Much has been said and written about the work of the Indian troops in France, and various opinions have been expressed. For my part I can only say that, from first to last, so long as they were under my command, they maintained and probably surpassed even the magnificent traditions of the Indian Army. In a country and climate to which they were totally unaccustomed, the exigencies of the moment required that they should be thrown into action successively by smaller or greater units before they could be properly concentrated. I shall always gratefully remember the invaluable assistance they and their Commander, Sir James Willcocks, rendered under these difficult conditions in the most critical hours of the First Battle of Ypres, especially the Lahore Division, commanded by General Watkis. This finally disposes of any criticisms of the Indians by lesser luminaries. No one had better opportunities of realising the difficulties connected with their employment in Europe during a very trying winter. No one was more generous in his public utterances and despatches to the soldiers of India. There was, it is true, another side to this picture, but I will refrain from the narration of such incidents, for I realise the enormous difficulties the Commander-in-Chief had to face and the unflinching courage and steadfastness with which he faced them; and I am convinced that no other soldier in our Army would have succeeded, to the same degree, in those tempestuous times. The Indians were but a small unit in his complicated command, and that he has for all time plainly recorded his opinion is sufficient to disprove the criticisms of any others who are not possessed of his soldierly instincts. This story of the Indian Corps is only a personal narrative and the opinions expressed in it may not be convincing to all who read it; however, it has one merit, and that is, it is compiled from notes and diaries kept by me from day to day, and in which I recorded the opinions and doings of the principal actors as I observed them at the time, and not from hearsay or memory alone. We were now billeted in and about Lillers, and the first change in the reconstruction of the Army came at this time. Sir Douglas Haig had just received his well-merited promotion to General for his fine work as a Corps Commander during the retreat from Mons and the First Battle of Ypres. Two Armies were created, and he was appointed to command the First Army. I had up to then been senior to him, but now found myself junior and under his immediate command, as under the reorganisation the Indian Corps was attached to the First Army.