This attack was launched about half-past six on the morning of the 21st December, and carried out with the _élan_ which distinguished that fine corps, the 1st Manchesters. All that men could do was done, but the hail of fire from machine-guns, etc., made it impossible to advance far. By 11 o’clock the enemy, after a severe bombardment with shell, pushed home an Infantry attack which forced us back from the village. Still the Manchesters again and again made vigorous counter-attacks, though enfiladed and gradually becoming enveloped, until at length after severe bayonet fighting the battalion was pushed back and Givenchy practically lost. Their heroic conduct had, however, saved the position in this part of our line, and held the enemy at bay just long enough to enable the fresh troops of a Brigade from the now arriving First Army Corps to stem and turn the tide. As the Manchesters met the Cameron Highlanders coming up, they must indeed have been thankful that their stubborn fight had enabled their Army Corps to still maintain its front and an almost lost local battle to be turned into a glorious episode. The battalion in this fighting had two officers (Captain L. Creagh and Lieut. S. Norman) and sixty-four men killed, and forty-six missing, whilst three officers and 124 men were wounded. I have known many splendid Corps in the Army but not one to beat the 1st Manchesters, and I felt that a brilliant future awaited Strickland. He has since risen to Major-General and is a K.C.B. At dawn on this morning I had ridden from Hinges, my Headquarters, to see one of my Generals, and on my way back I met a brigade of the First Army Corps now arriving to help us; it was marching towards Givenchy. I can never forget my feelings as these splendid battalions moved along—young, vigorous, fresh from a rest in reserve: 1000 strong each, eager for the battle, they were the very embodiment of certain victory, and I could not but feel proud of my own brave Corps, many of whom I had just seen, literally caked in mud and slime, worn out after long weeks of vigil and toil in the trenches, sadly needing some sleep and rest; battalions worn to mere skeletons in strength, a few with no more than a full company in the fight. But notwithstanding all this they were still holding on, still keeping the flag flying and doing their duty. I would fain have wished the addition of some of the newcomers to my own Army Corps; they were my own flesh and blood, with great traditions and a great cause which all understood; but I would not have changed places with any living man. It was enough for me that I was Commander of the Indian Corps, and that that Corps was so nobly acquitting itself under extraordinary difficulties.