51

CHAPTER II

CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE FRONT

Leave-taking at Charing Cross--A Fruitless Search for Food on
Christmas Eve--How Tommy Welcomed the Coming of the
Festive Season--"Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men" to the
Boom of the Big Guns--Filming the Guards' Division--And
the Prince of Wales--Coming from a Christmas
Service--This Year and Next 61

CHAPTER III

I GET INTO A WARM CORNER

Boxing Day--But No Pantomime--Life in the Trenches--A Sniper
at Work--Sinking a Mine Shaft--The Cheery Influence of an
Irish Padre--A Cemetery Behind the Lines--Pathetic
Inscriptions and Mementoes on Dead Heroes' Graves--I Get
Into a Pretty Warm Corner--And Have Some Difficulty in
Getting Out Again--But All's Well that Ends Well 65

CHAPTER IV

THE BATTLEFIELD OF NEUVE CHAPELLE

A Visit to the Old German Trenches--Reveals a Scene of Horror
that Defies Description--Dodging the Shells--I Lose the
Handle of My Camera--And then Lose My Man--The Effect of
Shell-fire on a Novice--In the Village of Neuve
Chapelle--A Scene of Devastation--The Figure of the
Lonely Christ 72

CHAPTER V

FILMING THE PRINCE OF WALES

How I Made a "Hide-up"--And Secured a Fine Picture of the Prince
Inspecting some Gun-pits--His Anxiety to Avoid the
Camera--And His Subsequent Remarks--How a German
Block-house was Blown to Smithereens--And the Way I
Managed to Film it Under Fire 76

CHAPTER VI

MY FIRST VISIT TO YPRES AND ARRAS

Greeted on Arrival in the Ruined City of Ypres by a Furious
Fusillade--I Film the Cloth Hall and Cathedral,
and Have a Narrow Escape--A Once Beautiful Town Now
Little More Than a Heap of Ruins--Arras a City of the
Dead--Its Cathedral Destroyed--But Cross and Crucifixes
Unharmed 80

CHAPTER VII

THE BATTLE OF ST. ELOI

Filming Within Forty-five Yards of the German Trenches--Watching
for "Minnies"--Officers' Quarters--"Something" Begins to
Happen--An Early Morning Bombardment--Develops Into the
Battle of St. Eloi--Which I Film from Our First-Line
Trench--And Obtain a Fine Picture 85

CHAPTER VIII

A NIGHT ATTACK--AND A NARROW ESCAPE

A Very Lively Experience--Choosing a Position for the Camera