This was the first of many orders received between this date and 20th December, and, as I shall show, beginning with small injunctions they increased in their scope; and the loyal endeavour on my part and that of my Generals to comply with their spirit only ended when the enemy launched a heavy attack against several parts of the Indian Corps. Loyalty should claim no conditions, but it does not always meet with its reward. As a matter of fact the offensives undertaken received the commendation of the Commander-in-Chief at the time, as contained in his own operation orders, and would under ordinary conditions have remained at that, and no more would have been heard of them. It was the long-premeditated attack delivered on the 20th December by the enemy which alone brought us into prominence; and that it was carried out on that date, just after our local efforts, was a mere coincidence, as the German prisoners themselves stated the 20th was the day fixed for it. On the 16th December it was decided to capture two German saps opposite to the trenches of the 15th Sikhs in the neighbourhood of Givenchy, and then to extend the operation by securing a portion of the German main trenches. The troops selected for this operation were taken from the Ferozepore Brigade. The 129th Baluchis and 57th Rifles were ready to attack by 8.30 A.M.; whilst the Connaught Rangers were detailed in support, and a Territorial battalion (the 142nd), lent by the French General on our right, was held in reserve. Major Potter with his company of the 129th was quickly across the thirty yards which separated him from the left sap, and the other company under Lieut. C. S. Browning also reached its objective; the casualties in this first rush were not heavy, and both attacks pushing up the sap were soon close to the enemy main trench. But (there was always a “but” in the trench operations of those days) the difficulty now presented itself as to how to reinforce them, as it was impossible to cross the open space swept by a hail of bullets which soon destroyed the wounded who had fallen in the first rush. The attackers were gradually bombed back towards the captured sap-heads. Browning and all his Indian officers were wounded, and the men in the right sap got jammed in on the sap-head but held on till dusk under a heavy fire of grenades, whilst Potter and his men in the left sap also held their position with splendid determination.