appointed second-in-command. The 11th Brigade crossed the river Reno and negotiated extensive minefields until it reached the outskirts of Argenta. On the approach to Fossa Marina, a canal running north-eastwards from Argenta across the entire width of the Gap, it ran into strong opposition. It was essential to press on to the Fossa Marina before the enemy could establish a firm defence there, and it was decided that a full-scale assault would be necessary. On the evening of 16 April 1 Surreys moved forward after dark and secured a base from which the Lancashire Fusiliers could cross the Fossa Marina and establish a limited bridgehead beyond it. At midnight, after a bitter struggle, a foothold had been secured across the canal when the commanding officer of the Lancashire Fusiliers was wounded and the attack became stabilised on the line of the canal. At this critical moment, Major Saunders took command of the battalion and, under his leadership, all the objectives were reached and held against determined counter-attacks the following morning. He was awarded an immediate DSO. Hostilities ceased in early May and Saunders finished the war with the Surreys and 78th Division in Austria. He was demobilised from the British Army in 1946, having been mentioned in dispatches in July 1945. Post-war banking career After the war, Saunders rejoined the bank in Singapore and was posted to Hong Kong in the early 1950s. He became Chief Accountant in 1955 and held a series of appointments in Hong Kong and Singapore, before becoming Chief Manager (the bank's most senior executive position) in 1962, succeeding Sir Michael Turner. The board of directors of the bank up to this point was entirely non-executive but in 1962, exceptionally, he was elected to the board. Over the next seven years he worked to introduce a new executive board structure. He was succeeded as Chief Manager by former director of the Central Trust of China, H.J. Shen, in September 1964 when he became Chairman of the bank. In 1969 his plans to reorganise the board to include more executives came to fruition and became executive chairman of the newly reorganised board. As head of the bank, Saunders was also an important civic figure: he was a member of the Executive Council, was much involved in the development of Hong Kong University (for some years serving as Treasurer of the institution), and was chairman of the stewards