oops, and Mr R. Colthart,
ship's adjutant.

We left Alexandria on 1st May, and so bade good-bye to Egypt and the
East after a sojourn there of over two and a half years. We had all
had a great experience, at times very strenuous and unpleasant, but on
the whole interesting and not too bad. Our fighting had been almost
entirely open warfare, for which as yeomanry we were well adapted, and
which contrasted very favourably with the trench warfare on the
Western Front. But few were sorry to go. None of us anticipated
Allenby's triumphant drive to Damascus, and felt we would be "doing
our bit" more effectively on the Western Front where we well knew the
final decision rested. But what counted much more was relief at
escaping another hot, dusty, thirsty summer in the East, and the
change to the civilisation and comparative comfort of France, and of
course most of all to the proximity of Blighty, and the prospect of
leave home. Though short local leave had not been so difficult to
obtain, home leave, owing to the difficulty of transportation, had
been very much restricted, and the great majority had never been home
since coming out.

We had a very good trip to Marseilles. The captain laid himself out to
make everything as comfortable as possible; the feeding was excellent,
plenty of cabin accommodation for officers and N.C.O.'s, and the men
were as comfortable as they ever can be in a crowded troopship. There
were seven ships in the convoy which was escorted by British
destroyers as far as Malta, and there relieved by Japanese destroyers
who took us in safely to Marseilles. There was only one piece of
excitement on the fourth day out. A destroyer sighted a submarine,
rushed ahead at great speed and dropped a couple of depth charges.
Nothing more was seen of the submarine, and we proceeded on our
journey uninterrupted.

CHAPTER VI

FRANCE--1918

On disembarking at Marseilles on 7th May we opened a new chapter in
the history of the Regiment. The contrast from the East was indeed
marked and delightful, and the long train journey passed quickly in
our joy at seeing once more green fields and green trees, villages,
and farms, long fair hair and fair complexions. We could hardly have
had more beautiful scenery than we had during the first day through
the south of France. We kept to the branch lines to the west of the
main Rhone Valley line, and wound in and out all day at the foot of
steep hills crowned with old cast