me
to come, as they were being hopelessly delayed at Marseilles and
Orleans.

At midnight on the 22nd both the 2nd and 3rd Corps Commanders were
very anxious about their positions, and I therefore despatched the
Lahore Division to Estaires, from which point it could support either
Corps in case of urgent necessity.

On the 24th I paid a visit to General d'Urbal at Poperinghe. He had
come to command the northern French Army. We discussed the situation
together, and he seemed hopeful as to future possibilities.

D'Urbal impressed me as a man of striking personality. In figure and
bearing he reminded me of the old Murat type of French _beau sabreur_.
All his regimental service was passed in the cavalry. I was a great
deal associated with him in the operations at Ypres and afterwards,
when he commanded the French troops on the Arras front, and I can
testify to his remarkable powers of command, his fine courage and his
extraordinary tenacity. We were together in many critical situations,
and I have passed some anxious hours in his company; but I never knew
him other than helpful in the highest degree. Nothing ever ruffled the
calmness of his demeanour, or prevented him from exercising that
deliberate and well-weighed judgment which was a remarkable
feature of his truly soldierlike character.

Dawnay came back from the 1st Corps on this night, and told me that
late on the previous day the enemy had delivered a succession of
counter-attacks against the front of the 2nd Division just as they
were being relieved. The German infantry came on in dense columns
singing "The Watch on the Rhine." They were simply mown down by our
artillery and rifle fire. The ground was a veritable shambles, and the
1st Corps estimated that in the last three or four days they had put
at least 8,000 Germans _hors-de-combat_.

Foch, with whom I had a long interview at Cassel on the morning of the
25th, appeared to be quite hopeful and sanguine about the situation on
the canal north of Ypres. He told me that another French regular
Division was to be brought up on either flank at Nieuport and Ypres,
and he proposed later to move Conneau from the neighbourhood of
Bethune. I told him I could hardly do without Conneau for the moment,
and he agreed to leave him as long as I wanted him.

It is interesting to recall that General Conneau was once a cadet at
the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He proved himself throughout
the war to be a distinguished