Towards the end of June 1915 I wrote to G.H.Q. through the First Army on the subject of the depots, convalescent camps, and drafts at Marseilles. I have before me reports of a Committee of experienced senior officers, also separate reports of other officers concerned. Those who only judge Army Corps by the number of rifles and guns available might receive a shock on reading these documents, and incidentally gather therefrom some of the difficulties that had to be faced by the Commander of the Indian Corps in France. The truth is that Marseilles proved to be the most unsuitable place that could have been selected as the Indian Base. When we first arrived it was intended to move it farther north, Havre or elsewhere, as soon as the main body of the Corps had reached the front; but once established, Marseilles remained our Base to the end. Its geographical position and the shortage of shipping, of course, had much to say to this. The Committee did not shirk responsibility. On the contrary, its report is a document that should be valuable to those who may ever again be called on to select bases in Europe for Indian troops, and assist them to avoid the stupid blunders that were made and the chaotic conditions that prevailed. The Commandant, Colonel G. F. Tinley, did all a man could do. He worked all and every day, but he could not refashion a rotten system nor cleanse the Augean stable. Some of the reservists and drafts that were sent from India were a humiliation to our name. Some of the officers who passed them as fit should have been removed from the Army. For what did it all mean? Merely this, that from reasons either of laziness or stupidity they did not hesitate to send men marked as fit for service in the field who were absolutely unfit, and who they must have known were unfit. They themselves were safe enough in India; if anything went wrong, well! their comrades in France and not they would suffer. As I look back on it all I cannot but hope that in most cases it was only ignorance, but of what use are such officers in the Indian Army? It is difficult to write calmly on such a subject, for on 15th July I myself went down to Marseilles and remained there four days. I saw all that was being done, inspected every hospital, depot, and draft, and returned to Flanders, only realising fully for the first time that the authorities in India knew as much about the requirements of a European war as I did about a Zeppelin. Talk of the mentality of the East: I truly learned more of it in those four days in Marseilles than I had in a lifetime. The mind of India was laid bare. The ignorance of the West, when endeavouring to understand the viewpoint of the East, suddenly stood naked before me. I thought I knew something of Indians; I left Marseilles knowing a little more, but still very far from all.