the fall of the fortress. He told me of the
great difficulty which had been experienced in withdrawing the Naval
Brigade.

On this afternoon (October 9th) I had a message from Rawlinson. He
told me that 8,000 French were holding Ghent. He was sending two
brigades under Capper to the place in order to cover the retreat of
the Belgians to Bruges, and, with the same object, he was directing a
brigade of Byng's cavalry on the Lys towards Courtrai.

A wire having arrived from Kitchener putting Rawlinson under my
command, I sent the latter instructions.

He was told to hold the line of the Lys if he could, but not to risk a
big fight. If he could hold on to these positions I promised to
connect up with him by the 13th or 14th. If, however, he were forced
to retire, he was directed to do so in the direction of St. Omer,
where the 3rd Corps was now detraining.

On the afternoon of the 9th, the 2nd Corps were approaching the line
Bethune--Aire, the infantry travelling in motor lorries lent by
General Foch. These lorries and motor omnibuses were much used in the
ensuing operations, and proved of great value in adding to the
mobility of the troops.

On the 10th, orders were sent to Rawlinson to the effect that the
troops under his command (namely, the 7th Division and the 3rd Cavalry
Division) were to form the 4th Corps, and that, as soon as the 8th
Division came out it would go to him, and Byng's cavalry would be
withdrawn.

I was much perturbed at hearing that there was delay on the
part of the French in relieving the 1st Corps on the Aisne; Joffre,
however, assured me that all Haig's troops should reach St. Omer so as
to enable me to get them into line by the 17th or the 19th, and with
this I had to be content.

When I visited Smith-Dorrien at his Headquarters at Hesdin, I found
that he would not be able to reach the line assigned to him on this
night, as the motor lorries were late, and his mounted troops and
horses were very tired. I directed him to rest for the night and march
at 9 a.m. next morning.

After leaving the 2nd Corps I went to St. Pol and had a long talk with
General de Maud'huy (commanding the 10th Army). I learnt from him that
things were not going so well north of Loos. He had been obliged to
fall back before the attack of the XIXth German Corps, which had come
up from Valenciennes. He expected to be forced further west, but
promised me to hold a line extending from Bethune to the south-east up
to