hole fabric disappeared in a cloud
of smoke and flame. Debris of every description rattled in the trench
all round me, and continued to fall for some moments, but luckily I was
not hit. Being unable to resist the temptation of looking over the
parapet, I jumped up and gazed at the remains of the building which now
consisted of nothing more than a twisted, churned-up mass of concrete
and iron rails. Our artillery had done its work, and done it well.

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.

To Ypres! This was the order for the day. The news gave me a thrill of
excitement. The thunder of the big guns grew louder as we approached the
front line, until they seemed to merge into one continuous roar.

Stopping on the road, I asked if the Germans were "strafing" to-day.

"Yes," said one of our military police, "they were shelling us pretty
heavily this morning: you will have to be very careful moving about
inside. Bosche machines are always up in the air, taking bearings for
the guns."

Arriving at the outskirts of the ruined town, we were pulled up by a
sentry, who, finding our papers in order, allowed us to proceed. At that
moment a furious fusillade of gun-fire attracted our attention, and
three shrill blasts of a whistle rang out; then we heard a cry,
"Everyone under cover!" Stopping the car, I immediately jumped out, and
stood under cover of a broken-down wall, and looking up, could see the
cause of this activity.

[Illustration: TAKING SCENES IN DEVASTATED YPRES, MAY, 1916]

High in the air, about eight to ten thousand feet, was a Bosche
aeroplane, and while I was watching it shrapnel shells from our
anti-aircraft guns were exploding round it like rain. A great number
were fired at it. The whole sky was flecked with white and black patches
of smoke, but not one hit was recorded. The machine seemed to sail
through that inferno as if nothing were happening, and at last it
disappeared in the haze over its own lines. Only then were we allowed to
proceed.

I had made a rough programme of what to film, and decided to start from
the Grand Place. In a few words, I may say that I filmed the Place from
the remains of the Cloth Ha