MULLAHS AND MACHINE GUNS 165resembled. Permanent garrisons of regular soldiers received training, bil-
leting, and upkeep that would seem familiar to most civilized armies.
These garrisons, which varied in size, were scattered about the country
with particular emphasis on the wilder areas of the tribal west and the
Ethiopian frontier. They provided a defense force and kept the local people
in subservience. The balance of the armed force consisted of virtually all
of the male population—at least in theory. In actuality some of the man-
power would volunteer for active service and some would be raised as
required by the provincial administrators, generally when major field ar-
mies were to be formed. It is interesting that these levies were armed at
government expense, billeted in regular barracks, and trained on a daily
basis—each unit performing a daily parade in front of the Khalifa at
Omdurman.
The standard fighting unit of the mahdiya, or army, was therub,which
might number about a thousand men. Eachrubwas divided by tactical
function. The largest component was usually the spearmen, who would
be further subdivided into tribal groupings, each under a banner or stan-
dard. Their mission was to close with an enemy and defeat him in melee.
The second section was thejihadiya, or rifle-armed section. This section
was broken into companies of about 100 men under a standard, and pla-
toons of 25. These men were armed with the Remington breech-loading
rifles taken from the defeated government forces. Their mission was to
support the massed attack of the spearmen. The third element was cavalry,
whose number varied, but at least one group was assigned to eachrubto
provide scouting and courier duties. If enough horsemen were present—
they were recruited mostly from the Baqqra tribes—they could also serve
as a mounted shock force. In essence, therubwas a combined arms for-
mation, rather like a Western division, but on a much smaller scale. The
ruborganization was probably designed primarily for internal security
duties, for which the mix of arms in such a small unit would make good
sense. In larger armies, the cavalry elements would clearly be best massed
together, and the rifle elements could certainly be more useful if combined
together and separated from the spearmen. Separate artillery batteries—
equipped with guns captured from Egyptian garrisons and field armies—
usually concentrated in Omdurman and were parceled out to field armies
as needed or deployed in the river forts that protected the capital. Addi-
tional units of service troops provided logistical support and maintained
arsenals for the manufacture of ammunition.
When field armies were formed, therubswould be placed under one
of several headquarters. These were originally the Black Standard, the
Red Standard and the Green Standard, each under a senior general. Each