The 2/3rd Gurkhas carried the trenches to their front and secured two machine-guns. Having arranged for one company each from the 2/39th and Londons to consolidate the line gained, the Gurkhas pushed on, wheeled to the right, crossed the Rue du Bois and reached the old British trench east of Neuve Chapelle. Quickly entrenching they gained touch with the Rifle Brigade of the Fourth Corps on their left. Major A. Tillard on his own initiative carried the attack still farther forward towards the brewery and captured several prisoners. The Indian Order of Merit was conferred on Subadar Bhim Sing Thapa, Lance-Naik Harak Sing Gharti, Subadar Major Gambhir, Sing Gurung, Havildar Bahadur Thapa, and Rifleman Gane Gurung. This latter gallant fellow was the hero of a melodramatic affair. The 2nd Rifle Brigade from the Fourth Army Corps met the Gurkhas in the village, and the first thing seen was my friend Gane Gurung, with his bayonet very close to the stern of a German, who with seven others were being driven off as prisoners, having surrendered _en bloc_ in a house to the little Gurkha. Lieut.-Colonel Ormsby was made a C.B. The 2nd Leicesters also advanced without a check and by 8.30 A.M. had gained the road parallel to and east of the Estaires-La Bassée road, where the battalion began to entrench itself. It was found, for reasons which will be related, that between their right and the left of the 1/39th a considerable gap existed. Captain Romilly, using his revolver freely and followed by a platoon of the Leicesters, bombed back the Huns for over a hundred yards of trench and then with the assistance of Captain Hobart, R.E., and some sappers who came up opportunely, erected a barricade. Hobart was awarded the Military Cross, Sapper Sheikh Abdul Rahman the I.O.M., and Colour-Havildar Chagatta, who had previously won the I.O.M., was given the Russian Cross of St. George. Romilly received a well-earned D.S.O., and Captain D. L. Weir, also of the same battalion, a Military Cross. The Leicesters are all brave, but conspicuous amongst them on this day was Private William Buckingham, who, regardless of an inferno of fire, carried in several badly wounded men. In doing this he received two severe wounds himself but escaped with his life and was awarded the Victoria Cross. Poor fellow! he no longer lives to enjoy his reward; he has added one more to the immortal dead along the Somme. Several D.C.M.’s were also awarded to N.C.O.’s and men of this fine fighting Corps. In none of these assaults so far had any serious check been caused by the enemy’s wire entanglements, these obstacles having been destroyed by the artillery, and only in the case of the 2/39th had any considerable fire been met before the first trench was reached.