Complex sentence: Two companies were dispatched by rail to Maktau, a small village in the lee of the Taita Hills; thirty-five miles from Voi, it was the railhead of the military railway then under construction towards Taveta.
Split into simpler sentences: Two companies were dispatched by rail to Maktau, a small village in the lee of the Taita Hills. Thirty-five miles from Voi, it was the railhead of the military railway then under construction towards Taveta.