The fighting round Cambrai, and the historical counter-attack which broke up a dangerous German thrust at Gouzeaucourt, will ever be remembered. During the critical days of 1918 an heroic resistance was offered to the vigorous assaults of an enemy numerically stronger and elated by success, while during our subsequent rapid advance the efforts of the Division were crowned by the capture of Maubeuge, the flag of which is carried on parade to-day, a grateful tribute from its citizens. Nor do I forget the other Arms which enabled the three Brigades of Guards for the first time in the history of the British Army to fight as a Division. The Guards Division Royal Artillery, composed of the 74th and 75th Brigades of Field Artillery; the Guards Division Royal Engineers, formed of the 55th, 75th, and 76th Field Companies; the 3rd, 4th, and 9th Field Ambulances, constituting the Guards Division Field Ambulance, and the Guards Division Train and Supply Column. All these, inspired by the best traditions of their respective regiments and corps, fostered the invincible spirit and dogged determination of a Division which knew no defeat. Now, after three and a half years of close co-operation in the field, through the ever-changing fortunes of war, the units of the Guards Division are about to separate. As your Colonel-in-Chief I wish to thank you one and all for faithful and devoted services, and to bid you God-speed. May you ever retain the same mutual feelings of true comradeship which animated and ennobled the life of the Guards Division. (Signed) GEORGE R.I. _March_ 22, 1919. CHAPTER XXXVII THE 7TH (GUARDS) ENTRENCHING BATTALION [Sidenote: Entrenching Battalion. 1915-18.] The enormous amount of spade work, required for the long and intricate network of trenches, rendered some measures necessary for supplementing the work, usually done by the fighting forces; and thus entrenching battalions were formed, composed of drafts for the front, awaiting absorption in their respective units; but the system of detaching men from Battalions of Guards and sending them to fill any vacancies that might occur in one of the entrenching battalions was not at all satisfactory. In the first place, to allow men on arrival in France at once to go to an entrenching battalion, where the discipline was more lax, and the habits and customs different from those which obtained in the regiments of Guards was a measure hardly calculated to improve them as fighting men. And in the second place, it was contrary to the regulations for men of the Guards to be commanded by any but their own officers. [Illustration: _Frederic Robinson. Camberley. photographer Emery Walker ph. sc._ _Brigadier-General A.F.A.N. Thorne, D.S.O._ ]