not entirely happy, for I was very doubtful how far these
untried Indian troops would stand up to what was evidently going to be
a very difficult situation if the Germans went on attacking as they
had been doing. Fresh troops, it is true. But they had had no
experience of this sort of fighting, nor of trenches, nor of cold wet
weather: and they were going to have all three.

[Footnote 14: Temporarily commanding 13th Brigade.]

The relief of the West Ridings by the Black Watch battalion of the
Indian Division was carried out on the same evening. The relief of the
Bedfords, Cheshires, and Dorsets was also arranged for, but the
Norfolks could not be relieved till the morrow. The 2nd Manchesters
were relieved, however, by the 2/8th Gurkhas, who looked very much out
of place with their big hats and tiny, sturdy Mongolian physique.

_Oct. 30th._

After a very quiet night--except for French guns which started
shelling heavily about 4 A.M., and kept us awake till daylight--we had
another unpleasant day.

There were repeated attacks on the Devons and Gurkhas all day, and at
3 P.M. Maynard reported that the Gurkhas had lost all their British
officers and were being driven out of their trenches, and that support
was badly wanted.

The first story about the Gurkhas was that they had come to an end of
their ammunition and were fighting with the bayonet, but were driven
back by superior numbers. But it turned out later that they lost very
heavily from shell fire, and, the trenches being too deep for the
little men, they could produce no effect with their rifles, and could
see nothing. So, having lost all their English officers, and being
bewildered by the heavy fire and totally new conditions, and having no
chance of getting in with the bayonet, they cleared out one by one, so
as to get together into formation. The Devons' last man was in the
firing line by this time, and so two Bedford companies and the West
Ridings, no longer under my command, were ordered to retake some
Gurkha trenches, into which the Germans had already penetrated,
alongside ours.

It was frightfully difficult to make out what was happening, as not
only were our troops in process of being relieved by the Indians, but
there was very heavy fire as well on all our supports and on the roads
leading up to the trenches, so that communication was all but
impossible, most telephone wires having been broken long ago and found
impossible to repair under