ur immediate rear. Our only hope now seemed to be to make a stand on
the line Ypres--Messines; but it was a great question whether this
would be possible in face of a close and determined pursuit.
Personally I felt as if the last barrier between the Germans and the
Channel seaboard was broken down, and I viewed the situation with the
utmost gravity.

It was a dramatic half hour, the worst I ever spent in a life
full of vicissitudes such as mine had been.

It had a truly dramatic climax.

At about 3 p.m. a Staff Officer galloped up to the front of the
chateau with the news that the 1st Division had rallied and again
moved forward. Gheluvelt was once more in our hands!

The 1st Division had rallied on the line of the woods east of the bend
of the Menin road; the German advance by the road had been checked by
enfilade fire from the north.

What had happened was that the attack against the right of the 7th
Division had forced its 22nd Brigade to retire, thus exposing the left
of the 2nd Brigade (1st Division). The G.O.C. 7th Division used his
reserve, already posted in this flank, to restore the line, but, in
the meantime, the 2nd Brigade, finding their flank laid bare, had been
forced to withdraw. The right of the 7th Division thus advanced as the
left of the 2nd Brigade went back, with the result that the right of
the 7th Division was exposed, but managed to hang on in its old
trenches till nightfall.

At 2.40 p.m. the situation appeared so serious that orders were issued
that although every effort should be made to hold on to the line
originally given, if that should be impossible, the line Verbranden
Molen--Zillebeke--Halte--Potijze was to be held to the last.

But, as the events turned out, the pendulum was swinging towards us
once more. On the Menin road a counter-attack delivered by the left of
the 1st (Guards) Brigade and the right of the 2nd Division against the
left flank of the German line was completely successful. By 3.30 p.m.
Gheluvelt had been retaken with the bayonet by the 2nd Worcesters,
admirably supported by the 42nd Brigade R.F.A. The left of the 7th
Division, profiting by the recapture of Gheluvelt, advanced almost to
its original line, and connection between the 1st and 7th Divisions
was re-established.

I could not then discover who was actually responsible for this
dramatic success or to whom the chief credit was due. The rally had
been centred on the 2nd Worcesters (5th Brigade, 2nd Divis