d with them. Entire sections of artillery were stuck
in the mud on the roadside, and all the efforts of the men failed to
move them.

All around us hidden guns, 4.5 and 9.2, were hurtling their messengers
of death with a monotonous regularity. Passing a signpost, marked "Hyde
Park Corner," which looked incongruous in such a place, we entered
Ploegsteert Wood. But what a change! It was as if one had suddenly
left France and dropped unceremoniously into the western woods of
America, in the times of the old pioneers. By the wood-side, as far as
one could see, stretched a series of log-huts. To the right the same
scene unfolded itself. Our cars came to a stop. Then I had a chance to
study the settings more closely.

[Illustration: CHOOSING A POSITION FOR MY CAMERA IN THE FRONT LINE
TRENCH AT PICANTIN, WITH THE GUARDS. WINTER, 1915-16]

What a picture! Amidst all the glamour of war, these huts, surrounded by
tall poplars, which stood grim, gaunt and leafless--in many places
branchless, owing to the enemies' shells, which tore their way
through them--presented the most picturesque scene I had come across for
many a long day. Upon the boards fixed over the doorposts were written
the names of familiar London places. As the time of the bombardment was
drawing near I could not stay at the moment to film anything, but
decided to do so at an early opportunity.

Sharing my apparatus with two men, we started climbing through eighteen
inches of slimy mud towards the top of Hill 63. The effort was almost
backbreaking. At last we got through and paused, under cover of the
ruins of an old chateau, to gain breath. To negotiate the top needed
care as it was in full view of the German front. I went first with the
Captain, and both of us kept practically doubled up, and moved on all
fours. The men behind us waited until we had covered about one hundred
yards, then they followed. We decided to make for a point in the
distance which was at one time a grand old chateau. Now it was nothing
more than a heap of rubble. We waited for the remainder of the party to
come up before proceeding, the idea being that in case either of us was
hit by shrapnel, or picked off by a sniper, no time would be lost in
rendering assistance.

Resting awhile, we again proceeded in the same order as before. We were
held up by a sentry, and warned to take to the communication trenches
down the hill, as German snipers had been picking off men in the working
parties