Page:Can Germany Invade England?.djvu/115

Rh the question, yet so essential to rapid disembarkation is an ample supply of landing-boats and small steamers to tow them, that, at all hazards, they must accompany the troopships, or the success of the expedition, as a surprise invasion, will be jeopardised.

In the Persian Expedition of 1856, insufficient provision of landing-boats had been made, especially of landing-boats for horses, and in consequence it took three days and two nights to disembark 9,500 men and 1,500 animals. And again in the disembarkation experiments at Clacton-onSea, in 1904, it took two days to land 10,000 men, and though it is true that, for twenty-four hours, the weather was bad, still the delay was largely due to the fact