The ‘Death March’ was the least of the misfortunes caused by the storms.  The violent rains produced floods such as had not been seen in the Soudan for fifty years.  The water, pouring down the broad valleys, formed furious torrents in the narrower gorges.  More than twelve miles of the railway was washed away.  The rails were twisted and bent; the formation entirely destroyed.  The telegraph wires were broken.  The work of weeks was lost in a few hours.  The advance was stopped as soon as it had been begun.  At the moment when every military reason demanded speed and suddenness, a hideous delay became inevitable.

In this time of crisis the success of the whole campaign hung in the balance.  Sir Herbert Kitchener did not then possess that measure of the confidence and affection of his officers which his military successes have since compelled.  Public opinion was still undecided on the general question of the war.  The initial bad luck had frightened many.  All the croakers were ready.  ’A Jingo Government’—­’An incapable general’—­ ’Another disaster in the Soudan’—­such were the whispers.  A check would be the signal for an outcry.  The accounts of ‘The Death March’ had not yet reached England; but the correspondents, irritated at being ’chained to headquarters,’ were going to see about that.  And, besides all this, there were the army to feed and the Dervishes to fight.  In this serious emergency, which threatened to wreck his schemes, the Sirdar’s organising talents shone more brilliantly than at any other moment in this account.  Travelling swiftly to Moghrat, he possessed himself of the telephone, which luckily still worked.  He knew the exact position or every soldier, coolie, camel, or donkey at his disposal.  In a few hours, in spite of his crippled transport, he concentrated 5,000 men on the damaged sections of the line, and thereafter fed them until the work was finished.  In seven days traffic was resumed.  The advance had been delayed, but it was not prevented.

On the 5th of September the 1st (Lewis) and 2nd (MacDonald) Brigades moved to Dulgo, and at the same time the remainder of the army began to march across the loop from Kosheh by Sadin Fanti to Absarat.  Every available soldier had been collected for the final operation of the campaign.

The Expeditionary Force was organised as follows: 

 Commander-in-Chief:  The sirdar

 The Infantry Division:  Colonel hunter Commanding

1st Brigade 2nd Brigade 3rd Brigade 4th Brigade major Lewis major Macdonald major Maxwell major David 3rd Egyptians XIth Soudanese 2nd Egyptians 1st Egyptians 4th " XIIth " 7th " 5th " IXth Soudanese XIIIth " 8th " 15th " Xth "

 Cavalry Brigade and Mounted Forces:  Major burn-Murdoch