Battle of Omdurman - Aftermath

Aftermath

Around 10,000 Mahdists were killed, 13,000 wounded and 5,000 taken prisoner. Kitchener's force lost 47 men killed and 382 wounded, the majority from MacDonald's command. One eye-witness described the appalling scene:

They could never get near and they refused to hold back . . . It was not a battle but an execution . . . The bodies were not in heaps—bodies hardly ever are; but they spread evenly over acres and acres. Some lay very composedly with their slippers placed under their heads for a last pillow; some knelt, cut short in the middle of a last prayer. Others were torn to pieces . . .

Controversy over wounded Mahdist killed after the battle began soon afterwards. Churchill thought Kitchener was too brutal in his killing of the wounded.

The Khalifa escaped and survived until 1899, when he was killed in the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat.

Several days after the battle, Kitchener was sent to Fashoda, due to the developing Fashoda Incident.

Kitchener was ennobled as a baron, Kitchener of Khartoum, for his victory. Four Victoria Crosses were awarded, three to members of the 21st Lancers, as a result of this action: 2nd Lt. Raymond H.L.J. De Montmorency, Capt. Paul A. Kenna, Pvt. Thomas Byrne and one to Capt. Nevill Smyth of the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays).

Winston Churchill was present at the battle and he rode with the 21st Lancers. He published an account in 1899 as "The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan", which is the basis for this article. Present as a war correspondent for The Times was Col. Frank Rhodes, brother of Cecil, who was shot and severely wounded in the right arm. For his services during that battle he was restored to the army active list.

The Battle of Omdurman has also lent its name to many streets in British and Commonwealth cities, for example Omdurman Road in Southampton and Omdurman Street in Freshwater, Sydney.