rian days and to the Y.M.C.A. leaders, who during the years before
the war hammered out a policy for work amongst soldiers in the Volunteer
and Territorial camps, the widespread movement of to-day is largely due.

To know what the Army thinks of the Y.M.C.A., one need only note, on the
one hand, the facilities given to the Association by officers in high
command; and on the other, how the N.C.O.'s and men--officers and
officer-cadets too--make use of the huts.

[Illustration: HUT IN THE GROUNDS OF THE RUINS OF THE HOTEL-DE-VILLE AT
ARRAS]

Prior to one of our great advances in 1917, the district to be attacked
was reconstructed behind the line in a large map carefully worked out
on the ground, every road and path being clearly marked. Every trench,
redoubt, and dug-out; every hedge and ditch was recorded, and every gun
emplacement shown. 'Reserved for the Y.M.C.A.' was written over a vacant
plot near the centre of the map.

In France 'Le Triangle Rouge' is often called 'Les Ygrecs' (The Y's),
and the Red Triangle will pass the Association worker almost anywhere.
It sounds odd in the reserve trenches, amidst the roar of guns and the
scream of shells, to hear the sentry's challenge as we have heard it,
'Halt! who goes there?' 'Y.M.C.A.' 'Pass, Y.M., all's well!'

[Illustration: ONE OF MANY Y.M.C.A. HUTS BUILT UNDER SHELL-FIRE]

One of our workers in the valley of the Somme in 1917 was left behind,
as the troops advanced to follow up the line of the great German
retreat. For weeks he shared his Y.M.C.A. shanty with the rats, and
late one evening went for a two miles walk. A sentry challenged him, and
evidently regarded him with suspicion. After he had convinced the guard
of his identity, it was explained to him that three German prisoners
were at large, and one of them was known to be wearing a Y.M.C.A.
uniform. When he awoke that night in his rat-infested shanty it seemed
to him that if the three Huns chanced to know of his whereabouts, it
would not be a difficult thing for them to possess themselves of yet
another Y.M.C.A. uniform!

In the early days of the war it was agreed that no request for the help
of the Association, which on investigation proved a definite need to
exist, should be refused, and God honoured the faith of those who dared
to make the resolve. The way the movement has grown and is growing still
is nothing short of a romance, and the following pages tell the story of
service rendered under the si