On the 12th the batteries advanced, first to Tortequesne, and then to Estrées and Noyelle. On the 19th they were at Lewarde. On the 20th a section of the 74th Battery moved to Wallers to support the Canadian attack. This was the last engagement of the Brigade in the War, for on the 24th it was placed in army reserve, and remained there till the armistice on 11th November. APPENDIX II. THE SOUTH AFRICAN SIGNAL COMPANY (R.E.) INCEPTION AND ORGANIZATION—AUGUST-OCTOBER 1915. At the beginning of the war the service of communications in the Imperial Army was organized as the Signals Branch of the Corps of Royal Engineers. This provided and maintained all communications, comprising Telegraphs, Telephones, Visual Signalling, and Despatch Riders (Horse, Motor-Cycle, and Cycle). A Signal Service Company, suitably equipped and organized for its multifarious duties, was provided in war establishments as a part of the headquarters of each of the higher formations—Division, Corps, and Army. The development of scientific trench warfare on the Western Front vastly increased both the importance and the complexity of the communications of the contending armies; and when, towards the close of the campaign in German South-West Africa, the composition of the Union Oversea Contingent was decided, the offer of a Divisional Signal Company was willingly accepted by the Imperial authorities. The raising of this Company was entrusted to Major N. Harrison, Engineer-in-Chief of the Union Post Office, who had acted as Director of Signals to the Union Forces during the Rebellion and the German South-West African Campaign. For the acceptance of his recruits Major Harrison set such a high standard of specialized knowledge, character, intelligence, and military experience, that the assembling of the two hundred and thirty men of the original Company occupied the whole of August and September 1915. Eventually a magnificent body of picked men were assembled in Potchefstroom Camp fully representative of all South Africa, from the Zambesi to Cape Town. In view of the technical nature of the new unit’s duties, it was natural that a high proportion of the recruits should come from the Transvaal, and particularly the Witwatersrand. The relative figures were— Recruited in Transvaal 53.7 per cent. (Of these, 64 per cent. from Johannesburg.) Cape 25 ” Natal 12.7 ” Orange Free State 6.6 ” Rhodesia, etc. 2 ”