on with Colt Machine Guns 128

British Machine Gun Squad Using Gas Masks 137

German Aeroplane Trophy--Jules Vedrine Examining the Machine
Gun 145

St. Eloi Map 153

Lewis Gun in Action in Front-Line Trench 166

Canadian Machine Gunners Digging Themselves into Shell-Holes 177

A Shell Exploding in Front of a Dug-in Machine Gun 189

Hollebeke Map 195

Lewis Machine Gun Squad Observing with Periscope at Hill 60 203

Removing the German Wounded from Mont St. Eloi 212

THE EMMA GEES

CHAPTER I

HEADED FOR THE KAISER

The following somewhat disjointed narrative, written at the
solicitation of numerous friends, follows the general course of my
experience as a member of the Machine Gun Section of the Twenty-first
Canadian Infantry Battalion. Compiled from letters written from the
front, supplemented by notes and maps and an occasional short
dissertation covering some phase of present-day warfare and its
weapons and methods, it is offered in the hope that, despite its utter
lack of literary merit, it may prove of interest to those who are
about to engage in the "great adventure" or who have relatives and
friends "over there." The only virtue claimed for the story is that it
is all literally true: every place, name and date being authentic. The
maps shown are exact reproductions of front-line trench maps made
from airplane photographs. They have never before been published in
this country.

I am sorry I can not truthfully say that the early reports of German
atrocities, or the news of Belgium's wanton invasion impelled me to
fly to Canada to enlist and offer my life in the cause of humanity.

No, it was simply that I wanted to find out what a "regular war" was
like. It looked as though there was going to be a good scrap on and I
didn't want to miss it. I had been a conscientious student of the
"war-game" for a good many years and was anxious to get some real
first-hand information. I got what I was looking for, all right.

The preliminaries can be briefly summarized. The battalion mobilized
at Kingston, Ontario, October 19th, 1914, and spent the winter
training at that place. The training was of the general character
established by long