The battle of Gumburu
next morning, 17th April, Cobbe sent out two more reconnaissance patrols whilst he waited for Manning to arrive. Captain H.A. Walker (Royal Fusiliers) took a half-company of 1 KAR to a hill 2.5 kilometres to the south-west. Captain H.E. Olivey
(Left) took ‘C’ Company 2 KAR five kilometers to the west. Olivey left before dawn and made good progress but had no contacts and started to withdraw. At 0805 hours he sent a message back to Cobbe stating that enemy foot and horsemen were now advancing upon ‘C’ Company and that reinforcements were needed.
Cobbe ordered Plunkett out in support with ‘A’ Company 2 KAR, 5 men from 1 KAR, the water convoy escort of 48 sepoys from 2nd Sikhs and two Maxim guns. Captain Vesey had requested that his 2nd Sikhs party be included. The Maxims were loaded and an extra 50 rounds per rifleman were issued to the KAR Askari only, the Sikhs carried the standard issue of 100 rounds. Plunkett departed at 0915 hours. Two British mounted infantrymen from the 4th Battalion KRRC accompanied Plunkett, as did a Medical Officer from the Indian Medical Service and a Hospital Assistant from 5 KAR. Just before he left Plunkett saw another message from Olivey to Cobbe stating that he was 2.5 kilometres out and not in contact. Cobbe’s orders to Plunkett were to recover ‘C’ Company and bring it back. Neither Plunkett nor any of the officers with him were ever seen again.
Cobbe then recalled Walker’s patrol and strengthened his zareba. Firing was then faintly heard from a distance, and Somali scouts went out to reconnoitre. A scout returned with Plunkett’s guide, who was wounded, across his saddle. The guide reported that Plunkett’s force had been cut up. Cobbe did not have sufficient men with him to leave the zareba, so he entrenched and strengthened it. Wounded Askari from 2 KAR then trickled in, assisted by the mounted infantry.
It emerged that Plunkett
(Left), a tough, brave and experienced but perhaps impetuous soldier, had disobeyed Cobbe’s orders. On reaching Olivey he formed a square with the 2nd Sikhs in the front face and advanced over 6 kilometres through the bush. On reaching an open space partly surrounded by thick bush he halted, perhaps hoping to teach the Dervishes a lesson. After about 5 minutes he was attacked from the bush by the leading elements of up to 8,000 spearmen and horsemen led by the Mullah. At first horsemen assaulted the front and flanks of the square. After repulsing the first attack Plunkett ordered the square to advance into the centre of the open space. This advance left wounded Askari behind on the ground, but this saved the lives of some of them who managed to escape later as the fighting moved away from them. Then spearmen arrived and attacked all sides of the square. The Dervishes cried
“Allah! Allah!” whilst their womenfolk ululated shrilly in the background.
Horsemen fired from their saddles into the British troops who returned volley fire into the seething mass of attackers. However the solid rifle bullets of the Sikhs were not knocking down the most fanatical of the Dervishes, who kept charging forward although wounded. At one stage spearmen broke through the face of the square but the Sikhs reformed and killed or drove back the attackers. The British officers were targeted and brought down first. Plunkett was wounded early in the action by a spear thrust but stayed on his feet. The two machine guns, each in a corner of the square, cut swathes through the Dervishes but began to run out of ammunition. As men dropped ranks had to be tightened as there were no supporting troops, but even so Dervishes repeatedly broke into the square before being shot or bayoneted. Cobbe’s orders had been that this was a short recovery patrol and reserve ammunition had not been taken. Eventually when the ammunition was expended a horde of spearmen broke into the square. Prominent amongst these attackers were the ferocious men of the Adonis tribe. Plunkett and Johnston-Stewart ordered those sepoys and Askari still standing to bayonet-charge their way back to Cobbe’s position. A Dervish then shot Plunkett through the head.
As the remains of the square disintegrated the attackers swarmed over the retreating British soldiers, spearing and hacking them to death. No British or Indians survived, only 47 Yao and Atonga Askari from British Central Africa made it back to Cobbe’s zareba, and 42 of these men were wounded. No. A 759 Private Mandelumba, 2 KAR, was later awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal with the citation:
This man carried into the zareba, a distance of 6 miles from the action at Gumburu on 17th April, 1903, No. 885 Private Gomani, of the same battalion, who was wounded in the arm.
British personnel killed at Gumburu were:
From 2 KAR: Major and Local Lieutenant Colonel Arthur William Valentine Plunkett (Manchester Regiment), Captain James Johnstone-Stewart
(Left) (Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders), Captain Herbert Edward Olivey (Suffolk Regiment), Captain Herbert Humphrey de Bohun Morris
(Page bottom Left) (East Kent Regiment), Captain Lachlan M’Kinnon (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), Lieutenant Joseph Aloysius Gaynor (2nd Dragoon Guards), Lieutenant Ernest William Bell
(Page Botton Right) (Suffolk Regiment).
From 2nd Sikhs: Captain Herbert Charles Vesey.
From the Indian Medical Service: Lieutenant Francis Wheler Sime.
From the KRRC: Riflemen No. 2176 Laurence Ensor and No. 1589 John Barrow.
Indian personnel killed were: Havildar Major Dewan Singh, 2 KAR and 36th Sikhs; No. 153 Lance-Havildar Khajan Singh, 1 KAR and 3rd Peshawar Battery; 2 un-named officers and 46 sepoys from 2nd Sikhs; one Hospital Assistant from 5 KAR.
The African dead were 117 Askari from 2 KAR; 2 Askari and one Maxim Gun Carrier from 1 KAR; 13 Somali transport drivers and followers.
Dervish losses were never known but mounds of dead lay around the site of the square. One estimate given by Dervish prisoners later was that around 1,000 men were killed and many more were badly wounded.
Soldiers of the First World War and Colonial wars. Their battles, their units, their awards and their suffering.
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