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 war to assume the initiative and attack with vigour on every possible occasion, the uncivilised enemy, by reason of his primitive arms and tactics, generally avoids the encounter until he is able to make an attack at a time and on ground of his own choosing. Thus we find the disciplined force thrown on the defensive in the early stages of the expedition and the very heavy losses inflicted then often directly lead to a speedy termination of the campaign. Callwell says: "The tactics adopted by the Zulus and Mahdists when flushed with confidence were best met at a halt in close formation, even on ground where arms of precision could not tell with full effect. In the jungles of Dahomey the sudden hostile attacks on flanks and rear could be confronted most satisfactorily by the troops on the spot acting on the defence until the edge was taken off the hostile appetite for combat Where a small force of regular troops is opposed to great hostile masses, no matter how ill-armed or how deficient in morale the masses may be, circumstances render it almost imperative to act on the defensive."

For this reason alone machine guns form the most valuable arm in encounters of this nature, and their tremendous effect cannot be better illustrated than at Omdurman, where they literally mowed down the attacking masses in great swathes.

The first consideration when employing machine guns in a small war is the method of