After crossing a railway line, some five minutes afterwards we came to a small village, well built and with only a few houses damaged. There were French women and children in the village. I passed straight through the village, seeing on the right an unmetalled road on which were horse-drawn artillery wagons. I was taken to a house amidst trees in the fork of two main roads. An officer who spoke a little Hindustani and had been in India came out with a senior officer (whom I took to be a General), white-haired and with a grey moustache, whose shoulder-strap carried thick silver braid as thick as my finger. The Interpreter brought a map and asked me what trenches I knew. I told him that I could not read. He asked me why the —— Regiment had left. I said they had been engaged for a long time and had lost heavily. Other questions and answers were as follows: _Question._—Were you in the attack at Ypres? _Answer._—Yes. _Q._—How many men did your Brigade lose? _A._—About 300 killed and 200 wounded. _Q._—Is your Brigade very weak now? _A._—No, a new battalion of 1100 rifles has just arrived. _Q._—What is this battalion? _A._—The 89th Punjabis. (The Interpreter then produced a book and wrote this down.) _Q._—Have the 124th (Ayub Khan’s proper battalion) come to this country? It is not in my book. (He saw an old shoulder badge of the 124th in my pocket.) _A._—No. When the 129th had lost 300 men, 400 more came from the 124th to bring them up to strength. When we returned from Belgium drafts arrived from other regiments. We are now 100 under strength but there is a draft of 600 men waiting for us (a good lie) when we are relieved from the trenches. I told him that the present strength of our companies is about ninety men. (Indian battalions formerly had eight companies.) _Q._—Do you have plenty of rifle ammunition? _A._—Each sentry is given a box and can fire what he likes. _Q._—Have the guns plenty of ammunition? _A._—Each battery has a dug-out full of ammunition, and they can fire what they like. (Good lie!) _Q._—What rations do you get? _A._—In the morning, tea, milk, and biscuits. In the evening, meat, bread, and vegetables. _Q._—Do you get pay? _A._—We are fed and clothed and get soap from Government. We get ten francs monthly in the field, and the rest accumulates at the depot. _Q._—Why did you, a non-commissioned officer, desert? _A._—My section is tired of the war, but dare not come over in case they get fired on. We discussed the matter and I decided to go alone and arrange for the others to come over. There are fifteen men in my section who want to desert, and I can find five more in the battalion. The senior officer then said that, if I would come over to the Germans, I should get very good pay, and that he would give me Rs. 300 if I brought over twenty men. These questions were asked at about 12 noon on the 22nd.