Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-07-05
now Az ARsfr mARcnEs.
Description of the Exact Order In which
Column Advances.

London Express.
A British column advancing in time
of war through an enemy's country is
Mt once magnificent and remarkable
spectacle; or, rather, to be quite cor
rect, it would be, provided the eye could
take in all the details at single glance.
But that is just precisely what the
eye cannot do. A column of even mod
crate strength, when they move, length
ems itself out abnormally; so much SO,
indeed, that body of troops which in
review order could be packed within a
moderate-sized parade ground, will &C.
oupy, ribbon-wise, eight, ten or even
more miles of country.
We will, therefore, take up position
on an eminence--a korie If you like.
and watch in imagination column of
British regulars marching on, say Pre-
toria
First there will come in sight. riding
at walking pace athwart the boulder
strewn veldt q solitary pair Of horse
men. These are the advance points. as
they are termed, and are thrown for
ward perhaps mile ahead Of the van
guard. They are on the lookout for the
enemy, and on the first hint of danger
it is their duty to ride back to left and
right, and alarm the fiankers.
These latter are thrown out fam wise
from the cavalry which screens the in
fantry vanguard, and they, In their
turn, pass the word back along the
trailing, snakelike ribbon of armed
men, till within half an hour, say, of
the enemy's heing first sighted the
entire command knows of the threat.
ened danger, and is prepared to deal
with 1t.
The two advanced points have been
we'll likened to couple OF electric but
tons, which, on being touched. thrill
the alarm down both TANKS throughout
the entire length of the column with
which they are in communication. The
simile is not quite perfect, however, for
the alarm Is sounded by these living
electric buttons while yet the danger is
remote. Some hundreds Of yards in the
rear of the cavalry screen comes the
advance guard, sub-divided into van
guard and main guard. This latter
constitutes the first fighting unit of the
advancing column, and its strength is
of course, proportionate TO the strength
OF the force it is covering. With it
are field and machine guns, sapEers,
miners, engineers, ambulances, reserve
ammunition wagons, &c, In fact, the
advance guard of a large column con-
stitutes IN itself fighting foice-a
miniature army, SO to speak, complete
in practically all essential details. After
tie advance guard has passed we shall
probably see-emerging from the clouds
of dust which always, except In wet
weather, envelop as with mantle a
column on the march-another solitary
pair of horsemen, and then at inter-
yals, another and yet another. These
are the connecting links. A half
troop, or perhaps, il the force is large
one, whole troop Of cavalry will come
next, then more connecting links, and
lastly the officer commanding, sur
rounded and accompanied by his staff.
The uninitiated in matters military
will now probably expect to see the
main body of the army; but no. A
single Infantry battalion, or maybe two,
will perhaps pass, marching strictly
''to attention." hay onets fixed, and
officers sword carried naked at the
slope: after which there will heave
slowly into sight an apparently endless
train of field artillery, machine guns,
ammunition wagons, ambulances, tool
carts, forage and store wagons, and
plumbers of led horses. 1t is only when
this heterogeneous procession has coms
to an end that the thickening of the
dust cloud and the measured tramp
tramp-tramp herald the approach of
the infantry brigades.
On they come, rifles ut the slope or
at the trail, talking, laughing, Joking,
singing, smoking as though war and
its attendant horrors were q Thousand
miles away. On they oome-and still
on! Battalion after battalion; bril-
gade after brigade.
1t becomes almost mon otonous after
while, for the mighty fighting ma
chimes, each composed of a thousand
or more individual fighting units,
swing past with the mechanical pre-
cision of gigantic automata. Every
thing moves as il hygclockwork Thirty
races' interval is the regulation dis
tance between battalions and brieades,
and 30 PAGES interval. it is-no more,
no less. There is no sackening, no
hesitancy, for all the apparent free
nnd-easiness. A company Tags but a
foot or two; it 10 srurred sharply for
ward by a biting phrase--hHf eypostu-
lation, half command-uttered by its
captain. i battalion does likewise and
wave of the hand from its ever
watchful chief sends. the adiutant gal
Looping down the right fan6, explod-
ing as he goes. So is the force kept
''strung up" And very necessary
process is this same stringing up. The
loss of few yards at the head means
hundreds at the tail. A trivial check
to the front of long column is seri-
Gus delay to the men in the rear of it,
and continual stepping out or rapid
closing tends to exhaust troops.
With the passing of the Iearmost
brigade the interest to the average spec
tator largely vanishes. True. there
follow more machine guns, more tool
carts, ammunition wagons, led horses,
&C., but all these we have seen before.
The bearer companies, with their trim
stretchers and the red CROSS of Geneva
showing conspicuously on their tunio
sleeves, arouse brief curiosity, but
they are out of sight, swallowed up in
the dust-cloud almost ere we realize
their presence. If, however, We care
to occupy our kopje for another hour
or SO we shall see yet another cloud of
dust advancing toward us. This is
formed by the baggage train which
follows oil armies. Lastly comes the
rear guard, followed by a small detach-
mert of military police, whose duty it
is to look after stragglers.
USES OF LIME And CHARCOAL.