k is given you.

* * * * *

Such Army orders are necessarily written in general terms, and
are invariably marked by a disciplined self-restraint. It may be
of interest, therefore, to give some account of the circumstances
in which "the stubborn valour and endurance" of which Sir Henry
Rawlinson speaks were displayed. The work of the Seventh Division
and the Third Cavalry Division to the date of the issue of this
order at about the end of November, was of a kind which strains
the mental and physical strength of troops, beyond any other form
of operations. The two Divisions were sent to the aid of the
Naval Division at Antwerp, and they were landed at Ostend and
Zeebrugge about October 6. They occupied the regions of Bruges
and Ghent, and they had to suffer the initial disappointment of
finding that they arrived too late. Two days later Sir Henry
Rawlinson moved his Head-quarters from Bruges to Ostend. The
enemy were advancing in great force, and the position of our
troops became untenable; indeed, the situation was so serious
that the troops which had been detailed for lines of
communication at the base were forced to embark again and return
to Dunkirk.

A POSITION OF GRAVE DANGER

The position of the two Divisions from this point onwards was one
of grave danger. They were forced by the overwhelming superiority
in numbers of the enemy to retire. From Ghent all the way to
Ypres it was a desperate rearguard fight. They had to trek across
a difficult country without any lines of communication and
without a base, holding on doggedly from position to position,
notably at Thielt and Roulers, until they took up their final
stand before Ypres. What that stand has meant to England will one
day be recognized. What it cost these troops, and how they
fought, will be recorded in the proudest annals of their
regiments.

After the deprivations and the tension of being pursued through
day and night by an infinitely stronger force, these two
Divisions had yet to pass through the worst ordeal of all. It was
left to a little force of 30,000 to keep the German Army at bay
for some days while the other British Corps were being brought
up from the Aisne (the First Corps did not come to their
assistance till October 21). Here they hung on like grim death,
with almost every man in the tren