Kotal they dispersed to their homes, promising to reassemble on the 15th September. One of the most serious results of the capture of the Lundi Kotal serai was that fifty thousand rounds of ammunition fell into the hands of the enemy. _The Tirah Expedition of 1897–98 against the Khyber Pass and Aka Khel Afridis._—On the 3rd September the necessary orders were issued for the formation and concentration of the Tirah Expeditionary Force, the actual date for the expedition to start being fixed as the 12th October. By this date it was hoped that the operations, then in progress in other parts of the frontier and elsewhere described, would have ceased, and that both troops and transport there in use would be available for the larger expedition now projected. These anticipations, however, were not altogether justified by events, only one brigade with its accompanying transport being set free for employment under Sir William Lockhart, who was recalled from leave in England to command the Tirah Field Force, consisting of some 44,000 men. (For composition of the force see note at end of chapter.) Kohat was made the base of operations, with an advanced base at Shinawari, thirty miles from Maidan. This route was on the whole considered an easier and shorter one into Tirah than those from Peshawar by the Bara and Mastura valleys, or from Kohat via the Khanki, despite, too, the fact that the nearest railway terminus was at Khushalgarh on the left bank of the Indus, and thirty miles to the east of Kohat. The troops were divided into a main column of two divisions, each of two brigades of infantry with divisional troops; two subsidiary columns; line of communication troops; and a reserve mixed brigade at Rawal Pindi. [Sidenote: Transport Requirements] The main column, operating from Kohat and Shinawari, was to move on Tirah via the Chagru Kotal, Sampagha and Arhanga Passes; while of the two subsidiary columns one was to operate from Peshawar, and the other from the Miranzai and Kurram Valleys, as circumstances might require. From railhead at Khushalgarh to Shinawari, the advanced base, the road was practicable for carts, thence onwards the troops could only be served by pack animals, and of these some 60,000 were required for the use of the Tirah Expeditionary Force alone, not counting those already engaged with other frontier expeditions still in progress.[118] The collection of so vast an amount of transport naturally caused delay, and it was not until the 20th October that any forward movement could take place.