"Having failed in his attempt to retake the ridge with his last reserves, the enemy had to beat a retreat pursued and harassed for 12 kilometres.
"All of you, English and Scottish, young soldiers and veterans of Flanders and Palestine, you have shewn the magnificent qualities of your race: courage and imperturbable tenacity.
"You have won the admiration of your companions in arms. Your country will be proud of you, for to your chiefs and to you is due a large share in the victory that we have gained over the barbarous enemies of the free.
"I am happy to have fought at your head, and I thank you.
"MANGIN."
The monument at Buzancy is, we believe, unique as being the only monument raised by the French Army to British troops during the war.
We must refer to the excellent staff arrangements for bussing troops which the French had made. Our usual experience had been that when one was ordered to embus at a certain hour, the busses never turned up for a considerable time afterwards. In fact, on our way down the bussing and training arrangements were several hours behind the scheduled time-table. With the French, however, on each occasion the busses turned up a few minutes before the hour they were due, so that we had no delay. We also had an officer in a motor car taking charge of the convoy of busses. This enabled him to move about and see that no distance was lost, also to go ahead and regulate traffic at important cross roads. Another good arrangement they had was having one or two empty busses at the end of each column, so that if a bus broke down it was drawn to one side, and the men speedily transferred to an empty bus. So the whole column was kept together.
We now moved north to the Loos sector, and it was very interesting once more going over the old ground. We took part in the final general advance from this area. After the Armistice we were informed that we were one of the Divisions that had been chosen for the Army of Occupation, and we busily prepared indents for new clothing, etc., in order to make a good impression. It was decided, however, that the young Battalions who had come out from home should take over this duty. We were finally billeted in Braine le Comte. Here we instituted a Battalion Mess. We had always been in the habit of doing this wherever possible. No doubt many officers preferred the small Company messes, but from a disciplinary and many other points of view the Battalion mess had many advantages. Certainly our mess proved a great success.