[Illustration: Towing an armored car across a river]

[Illustration: Reconnaissance]

General Marshall, who had commanded General Maude's old division, the
Thirteenth, took over. The Seventeenth lost General Gillman, who thereupon
became chief of staff. This was a great loss to his division, for he was
the idol of the men, but the interest of the Expeditionary Force was
naturally and justly given precedence.

In due course my transfer to the Motor Machine-Gun Corps came through
approved, and I was assigned to the Fourteenth battery of light-armored
motor-cars, commanded by Captain Nigel Somerset, whose grandfather, Lord
Raglan, had died, nursed by Florence Nightingale, while in command of the
British forces in the Crimean War. Somerset himself was in the infantry at
the outbreak of the war and had been twice wounded in France. He was an
excellent leader, possessing as he did dash, judgment, and personal
magnetism. A battery was composed of eight armored cars, subdivided into
four sections. There was a continually varying number of tenders and
workshop lorries. The fighting cars were Rolls-Royces, the others Napiers
and Fords.

At that time there were only four batteries in the country. We were army
troops--that is to say, we were not attached to any individual brigade, or
division, or corps, but were temporarily assigned first here and then
there, as the need arose.

In attacks we worked in co-operation with the cavalry. Although on
occasions they tried to use us as tanks, it was not successful, for our
armor-plate was too light. We were also employed in raiding, and in