ELEPHANTS. 159 



put to flight, trampled down their own infantry, and the 

 Romans taking the offensive gained a victory. 



The Carthaginians were fond of elephants for War pm-poses. 



The great Hannibal took 200 to Spain, and afterwards 37 of 

 them crossed the Alps with him into Italy (219 B.C.) They 

 were ferried across the Eiver Ehone on rafts specially con- 

 structed. What with exposure and attack from the Roman 

 Legions in the Battle of Trebia, only one remained. Hannibal 

 obtained 40 remounts, but only seven remained to take part in 

 his final overthrow on Italian soil. 



At the Battle of Zama in Africa four years after, his elephants 

 (80) were defeated by the Romans. Romans, as a rule, disliked 

 encounter with elephants, but on this occasion a fine example of 

 personal combat was set by the Roman Commander Scipio 

 which ended in the destruction of nearly all the elephants. 



The Parthians being essentially an Army of light Cavalry 

 had no use for elephants: while under the Sasanian Dynasty 

 of Persia the Corps of Elephants was the most important of 

 the main Arms of Service. 



In 1399 when Timur invaded India, he engaged the Army of 

 Mahmud Nassir-ud-din at Ferozabad near Delhi. The Army 

 of the latter included elephants armed to the teeth. Timur 

 gained a victory by driving a herd of buffaloes with burning 

 faggots attached to their horns amongst the elephants, causing 

 them to stampede, with a resulting discomfiture and defeat of 

 the Indian Troops. 



At the siege of Arcot in 1752 Chanda Sahib had war elephants 

 vpith iron plates on their heads, which were trained to butt 

 against the gates and break them down. W^hen fired on they 

 turned tail, and created disaster amongst their own troops. 



The foregoing will show that elephants have little merit as 

 fighting machines, and that they even constitute a danger to 

 the side to which they belong. 



The last appearance of elephants in battle was in the Afghan 

 War of 1878-80, and they finally disappeared as Field Transport 

 after the Chin-Lushai Operations in 1890. In Afghanistan they 

 were employed in Heavy Batteries, each gun being drawn by 

 two elephants, the total number on the establishment of a 

 Heavy Battery being six. They performed great service at the 



