. The striking force was a composite mounted brigade under Brig.-Gen. J. D. T. Tyndale Biscoe and a composite infantry brigade under Brig.-Gen. the Earl of Lucan. " Regiments and staff had been collected," wrote Sir John Maxwell, " somewhat hastily. . . . The composite yeomanry brigade contained men from 20 or more different regiments. . . . It was not until the middle of Feb. (1916) that the condition of the Western Frontier Force could be considered really satisfactory."
The Senussites were engaged on Dec. u and 13 in the neigh- bourhood of Matruh with indecisive result. Having received reinforcements, General Wallace again engaged the enemy, on Christmas Day, at Gebel Medwa, a few miles from the coast. The Senussites, severely handled, retreated to Halazin (officially misspelt Hazalin), 25 m. S.W. of Matruh. Torrential rains now interrupted operations; in any case General Wallace was too weak to resume the offensive until further reinforced. The first of these new reinforcements consisted of the 2nd Regt. of the ist South African Infantry Brigade, which disembarked at Matruh on Jan. 20 and 21 1916. They were the first S. Africans from the Union to take part in the war outside the limits of S. Africa. 2 On. Jan. 23 the Senussites were attacked at Halazin and after an eight-hours' stubborn engagement were defeated and fled. The country had been turned by the rains into a quagmire and mud played an important and unfortunate part throughout. General Wallace's successes now induced many of the Egyp- tian Bedouin (mostly the Walad 'Ali tribesmen) to desert the Senussi cause. Wallace had been tied to his base at Matruh by lack of sufficient camel transport, but by February this difficulty was overcome and the force had been further strengthened, partly by more South African infantry. The time for a real offensive had come. At this period General Wallace resigned and was succeeded by Maj.-Gen. W. E. Peyton (Feb. 9 1916).
On Feb. 20 General Peyton sent forward a force under Brig.- Gen. H. T. Lukin (commander of the ist S. African Inf. Brig.) with orders to take Barrini, 50 m. E. of Sollum. On the 26th an engagement was fought at Agagia, in which Ga'far Pasha attempted to carry out his favourite manoeuvre an enveloping movement. This movement was checked, the infantry pressed forward and after a two-hours' struggle the Senussites were compelled to evacuate their position. The yeomanry were then sent in pursuit, and the Dorset Regiment (under Col. H. M.
1 He addressed one letter to " The Governor of Hell in Kordofan and the Inspector of Flames in Nahud."
1 A volunteer force raised in Rhodesia (the 2nd Rhodesian Regt.) had gone to E. Africa in 1915.
Souter) in a fine charge broke into the enemy lines and captured Ga'far Pasha. 3 Nuri Bey took over the command of the Senussi forces, which offered little further resistance. Two British col- umns advanced on Sollum, which was reoccupied on March 14. Sollum is close to the Cyrenaican frontier and into Cyrenaica, that is into Italian territory, Nuri Bey and his forces retreated after blowing up their main ammunition dump. General Peyton did not further pursue Nuri, but on March 17 a squadron of armoured cars, under Major the Duke of Westminster, raced 120 m. across the desert and rescued the survivors some 90 in number of the " Tara " and " Moorina." Shortly after- wards General Peyton's force was reduced, the S. Africans leaving in April for France.
Sidi Ahmad had been with Ga'far Pasha until the end of Jan. 1916. He then went to Siwa and began the advance along the oases that lead to the Nile. The advance came too late to be effective, but on Feb. 1 1 Senussites occupied Baharia oasis, some 100 m. from the fertile and densely peopled districts of Fayum and Minia. Before the end of February the Senussites had also occupied the more southerly oases of Farafra and Dakh- la. Thereupon the Egyptian officials were withdrawn from Kharga (the Great Oasis), which is connected by railway with the Nile valley, and the Senussites proceeded to occupy it. The strategical importance of the oases is great, but having no troops available for an offensive in S.W. Egypt, General Maxwell took defensive measures only. A command under Maj.-Gen. J. Adye patrolled the region from the Fayum to Assiut and Esna. The oases were kept under constant observation by aeroplanes, and the Senussites did not emerge from them. After the complete defeat of their northern force they abandoned Kharga, which was reoccupied by the British on April 15 1916. Gen. Sir Archi- bald Murray had meanwhile (March 19) succeeded General Max- well in the Egyptian command.
Darfur Campaign. At this period, in the Sudan, the Sirdar, Gen. Sir Reginald Wingate, was dealing with 'Ali Dinar of Dar- fur. For over a year the Sultan had been openly defiant and since Dec. 1915 had been making arrangements to invade Kor- dofan. As the Sudan Government had not in 1915 any force available for action in Darfur, negotiations were entered into with him, but without result, and the belief grew in the Sudan that the Government was too weak to deal with so powerful a sultan ('Ali Dinar had a regular "slave" army some 10,000 in number, for the most part well armed). Early in 1916 it had become imperative to clear up the situation if the general peace of the Sudan was to be preserved. Though it was the worst season of the year for military operations the Sirdar determined to anticipate 'Ali Dinar's offensive. An expeditionary force, 3,000 strong, was organized under command of Maj. (tempor- ary Lt.-Col.) P. V. Kelly. Except for a detachment of the R.F.C. the troops consisted entirely of units of the Egyptian army this being the first time since the Mahdia that Egyptian troops had fought Sudanese Arabs. The expedition was highly success- ful. It was remarkable for the manner in which transport diffi- culties were overcome. Khartum, the base, is 500 m. by rail from the nearest seaport: El Obeid, railhead, is 428 m. from Khartum; and from El Obeid the force had to advance nearly 400 m. across a desolate roadless country. It then had to engage a numerically superior enemy of indomitable valour. Battle was given by the Darfurians on May 22 (1916) at Beringa, near El Fasher, 'Ali Dinar's capital. A body of 2,000 riflemen, sup- ported by a large mounted force, attacked the Egyptians with all the accustomed bravery of the Dervish warrior. They were beaten back, counter-charged and completely defeated, losing
3 Like many other Arab officers and men in the Turkish army who fell into the hands of the British, Ga'far Pasha joined the Arab forces under the Emir Faisal and took part in the Syrian campaign against the Turks. After his capture at Agagia he had been confined in the citadel at Cairo. He tried to escape by means of a rope. Ga'far being a very heavy man, the rope broke ; he fell, injured himself, and was removed to hospital. While there, he learned of the Sherif of Mecca's revolt and resolved to join his forces. In 1920 he became Minister of Defence in the Provisional Arab Government of Meso- potamia. He was a delegate at the Near East Conference held in Cairo in March 1921.
