 Another tactic was to pretend to lie dead on the battlefield as British cavalry charged through, then, as the cavalry returned at a slower pace back through the ranks of the 'dead', the Mahdists would rise up and slit the hamstrings of the horses then proceed to kill the riders.At the top of the hill, a village had been fortified by the Mahdists, and here they resisted the most stubbornly.The British infantry had to clear the trenches with bayonets after which the fighting died down.