Battle
The battle took place on 9 August 1913. It was between the 110 members of the Camel Constabulary of British Somaliland commanded by Colonel Richard Corfield (reduced to 85 by the start of battle) and some 2750 well-armed Dervish followers of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, nicknamed by the British as the Mad Mullah. Thirty-six of the Constabulary including Corfield were killed in action and twenty-one were wounded. Four hundred and fifty of the Dervish were killed or wounded.
As a result of the action the British withdrew their protection of the local Somali clans in the area around the port of Berbera, but the Mullah was unable to follow up his advantage immediately.
Read more about this topic: Dul Madoba
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“Fold up the banners! Smelt the guns!
Love rules, Her gentler purpose runs.
A mighty mother turns in tears
The pages of her battle years,
Lamenting all her fallen sons!”
—Will Henry Thompson (1848–1918)
“The battle which I witnessed took place in the Presidency of Polk, five years before the passage of Webster’s Fugitive-Slave Bill.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Above the bayonets, mixed and crossed,
Men saw a gray, gigantic ghost
Receding through the battle cloud,
And heard across the tempest loud
The death cry of a nation lost!”
—Will Henry Thompson (1848–1918)