As the attack from the south-west gradually weakened and the attack from
the north-west continually increased, he broke off his battalions and
batteries from the longer side of the L and transferred them to the shorter.
He timed these movements so accurately that each face of his brigade was
able to exactly sustain the attacks of the enemy. As soon as the Khalifa's
force began to waver he ordered the XIth Soudanese and a battery on his left
to move across the angle in which the brigade was formed, and deploy along
the shorter face to meet the impending onslaught of Ali-Wad-Helu. Perceiving
this, the IXth Soudanese, who were the regiment in column on the right of
the original front, wheeled to the right from column into line without
waiting for orders, so that two battalions faced towards the Khalifa and
two towards the fresh attack. By this time it was clear that the Khalifa
was practically repulsed, and MacDonald ordered the Xth Soudanese and
another battery to change front and prolong the line of the IXth and XIth.
He then moved the 2nd Egyptians diagonally to their right front, so as to
close the gap at the angle between their line and that of the three other
battalions. These difficult manoeuvres were carried out under a heavy fire,
which in twenty minutes caused over 120 casualties in the four battalions--
exclusive of the losses in the artillery batteries--and in the face of the
determined attacks of an enemy who outnumbered the troops by seven to one
and had only to close with them to be victorious.
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