It was during these events, to be accurate on the 27th October, that I reached my first Headquarters at Merville; it was also a year later to be my last, but that was still a long time ahead and unfortunately we cannot read the future. I took a sheet of paper to make a rough estimate of the whereabouts of my Army Corps, and I will quote what I find noted on it. It will give any one reading this an idea of what I felt, after my hopes that we might get a few days, or even hours, if possible to get into shape before actually entering the trenches. General Watkis had had a rough experience of what breaking up a Division means, and he had with great loyalty accepted what was naturally a blow to a Divisional commander. It was a condition of things not only never contemplated, but opposed to all the principles on which the Brigades of the Army of India were constituted. If, then, here and there, things did not meet with the approval of the Higher Command, the cause did not lie at our doors. Orders must be obeyed. As each battalion rejoined the Corps it brought its own story of the fighting; a confused medley of combats fought heaven knows where, mixed up with British troops, none of whom the Indians had ever set eyes on before. Sir John French’s despatch of 20th November 1914 says, “The Lahore Division had concentrated on the 19th and 20th October,” and on the 29th I find in my Diary: _Extract from Diary_: “Where is my Lahore Division?” _Sirhind Brigade._ Detained in Egypt. _Ferozepore Brigade._ Somewhere in the north, split up into three or four lots. _Jalandar Brigade._ Manchesters gone south to 5th Division (this disposes of the only British unit). _47th Sikhs._ Half fighting with some British Division; half somewhere else! _59th and 15th Sikhs._ In trenches. 34th Pioneers (Divisional troops) also in trenches. _15th Lancers._ In trenches. Two Companies of Sappers and Miners fighting as Infantry with British Division. _Divisional Headquarters._ Somewhere. ? “Thank heaven the Meerut Division will get a better chance.” Ends. However, what did anything matter so long as we were actually to be allowed to collect and go into our very own trenches? Before beginning the story of the combined Corps it is necessary to tell the story of the first fight in the village of Neuve Chapelle, a village later to become famous in Indian history as the first in Europe in which, on a big scale, her soldiers attacked, dispersed, and drove from their positions the Germans in their own chosen and defended trenches.