Again we had to cross the open ground to the covered way. Accordingly we
spread out about fifty yards apart, and proceeded. Careful as we were,
the Germans spotted us, and from thence onwards to the top of the hill
shrapnel shells burst all round us and overhead. Several pieces fell
almost at my feet, but by a miracle I escaped unscathed.

For some minutes I had to lie crouching in a ditch, sitting in water. It
was a veritable inferno of fire. I cautiously worked my way along. Where
the rest of the party had gone I did not know. I hugged my camera to my
chest and staggered blindly on. In about half an hour I gained the cover
of some bushes, and for the first time had a chance to look about me.
The firing had momentarily ceased, and from various ditches I saw the
heads of the other officers pop out. The sight was too funny for words.
With a hearty laugh they jumped up and hurried away. My chauffeur, who
incidentally used to carry my tripod, was the most sorry spectacle for
he was absolutely covered from head to foot with clay, and my tripod was
quite unrecognisable. Hurrying over the top of the hill we gained our
cars, and rapidly beat a retreat for headquarters.

The following day I went to film the ruins of Richebourg St. Vaaste.
What an awful spectacle! A repetition of the horrors of Ypres on a
smaller scale. Nothing left, only the bare skeletons of the houses and
the church. With great difficulty, I managed to climb to the top of the
ruined tower, and filmed the town from that point. I was told by an
observation officer to keep low, as the Germans had the church still
under fire. Naturally I did so, not wishing for a shell that might bring
the tower down, and myself with it.

Remarkable to relate, the figure of Christ upon the Cross was untouched
in the midst of this terrible scene of devastation. Subsequently the
tower was completely destroyed by German shells.

Hearing that the Canadian guns were going to bombard Petite Douve, a
large farmstead which the Germans had fortified with machine-guns and
snipers, I started off from headquarters in the company of a
lieutenant-colonel and a captain. A few passing remarks on the
conditions of the road as we went along to Hill 63 will be interesting.
No matter where one looked there was mud and water. In several places
the roads were flooded to a depth of six inches, and our cars several
times sank above the front axle in hidden shell-holes. The whole
district was pitte