KHEDIVE’S SUDAN MEDAL 1910-21, second issue, 2 clasps, Darfur 1916, Fasher (unnamed, as is

KHEDIVE’S SUDAN MEDAL 1910-21, second issue, 2 clasps, Darfur 1916, Fasher (unnamed, as issued). Attractively toned, Good Very Fine to Almost Extremely Fine.

The clasps Darfur 1916 and Fasher were awarded for the campaign of 1916 against Emir Ali Dinar, Sultan of Darfur. Following the battle of Omdurman in 1898, Emir Ali Dinar, having pledged allegiance to the British government, was allowed to return to Darfur as ruler. In 1916, believing that the British were losing the war with the Turks, and under the impression that the Sudan was ready to rise in revolt, Emir Ali Dinar renounced his allegiance, and declared himself the new Islamic saviour or Mahdi. With fighting on all fronts during WW1 at its height, releasing entire battalions for service against the Emir was deemed impossible. Instead, an expeditionary force was cobbled together, comprising locally raised native units led by small numbers of officers and men from a wide variety of British regiments, along with 23 members of the Royal Flying Corps. The campaign was a complete success, despite having to be waged across the wide expanse of a hostile desert. The concluding battle of the expedition took place at Beringia, not far from Emir Ali Dinar’s capital at El Fasher, on 22/5/1916. There, after the usual succession of reckless mass charges against the British positions, the Emir’s army was completely destroyed. The Emir was himself killed the following month, while on the run, bringing the revolt to a conclusion.