During a campaign orders filter through various official channels, and
frequently by the time they have reached the officer in charge of a
train others of a contradictory purport are racing after them over the
wires. This sort of thing is absolutely unavoidable. Between the army at
the front and the great base at Capetown stretched some 700 miles of
railway, and over this single line of rails ran an unending succession
of trains carrying troops, food, guns, and last, but by no means least,
tons upon tons of ammunition. The work of supplying a modern army in the
field is stupendous, and the best thanks of the nation are due to the
devoted labours of the Army Service Corps. The officers and men of the
A.S.C. work night and day, they rarely see any fighting, and are seldom
mentioned in the public press or in despatches; yet how much depends
upon their zeal and devotion! Amateur critics at home have frequently
asked why such and such a general has not left strong positions on the
flank and advanced into the enemy's country further afield. Quite apart
from the fearful danger of exposing our lines of communication to attack
from a strong force of the enemy, these critics do not seem to possess
the most elementary idea of what is involved in the advance of an army.
How do they suppose hundreds of heavily laden transport waggons are to
be dragged across the uneven veldt, intersected every now and then by
rugged "kopjes" and "spruits" and "dongas"? Ammunition alone is a
serious item to be considered.
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