ANNIVERSARIES

2 SEPTEMBER 1898

Churchill charges into action at Khartoum

British technology wins the day at the battle of Omdurman

It was dawn on 2 September 1898, and in Omdurman, the young Lieutenant Winston Churchill was breathing hard with excitement.

After almost two decades of war in the Sudan, Herbert Kitchener’s British army had finally reached Khartoum. Against them, stood tens of thousands of Dervish swordsmen. The enemy army, remembered Churchill, was a spectacular sight. Stretching “four miles from end to end… this mighty army advanced swiftly. Above them waved hundreds of banners, and the sun, glinting on many thousands of hostile spear points, spread a sparkling cloud.”

For Churchill, the highlight of the battle was undoubtedly the swashbuckling cavalry charge of his 21st Lancers. Many of his fellows were unhorsed, and were