The Fund also assisted with gifts towards other smaller but similar institutions and hospital ships, in England and abroad. Prisoners of war were not forgotten, and indeed little that could at that time be done was left undone. In the trenches, the billets, the hospitals, the India-bound hospital ships, and lastly the homes of the brave men who had come to share in the toils and glory of the Great War, there could be but one opinion, viz. that the Fund so generously contributed and so sympathetically administered would long be remembered with gratitude. CHAPTER VIII On the 9th November 1914 the right of the Indian Corps was still just north of Givenchy and in touch with the French. On this day our Allies projected some move, and I was asked if we could take over that village and its front, but anxious as I always was to help them in every way, I asked the Field-Marshal not to extend my front, as my strength was quite insufficient for such an extension. Sir John French, who had come over to see us, quite agreed and the matter was settled. I, however, sent one of my battalions to Givenchy as a support to them for a couple of days. Later on I was ordered to extend my front to include Givenchy and up to the La Bassée Road south of it. The order was of course carried out, but it was very unfortunate for us, as when, very shortly afterwards, we were heavily attacked on that front my numbers were altogether too small for the extended line, and, as I shall tell, the Indian Corps was very roughly handled and Givenchy was temporarily lost to us; it was retaken by the heroism of the 1st Manchesters of the Jalandar Brigade, and again lost, and finally only saved by the arrival of a Division of the First Army Corps which was in reserve behind the British positions. On this date I withdrew the 9th Bhopals from the trenches at the request of their C.O. for a few days’ rest, as the battalion had been subjected to a very severe shelling and had suffered losses which necessitated a short change. In diary of November 10 I find, “Our fellows tried their hand on a mine of sorts to-day. Half a German fell into the Bareilly Brigade trenches.” This was the beginning of mining warfare for us; though in this case the plant was only placed in a trench and fired by electricity. Lord Roberts had been appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Indian Corps, and we had the proud satisfaction of receiving the following telegram: To Sir James Willcocks, Indian Expeditionary Force.—Allow me to welcome you and the Indian Expeditionary Force which has come to fight in Europe shoulder to shoulder in the cause of liberty and truth, and in upholding our great Empire. I am proud to be your Colonel-in-Chief.—ROBERTS. I replied and said how rejoiced we all felt at such a message from the Chief under whose command the Indian Army had so often been led to victory.