aff. The long trailing line of communications
is unnoticed. The fierce glory that plays on red, triumphant bayonets
dazzles the observer; nor does he care to look behind to where, along a
thousand miles of rail, road, and river, the convoys are crawling to
the front in uninterrupted succession. Victory is the beautiful,
bright-coloured flower. Transport is the stem without which it could
never have blossomed. Yet even the military student, in his zeal to
master the fascinating combinations of the actual conflict, often
forgets the far more intricate complications of supply.

It cannot be denied that a battle, the climax to which all military
operations tend, is an event which is not controlled by strategy or
organisation. The scheme may be well planned, the troops well fed, the
ammunition plentiful, and the enemy entangled, famished, or numerically
inferior. The glorious uncertainties of the field can yet reverse
everything. The human element--in defiance of experience and
probability--may produce a wholly irrational result, and a starving,
out-manoeuvred army win food, safety, and honour by their bravery. But
such considerations apply with greater force to wars where both sides
are equal in equipment and discipline. In savage warfare in a flat
country the power of modern machinery is such that flesh and blood can
scarcely prevail, and the chances of battle are reduced to a minimum.
Fighting the Dervishes was primarily a matter of transport. The Khalifa
was conquered on the railway.

Hitherto, as the operations have progressed, it has been convenient to
speak of the railway in a general manner as having been laid or extended
to various points, and merely to indicate the direction of the lines
of communication. The reader is now invited to take a closer view.
This chapter is concerned with boats, railways, and pack animals, but
particularly with railways.

Throughout the Dongola campaign in 1896 the Nile was the main channel of
communication between the Expeditionary Force and its base in Egypt.
All supplies were brought to the front as far as possible by water
transport. Wherever the Nile was navigable, it was used. Other means of
conveyance--by railways and pack animals--though essential, were merely
supplementary. Boats carry more and cost less than any other form of
transport. The service is not so liable to interruption; the plant needs
only simple repair; the waterway is ready-made. But the Nile is not
always av