itself.

"Hexham Road," says the narrative of the morning of the 25th, "where
the headquarters of the 23rd Royal Fusiliers was in a dug-out, had
been swept by machine-gun fire all the morning, and as the Divisions
on the right had retired, the 23rd Royal Fusiliers were left in a very
precarious and isolated position, from which only small bodies of men
were able to extricate themselves...."

Then, however, came March 28, and here our men were afforded an
opportunity of getting their own back. It is with delight that we
consequently read:

"The old trenches were, on the whole, in surprisingly good condition,
the men had ammunition and had had some sleep and food, and orders had
been received that this was to be the line of resistance, and that
there would be no further retirement.

"It was a day of anxiety, but still a day on which our men could at
last settle down to shooting down the enemy. This they did with great
relish."

Bald, perhaps, these details may appear to those who have judged the
war from the pen pictures of the various war correspondents, but they
possess the ring of real reality to those who have known what it is to
be shelled day after day and night after night in the trenches, to
have advanced in the face of a rain of machine-gun bullets, or to have
been forced to take shelter in an all too small shell crater, when to
show an inch of head or body meant death or a serious wound.

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| PRESENTATION OF THE KING'S COLOUR--MAJOR-GENERAL |
| SIR C.E. PEREIRA, K.C.B., C.M.G., AND HIS PRIDE IN |
| THE BATTALION |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

PRESENTATION OF THE KING'S COLOUR--MAJOR-GENERAL
SIR C.E. PEREIRA, K.C.B., C.M.G., AND HIS PRIDE IN
THE BATTALION

His pride in the Battalion was expressed by Major-General C.E.
Pereira, C.B., C.M.G., on the occasion of the presentation of the
King's Colour at Niederaussem, Germany, on January 24, 1919.

"First of all," said Major-General Pereira, "I will tell you how
highly I esteem the privilege of presenting these colours to-day.

"For two years," he went on, "I have had the honour to command the 2nd
Division, and I have been proud of your work in the Field and out of
it, and of the fine spirit which you have always shown.

"These colours are given you as a mark of the magnificent service you
have rendered in the campaig