On the day before the capture of Méteren, Foch on the Marne had delivered the great counterstroke which decided the issue of the campaign. When on that morning the troops of Mangin breasted the Montagne de Paris they had, without knowing it, won the second Battle of the Marne, and with it the War. The final battle had been joined, and the greatest modern soldier had entered upon the first stages of that mighty contest, which in two months’ time was to shatter all Germany’s defences, and enable him to begin that deadly _arpeggio_ on the whole front from the Moselle to the North Sea which brought her to her knees. It was fitting that South Africa should be represented by more than a battalion in the final march to victory. During August 1,000 reserves arrived at Lumbres from England, and it was now possible to consider the reorganization of the Brigade. On the 28th the Composite Battalion marched to Lumbres and prepared for disbandment. Since its formation on 24th April it had been almost continually in the line. Seventy-five officers had served with it at one time or another, and of these 7 had been killed and 11 wounded. Of the men, 84 had been killed, 27 had died of wounds, 329 had been wounded, and one was missing. For the operations in which it had taken part it had won two bars to the Military Cross, three Military Crosses, one Distinguished Conduct Medal, one bar to the Military Medal, and thirty Military Medals. The four months had been an interlude in the main story of the South Africans in France, but an interlude not without its own glory. On 11th September the Brigade, now re-formed, was withdrawn from the 9th Division, with which the South Africans had served since their arrival in France. For the purpose of administration it was transferred to the VII. Corps, with which it trained till 22nd September. On that day it joined the 66th Division, which was then attached to the First Army. It was commanded, as before, by General Tanner, and in addition to the three infantry battalions contained the Signal Section, the South African Light Trench Mortar Battery, and the 1st South African Field Ambulance. The 1st Regiment was under the command of Major H. H. Jenkins, the 2nd under Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. M. Bamford, and the 4th under Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. MacLeod. It was not easy for the South Africans to leave the 9th Division, or for the 9th Division to part with them. Together they had fought in the bitterest actions of the campaign, and their glory was eternally intertwined. I quote General Tudor’s farewell letter to Tanner.