StrutsChain/ActionAndChain

With both a chain and an action in struts-config.xml...

     <action path="/Test5"
             command="preAction"
             type="net.wsmoak.chain.webapp.MyAction"
             scope="request">
            <forward  name="success" path="test5.jsp"/>
     </action>

... first the command (or chain) called 'preAction' is executed.

What I think will happen:

• If the chain ends with an ActionForward in the right place, that forward will be taken.
• If not, the Action will be executed and should return either null or an ActionForward

Is this by design, or just the way it happens to work because of the order of items in the 'struts' request processing chain?