ndition did not remember
doing so.

It was quite impossible to repair it even temporarily in time to obtain
the opening attack, so I hurried away and took shelter behind some ruins
on the south-west side of the village. It was now close on twelve; our
intense bombardment would shortly begin, and I worked feverishly at the
repair to the camera, perspiring at every pore.

Suddenly, like the terrific crack of a thousand thunders, our fire on
the German position began. Bursting from the mouths of hundreds of
British guns it came, the most astonishing, astounding, brain-splitting
roar that I had ever heard. In a few moments it reached a crescendo;
everyone near by was transfixed with awe. Hundreds of shells went
shrieking overhead. The air was literally alive with blazing metal.

Imagine, if you can, being in the midst of five hundred drums. At a
given moment every drummer beats his drum with ever-increasing force
without a fraction of a moment's respite. Add to this the most
soul-splitting crash you have ever heard and the sound as of a gale of
wind shrieking through the telegraph wires. It will give you a little
idea of what it was like under this bombardment. It seemed to numb one's
very brain. What it must have been like in the German position is beyond
me to conceive. We were certainly giving Fritz a jump.

At last my camera was finished. Looking in the direction of Bouleaux
Wood I could see our men still pouring forward over the open. I raced
towards them as hard as possible and filmed them going across first one
section then the other; Bosche shells were falling near them, knocking a
few out but missing most, first one line then the other.

Bosche was dropping large "coal boxes" all along our supports. Two Tanks
coming up provided me with several interesting scenes as Fritz was
pestering them with his attentions but without injury. I obtained a
scene of two heavy "crumps" bursting just behind one of them, but the
old Tank still snorted on its way, the infantry advancing close behind
in extended formation.

Throughout the remainder of the day I was kept well on the move, filming
the many-varying scenes of battle, either whilst they were in progress
or immediately afterwards. Prisoners came pouring in from all
directions, first a batch of two hundred and then odd stragglers, then
further batches. The Guards seemed to have had a rather good bag, as I
noticed that most of the Bosches were brought in under care of
g