Events have since proved that, given sufficient gun power and good troops, it is always possible to capture the enemy’s first and supporting lines, but subsequently you must have unlimited munitions to hold your gains or push on farther. We had not got the munitions, and did not receive them till long after, and hence any advance up to or beyond the Aubers Ridge would have resulted in a Pyrrhic victory. In this connection it makes one think how different were our ideas in those days, compared with those formed after two years of war, and when experience had proved that bravery without munitions may enable an Army to hold its own even against immense odds, but it cannot turn defence into the offensive, except on a local and minute scale. As I write this three years have elapsed since the battle of Neuve Chapelle, but our trenches are still on the very same spot we gained that day, and our gallant fellows, though but few, if any, of those who fought are still there, look out on the very same ridge and the remnants of that same Bois du Biez which cost us dear to attack but which we never reached. Nevertheless it will ever remain a great day and a great memory, for if we did not get as far as we had hoped to do, we taught the Huns a very sharp lesson, and, as far as the Indians were concerned, they learned that alongside the British soldier they could enter the jaws of death and triumph. The objective assigned to us was the Bois du Biez, a wood of considerable size, lying just beyond and to the south-east of Neuve Chapelle, whilst Rawlinson’s Fourth Corps was directed on Aubers and La Cliqueterie Farm. Farther to the south the First Corps was to assault the enemy’s lines north-east of Givenchy, and the Canadian Division was to co-operate by a fire attack along the entire front. The map will show how the river Des Layes formed a considerable obstacle between the village and the Bois du Biez, being from six to ten feet wide and from three to five feet deep, and along this stream the Germans had constructed strong bridge-heads and trenches. At Neuve Chapelle we were to experience for the first time the scientific employment of 18-pounders for wire cutting, and three Brigades were detailed for this purpose. The success achieved by the guns in demolishing these obstacles was in those days a revelation to us; nothing could have been better done, and wherever the Infantry took the right line as laid down, the attack succeeded up to all expectation. The G.O.C. First Army had frequently impressed this on me and he was right. The pioneers and sappers and miners had done their work very thoroughly under the direction of Brigadier-General Nanton and every preparation had been completed before the battle opened.