There was at one time little else between the Hun and the sea he sought than the war-worn and battered troops of England. How they held that line, with what fortitude and endurance they fought, with what incredible valour they died is already a matter of history, but the object of this book is only to tell of the part played (small in comparison though it may be) by the Army Corps from India, the British battalions and batteries and the soldiers of Hindustan, inhabitants of warm climes, fighting in a country so strange and so unlike anything they had ever heard of or imagined. The man must be totally devoid of generosity who does not read and wonder with what fidelity and loyalty they gave their lives, and in doing so left behind a legacy of which not only India but Great Britain itself may be proud. It was their good fortune to arrive just at the moment when they were most needed; just when our troops were using their very last reserves and fighting against terrible odds, in fact just when two extra divisions could still help to stem the tide, and even if they had never done another day’s fighting their advent would more than have justified their having been sent, for they helped in some degree to save the Army in the hour of its great trial. CHAPTER IV Before describing the events in which the Lahore Division, the first to arrive on the scene of action, took part, north of La Bassée, it is well to take a look at some of the Commanders and Staffs who left India for France, and to study the types of Indians which constituted the Army Corps. The Chief Staff-Officer was Brigadier-General H. Hudson of the Indian Cavalry, son of General Sir John Hudson, who had commanded the Bombay Army years previously. An able soldier with much Staff experience, he later commanded a British Division, and then became Adjutant-General in India. He had served on my General Staff in India when I commanded the Northern Army, and was as good a friend as he was a Staff-Officer. He was promoted Major-General after Neuve Chapelle. Whatever his rank he was always known as “Huddy.” Major J. R. Charles of the Royal Engineers had served on the General Staff and previously soldiered with me on Frontier Expeditions. Major J. A. Longridge of the Indian Army later became a G.S.O.I. A splendid character, brave and modest, loyal to the core, and a perfect type of English gentleman, he was killed in the trenches in 1916. The Chief of our Artillery was Brigadier-General F. Mercer. I seldom call men by anything but their surnames, but with Mercer somehow it was natural not to do so. He was always cheery and happiest on horseback, and such men are a useful asset in war. He afterwards went as Chief of Artillery to the First Army.