reeking, whirling mass of humanity, fighting with all the most
devilish, death-dealing weapons that had ever been conceived by the mind
of man. I decided to do a picture of the scene, and took with me an
orderly who had never been under fire before.

We proceeded along the La Bassee Road, and at the Croix Rouge proceeded
on foot towards Neuve Chapelle. As usual, Bosche shelling was so
consistent in its intensity that we thought it advisable to spread out a
bit in case a shell burst near us. My guide was Major ----, who
commanded one of the regiments holding the ground on the other side of
Neuve Chapelle.

Eventually I reached the assembly trenches, where our men concentrated
for the great attack. In shape they were just ordinary trenches,
branches off a main gallery, but they were in an awful state of decay,
and literally torn to shreds by shell-fire. What tales these old
sandbags might tell if only they could speak, tales of our brave boys
and our Indian troops that would live for ever in the history of
mankind. Standing upon one of the parapets, I looked round, and
marvelled that it was possible in so small a section of ground so many
men were hidden there. Quickly formulating my programme, I decided to
begin at the assembly trenches, and follow in imagination the path of
the troops during the battle, ending up in the ruins of Neuve Chapelle
village itself, which I could see in the distance.

"Be careful," came the warning voice of a major, "the whole of the
ground here is in view of the Bosche artillery observers. If they see
anyone moving about they'll start 'strafing' like anything, and I assure
you they do it very conscientiously."

I therefore kept as low as possible.

Fixing up the camera, I started to film the scenes from the assembly
trenches to the old first line trench, and then into the stretch of
ground known as "No Man's Land." Finishing this particular picture, we
went along to the old German trenches, and during the whole time we bent
nearly double, to keep under the line of the old parapets. In the old
German trenches the frightful effect of modern shell-fire was only too
apparent. The whole line, as far as one could see, was absolutely
smashed to atoms. Only the bases of the parapets were left, and in the
bottom of the trenches was an accumulation of water and filth. It was a
disgusting sight. The whole place was littered with old German
equipment, and whilst wading and splashing along through t