ut in company of a staff officer, who was to guide
me to the Brigade headquarters. Arriving there (it was the most advanced
point to which cars were allowed to go), I obtained two orderlies, gave
one my aeroscope the other the tripod, and strapping another upon my
back, we started off on a two-mile walk over a small hill, and through
communication trenches to the section.

At a point which boasted the name of "Cooker Farm," which consisted of a
few dug-outs, well below ground level, and about five by six feet high
inside by seven feet square, I interviewed two officers, who 'phoned to
the front line, telling them of my arrival. They wished me all good luck
on my venture, and gave me an extra relay of men to get me to the front.
A considerable amount of shelling was going on overhead, but none,
fortunately, came in my immediate neighbourhood. The nearest was about
fifty yards away.

From our front line trenches the Bosche lines were only forty-five yards
away, therefore dangers were to be anticipated from German snipers. A
great many of our men had actually been shot through the loophole of
plates. I immediately reported myself to the officer in charge, who was
resting in a dug-out, built in the parapet. He was pleased to see me,
and promised me every assistance. I told him I wished to choose a point
of vantage from which I could film the attack. Placing my apparatus in
the comparative safety of the dug-out, I accompanied him outside.
Rifle-fire was continuous; shells from our 60-pounders and 4.2's were
thundering past overhead, and on either side "Minnies" (German bombs)
were falling and exploding with terrific force, smashing our parapets
and dug-outs as if they had been the thinnest of matchwood.

Fortunately for us these interesting novelties could be seen coming. Men
are always on the look-out for "Minnies," and when one has been fired
from the Bosche it rises to a height of about five hundred feet, and
then with a sudden curve descends. At that point it is almost possible
to calculate the exact whereabouts of its fall. Everyone watches it; the
space is quickly cleared, and it falls and explodes harmlessly.
Sometimes the explosion throws the earth up to a height of nearly 150
feet.

While I was deciding upon the exact point of the parapet upon which I
would place the camera, a sudden cry of "Minnie" was heard. Looking up,
I saw it was almost overhead, and with a quick rush and a dive I
disappeared into a dug-out