Only a few hundred yards beyond us lay the Aubers Ridge which we were never to reach, and a small wood cast of Neuve Chapelle of which I shall have much to say, and which went by the name of the Bois du Biez. I have since been to Flanders to see that wood, for on it I longingly gazed for ten months, and my last day in France was spent in the trenches exactly opposite to it. It was plain to see that with our weak battalions and the impossibility of receiving Indian reinforcements, it would be necessary to have in hand a small reserve. The only reserve I could count on was the Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade. Much as I hated doing it, I informed G.H.Q., and although the Commander-in-Chief was sorely pressed for troops I eventually got three battalions, and I forthwith wrote to say that I was now quite happy as to my position. I mention this as, although it may have been inconvenient or even dangerous to weaken the line elsewhere, the Indian Corps was the extreme right of the British line and joined hands with our French allies near Givenchy, and it would have been a blunder to allow any gap being created in that vicinity. I also at once got into touch with the French Generals and commanders on my right, and we mutually arranged to support one another whenever it might become necessary. We became the best of friends, and many a time did I lend or borrow troops or guns for various operations. The 2nd November was a day of trial for the Indian troops, as on that morning the 2nd Gurkhas, which held the trenches to the east of the road junction a mile N.E. of Pont Logy and N.W. of Neuve Chapelle, which formed an acute salient in our general outpost line, were furiously attacked. This salient was very much in the air; the trenches were badly sited and could hardly be called trenches at all; there was no plan; salients were open to enfilade fire and the position as a whole was practically untenable. In addition it was isolated from the rear by a spinney and orchard. The Gurkhas were dumped into it on the night of the 29th and 30th October, and as the C.O. said at the time, there was no option but to hold and make the best of it. The Germans, who were only some forty to sixty yards distant, knew exactly the weakness of the position, and determined to take advantage of it, and with this object in view were fast sapping up to it.