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DESCRIPTION OF A SPECIAL BOX 
FOB THE 
CARRIAGE OF THE AMMUNITION OF THE SECOND LINE OF ARTILLERY 
WAGONS DURING THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, 
BY 
CAPT. A. F. FLETCHER, R.A. 
In consequence of tlie difficulty experienced in providing carriage 
for tlie supplies of the troops engaged in the late Afghan campaign— 
the loss of camels alone in that campaign is officially estimated at 
61,000—’and the rocky nature of the roads in the Khyber Pass, which 
were found to be ill adapted for draught bullocks, by which the 2nd 
line of wagons of batteries in India is usually drawn, General 
Sir Sam. Browne decided that these carriages belonging to the 1st 
Division Peshawar Field Force should be left behind, and that other 
arrangements should be made for the transport of their ammunition. 
For this object a special box, to be carried on baggage animals, was 
proposed m the Peshawar Arsenal, and the pattern having been 
approved, Major-General Napier Campbell, It.A., Inspector-General of 
Ordnance, directed that a sufficient number should be made to supply 
all the batteries of the Peshawar Column with them, and that a pattern 
box should be sent to the Ferozepore Arsenal to guide the manufacture 
for issue to those of the Kurum Division. Some 300 boxes were 
accordingly made in the Peshawar Arsenal, and forwarded to the 
Commissary of Ordnance in charge of the Ordnance Field Park, P.F.F* 
They were packed and ready for issue, but it is believed that they never 
had an opportunity of being actually tried on service. 
The design of the box is taken from the service 7-pr. M.G. ammu¬ 
nition box, but it is of wood instead of leather. The wood used is 
