and broke through. They had been heavily reinforced and our
tentative offensive had been replaced by a stern and anxious defensive.

Now the Signal Office was established in the booking-office of Beuvry
Station. The little narrow room was packed full of operators and vibrant
with buzz and click. The Signal Clerk sat at a table in a tiny room just
off the booking-office. Orderlies would rush in with messages, and the
Clerk would instantly decide whether to send them over the wire, by
push-cyclist, or by despatch rider. Again, he dealt with all messages
that came in over the wire. Copies of these messages were filed. This
was our tape; from them we learned the news. We were not supposed to
read them, but, as we often found that they contained information which
was invaluable to despatch riders, we always looked through them and
each passed on what he had found to the others. The Signal Clerk might
not know where a certain unit was at a given moment. We knew, because we
had put together information that we had gathered in the course of our
rides and information which--though the Clerk might think it
unimportant--supplemented or completed or verified what we had already
obtained.

So the history of this partially successful attack was known to us.
Every few minutes one of us went into the Signal Office and read the
messages. When the order came for us to pack up, we had already made our
preparations, for Divisional Headquarters, the brain controlling the
actions of seventeen thousand men, must never be left in a position of
danger. And wounded were pouring into the Field Ambulances.

The enemy had made a violent attack, preluded by heavy shelling, on the
left of the 15th, and what I think was a holding attack on the right.
Violaines had been stormed, and the Cheshires had been driven, still
grimly fighting, to beyond the Rue de Marais. The Norfolks on their
right and the K.O.S.B.'s on their left had been compelled to draw back
their line with heavy loss, for their flanks had been uncovered by the
retreat of the Cheshires.

The Germans stopped a moment to consolidate their gains. This gave us
time to throw a couple of battalions against them. After desperate
fighting Rue de Marais was retaken and some sort of line established.
What was left of the Cheshires gradually rallied in Festubert.

This German success, together with a later success against the 3rd
Division, that resulted in our evacuation of Neuve Chapelle, comp