But the regiment was a machine run down. The sentence above contains an example of which literary term?

The sentence "But the regiment was a machine run down" contains an example of metaphor.

Here's why:

* Metaphor: A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things without using words like "like" or "as".

* In the sentence: The regiment (a group of soldiers) is directly compared to a "machine run down". This comparison implies that the regiment is worn out, exhausted, and perhaps not functioning well.

The sentence doesn't literally mean the regiment is a machine, but it uses the imagery of a broken machine to convey the state of the regiment.