“The first column to move were the ambulances, which left Tripoli at two o’clock, and at 3.30 came out of the outer redoubt at Gargaresh to follow the fighting column and to work under the instructions of a surgeon-captain. The other columns left Tripoli about three o’clock, and at 4.15 at Gargaresh, about 5-1/2 miles from Tripoli, they formed up in a square about 350 yards in front of the redoubt under cover of a hill, waiting for orders. At 5.30 they advanced, and leaving cover of the hills, moved forward about 2-1/2 miles beyond the batteries. The nature of the ground changed as the columns approached a sandbank, which had until then protected them from the enemy’s fire. The passage over this sand dune was extremely difficult, as the cars had to proceed in single file at walking pace, exposed to a violent rifle fire. Proceeding round the extreme north of the Arabo-Turkish trenches the columns reached the Marabotto of Abd-el-Gelil shortly after the arrival of the third battalion of the Fortieth Fusiliers, mountain artillery, and a company of pioneers, and proceeded with the work of fortification. When the columns returned to Gargaresh, and while the Rainaldi Brigade was engaged against overwhelming forces of the enemy, one of the motor columns, acting under Lieut. Milani, was ordered to load provisions, whilst the other two were told off to join the ambulance section. In the very line of fire the motors brought succour to the wounded, conveyed some seventy disabled soldiers to the temporary hospital at Gargaresh, and carried forty dead to the cemetery. At Gargaresh the order arrived to convey to Marabut the provisions and luggage of the 6th and 40th regiments of the line. The three motor columns therefore re-formed, one going to Tripoli to load provisions and returning to Marabut, the other two being loaded up with luggage. The three columns then returned to Tripoli.” After two years of incessant service, and notwithstanding the “emery” effect of the fine sand which was carried in clouds by the wind and penetrated everywhere, it is generally understood that the Italian military motor fleet maintained reliable services throughout the war, and that the individual machines were in surprisingly good condition when their service was completed. Results were, at any rate, sufficiently satisfactory to justify the Italian Government in placing considerable further orders, with a view to increasing their motor columns. This war was probably the first event which enabled the motor vehicle to prove itself in practice absolutely essential as a military implement. A Tripoli newspaper summed up the value of the experience obtained: