THE DEFENCE OF ARRAS

In this way we held on until the 24th May, Arras
remaining for the Allied Lines an immovable pivot
of immense value had a counter-attack been un-
leashed. On the 24th, Vimy being no longer in our

hands, General P-------received orders to fall in with

the general withdrawal. By this time our link with
the main armies had dwindled to a narrow earth road
leading towards Douai. It was along this that the
Welsh Guards marched for more than thirty miles,
two-deep, lit up by German flares, decimated by

machine-guns. The handsome Scot, Major C------,

was seen for the last time making for a German
machine-gun, rifle in hand. I brought away what
were left of my Zouaves and machine-gunners.
They had saved their tanks and one of their anti-
tank guns. When we were at last clear and able to
call a halt in a village, the Zouaves found, how I
don't know, a few chickens and soon had the pot
boiling. They bivouacked near the Guards. The
battle had forged a comradeship between them.
Together they had shown what could be done even
against an enemy superior in arms and numbers, by
a handful of determined men/

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