=Column.=--Formation of troops several ranks in depth and of any length of front, disposed so as to move in regular succession. Sometimes the name _column_ is given to a body of troops which is in effect a small army. =Combatant.=--As distinct from noncombatant officers such as chaplains and surgeons. =Commandant.=--The chief of the Boer commando. =Commandeer.=--To call out on service. =Commander.=--Naval officer ranking next below a captain. He receives the title of captain socially, and ranks with a colonel in the army. =Commander-in-Chief.=--Highest Staff appointment in the army. He acts in conjunction with the Secretary of War. There is a _local_ Commander-in-Chief over the Indian forces, and also over those in Ireland. All these officers in their different posts supervise the training, discipline, and appointments, &c., of the army. =Commando.=--An irregular regiment of mounted Boers. =Commissariat.=--An organisation responsible for collecting food, forage, and necessaries for troops in cantonments or in the field. The duties, divided into (1) transport, (2) supply, are carried out by the Army Service Corps. The difficulties of securing and carrying food in an enemy's country are very great. Owing to this difficulty the First Crusade never got beyond Hungary. In the Ashantee War the Fantees were so afraid of the Ashantees that they refused to carry the food or baggage of the army, and the duty devolved on the West India Regiments. =Commission.=--Warrant signed by the sovereign authorising the officer to exercise command in the army. The purchase of commissions was abolished in 1871. They are now given to candidates after passing the prescribed examination before the Civil Service examiners, when they are sent to Sandhurst or Woolwich Academies for further instruction, chiefly of military nature. Quantities of "irregulars" and volunteers have now been given commissions as reward for practical service in the field. =Communications.=--The lines by which an army communicates with its base from any point to which it has advanced, and by which it must retreat in the event of disaster. They are the arteries that vitalise the mechanism and allow it to work. =Company.=--A body of men commanded by a captain, and forming the first unit of an infantry battalion. The number of a company may be reckoned as about 100. About eight companies make a battalion. [Illustration: DURBAN, NATAL Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] =Contraband of War.=--Arms, ammunition, coal, food, &c., which a neutral power is prohibited by the Law of Nations from carrying to countries in a state of war. =Cordite.=--Smokeless powder resembling cords, which defies the best efforts to locate the enemy. Invented by Sir F. Abel and Professor Dewar. =Corporal.=--Next grade below that of sergeant.