A VERY RARE AND 1882-9 TO A GORDON HIGHLANDER KILLED IN ACTION AT THE BATTLE OF TAMAAI, ONE OF JUST FOUR SUCH CASUALTIES TO THE REGIMENT FOR NOT ONLY THIS BATTLE BUT FOR THE ENTIRE 1884-5 CAMPAIGN

EGYPT AND SUDAN 1882-9, 1882 REVERSE, CLASP TEL EL KEBIR, 1884, EL TEB TAMAAI ‘1555 PTE J PAYNE, 1/GORD: HIGHRS:’

Private Payne was one of 4 men killed of the at the battle of Tamaai, a further 9 men were wounded, one later dying. This battle was the costliest to the British of the .

BATTLE OF TAMAI 13TH MARCH 1884

At Tamai, the British force of 4,500 men, with 22 guns and 6 gatling guns, would face roughly 10,000 Mahdists.

On the night of 12 March the British formed an encampment, not far from 's positions. From around 1 o'clock until dawn, Mahdist riflemen approached the camp and opened fire, but their shooting was imprecise, and they inflicted few casualties. At dawn, the was brought to bear against the Mahdist skirmishers and they were driven back. The infantry then formed into two brigade sized squares and advanced;

1st Brigade square under Colonel Buller 3rd Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers 2nd Brigade square under Colonel Davis, with General Graham 1st Battalion 1st Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment Royal Marine Light Infantry

A scouting party discovered that the main body of the Mahdist force was hidden in a nearby ravine, whereupon General Graham ordered the Black Watch to charge to clear those Mahdists out, leaving a wide gap where they had been stationed in the square.

A sudden onslaught of Mahdists rushed into this gap. The Black Watch found themselves under intense attack from the Sudanese. The square was flooded with a rush of tribesmen and a brutal hand-to-hand fight resulted. The Black Watch eventually won the contest, driving the Sudanese out, and reforming their square. Finding themselves in danger of being cut off, the British units fell back in disarray but were quickly reformed in good order. The Mahdist advance was halted by volleys from the other (Buller's) square, which had survived the attack, and by dismounted units that had not been engaged until then. The concentrated flanking fire they inflicted caused huge casualties among the Mahdists, who were forced to retreat. The British units then reformed, and resumed their advance, driving the shaken Mahdists out of the ravine and inflicting more casualties on them as they fled. Osman Digna's camp was captured later that day, but Osman Digna escaped

During this battle, the British suffered more losses than in any other battle of the Mahdist war, 214 soldiers being wounded or killed, ten of which were officers. The Mahdists also suffered heavily, losing 4,000 men.

Condition VF, a little pitting from Star, with copy pay/casualty lists. A very rare casualty medal to the Gordons for the 1884-5 Campaigns.