dre
Newman.

"Before we had gone with the Transport very far the Medical Officer was
called round a corner to see a man who was reported to be dying; the
padre went with him. I went on with the Transport. After a time I saw
Lieutenant Reginald Andrews (the Adjutant) standing alone in a village;
so it looked as if the remains of our Battalion must be somewhere about.
A little further on I found Captain Blamey (O.C. D Company) and Giffin
sitting by the side of the road. I asked them what they were doing, and
they replied that they had fallen out with Sergeant-Major Howarth who
was very bad indeed--reported to be dying. So the Battalion had passed
that way.

"I went on, and, in about ten minutes, saw ahead Colonel Best-Dunkley
standing at the corner of a road branching off to the left from the road
I was proceeding along with the Transport (just outside the village of
Boisdinghem). Just as I reached this corner Brigadier-General Stockwell
rode up from the opposite direction (on horseback) and, with a face
wincing with wrath, accosted Colonel Best-Dunkley as follows:

"'Dunkley, where's your Battalion?'

"'This is my Battalion here, sir,' replied the Colonel, standing
submissively to attention and indicating fifteen officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men--all told--lying in a state of
exhaustion at the side of this shaded country road.

"'What! You call that a Battalion? Fifteen men! I call it a rabble. What
the b---- h---- do you mean by it? Your Battalion is straggling all
along the road right away back to (Watten)! You should have halted and
collected them; not marched on like this. These men have not had a long
enough halt or anything to eat all day. If this is the way you command a
Battalion, you're not fit to command a Battalion. You're not even fit to
command a platoon!'

"The General then said that the Colonel, the Adjutant, and four company
commanders could consider themselves 'under arrest'! The General was
simply fuming with wrath; I do not think I have ever seen a man in such
a temper. And I certainly never heard a colonel strafed in front of his
own men before. It was an extraordinary scene. Those who have writhed
under the venom of Colonel Best-Dunkley in the past would, doubtless,
feel happy at this turning of the tables as it were, a refreshing
revenge; but I must admit that my sympathy was with Colonel
Best-Dunkley--and so was that of all present--in this instance, for we
all felt that the Gen