Captain B. Anderson of this battalion, whom I had once seen lead a charge against a band of Ghazis across the Indian border, was here again leading his men, but on this occasion, unlike the Ghazis, who died fighting to a man, the Germans turned and ran. Lieut. J. G. Atkinson was killed. Lieut. W. A. McCrae-Bruce by his personal disregard of danger set a splendid example which kept his men together in the turmoil.[8] Havildar Dost Mahomed and Havildar Abdul Wahab were awarded the I.O.M., and a small party of men whose names cannot be recorded, for they all perished, behaved splendidly, refusing to retire because the body of their officer, Lieut. Bruce, had not been recovered. Captain H. N. Lee and R. C. Gilchrist were killed during the attack on and capture of the left sap, whilst Captain Scale was wounded and the battalion had over 100 other casualties. Lieut. Scobie received the Military Cross for his share in holding on to the left sap. Lieut. Kisch, R.E., did excellent work under a heavy fire. An attack on a German sap-head by two platoons of the 1st Gurkhas had been ordered to be carried out at 5.30 A.M. this same day, and the officers to accompany it were Captain T. Burke and Lieut. L. B. Rundall. The latter was the younger of two sons of Colonel Rundall, an old friend and comrade of mine who had served on my Staff. I knew both boys, and all three of these fighting soldiers belonged to Gurkha regiments. The elder brother was a Captain in the 4th Gurkhas and both were killed on this and the following day, behaving as British officers do when stern work is in hand, and leaving a name which will be cherished in the Gurkha Brigade. This attack could not be launched in time, owing to various causes, and orders were issued cancelling it, but for some unknown reason the assault was carried out at about 10 o’clock. As usual, the two brave fellows rushed forward at the head of their men and were met by a hail of fire and the leaden scythe mowed them down. About fifty took part in the assault, of whom half were killed or wounded, both British officers being among the former. This brings the story of the Lahore Division’s attempts on December 19 to engage the enemy and help our other Army Corps and our French Allies who were operating on our right to an end. As I said before, in themselves, though described at length, they were only local offensives, but they were unfortunate in as far as they had severely tried our already tired troops on the very eve of the prepared German attack. In war the man who can truly forecast events is of more value than many legions of soldiers. All one can do is to endeavour by every means in one’s power to carry out the Commander-in-Chief’s plans. Both Divisions had done their duty.