Chapter I: Front Matter

A FEW WORDS OF INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II

WITH THE BELGIANS AT RAMSCAPELLE

PAGE

I Reach the First Line Belgian Trenches--And become a Belgian
Soldier for the Time Being--A Night Attack--An Adventure
whilst Filming a Mitrailleuse Outpost--Among the Ruins of
Ramscapelle--I Leave the Company and Lose my Way in the
Darkness--A Welcome Light and a Long Sleep--How Little
does the Public know of the Dangers and Difficulties a
Film Operator has to Face 6

CHAPTER III

WITH THE GOUMIERS AT LOMBARTZYDE

A Morning of Surprises--The German Positions Bombarded from
the Sea--Filming the Goumiers in Action--How these
Tenacious Fighters Prepare for Battle--Goumier Habits and
Customs--I Take the Chief's Photograph for the First
Time--And Afterwards take Food with Him--An Interesting
and Fruitful Adventure Ends Satisfactorily 15

CHAPTER IV

THE BATTLE OF THE SAND-DUNES

A Dangerous Adventure and What Came of It--A Race Across
the Sand-dunes--And a Spill in a Shell-hole--The Fate of
a Spy--A Battle in the Dunes--Of which I Secured Some
Fine Films--A Collision with an Obstructive Mule 22

CHAPTER V

UNDER HEAVY SHELL-FIRE

In a Trench Coat and Cap I again Run the Gauntlet--A Near
Squeak--Looking for Trouble--I Nearly Find It--A Rough
Ride and a Mud Bath--An Affair of Outposts--I Get Used to
Crawling--Hot Work at the Guns--I am Reported Dead--But
Prove Very Much Alive--And then Receive a Shock--A Stern
Chase 30

CHAPTER VI

AMONG THE SNOWS OF THE VOSGES

I Start for the Vosges--Am Arrested on the Swiss Frontier--And
Released--But Arrested Again--And then Allowed to Go My
Way--Filming in the Firing Zone--A Wonderful French
Charge Over the Snow-clad Hills--I Take Big Risks--And
Get a Magnificent Picture 40

PART II

CHAPTER I

HOW I CAME TO MAKE OFFICIAL WAR PICTURES

I am Appointed an Official War Office Kinematographer--And Start
for the Front Line Trenches--Filming the German Guns in
Action--With the Canadians--Picturesque Hut Settlement
Among the Poplars--"Hyde Park Corner"--Shaving by
Candlelight in Six Inches of Water--Filming in Full View
of the German Lines, 75 yards away--A Big Risk, but a
Realistic Picture 51

CHAPTER II

CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE FRONT

Leave-taking at Charing Cross--A Fruitless Search for Food on
Christmas Eve--How Tommy Welcomed the Coming of the
Festive Season--"Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men" to the
Boom of the Big Guns--Filming the Guards' Division--And
the Prince of Wales--Coming from a Christmas
Service--This Year and Next 61

CHAPTER III

I GET INTO A WARM CORNER

Boxing Day--But No Pantomime--Life in the Trenches--A Sniper
at Work--Sinking a Mine Shaft--The Cheery Influence of an
Irish Padre--A Cemetery Behind the Lines--Pathetic
Inscriptions and Mementoes on Dead Heroes' Graves--I Get
Into a Pretty Warm Corner--And Have Some Difficulty in
Getting Out Again--But All's Well that Ends Well 65

CHAPTER IV

THE BATTLEFIELD OF NEUVE CHAPELLE

A Visit to the Old German Trenches--Reveals a Scene of Horror
that Defies Description--Dodging the Shells--I Lose the
Handle of My Camera--And then Lose My Man--The Effect of
Shell-fire on a Novice--In the Village of Neuve
Chapelle--A Scene of Devastation--The Figure of the
Lonely Christ 72

CHAPTER V

FILMING THE PRINCE OF WALES

How I Made a "Hide-up"--And Secured a Fine Picture of the Prince
Inspecting some Gun-pits--His Anxiety to Avoid the
Camera--And His Subsequent Remarks--How a German
Block-house was Blown to Smithereens--And the Way I
Managed to Film it Under Fire 76

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 80

CHAPTER VII

THE BATTLE OF ST. ELOI

Filming Within Forty-five Yards of the German Trenches--Watching
for "Minnies"--Officers' Quarters--"Something" Begins to
Happen--An Early Morning Bombardment--Develops Into the
Battle of St. Eloi--Which I Film from Our First-Line
Trench--And Obtain a Fine Picture 85

CHAPTER VIII

A NIGHT ATTACK--AND A NARROW ESCAPE

A Very Lively Experience--Choosing a Position for the Camera
Under Fire--I Get a Taste of Gas--Witness a Night Attack
by the Germans--Surprise an Officer by My Appearance in
the Trenches--And Have One of the Narrowest Escapes--But
Fortunately Get Out with Nothing Worse than a Couple of
Bullets Through My Cap 93

CHAPTER IX

FOURTEEN THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE GERMAN LINES

The First Kinematograph Film Taken of the Western Front--And
How I Took It Whilst Travelling Through the Air at Eighty
Miles an Hour--Under Shell-fire--Over Ypres--A Thrilling
Experience--And a Narrow Escape--A Five Thousand Foot
Dive Through Space 107

CHAPTER X

FILMING THE EARTH FROM THE CLOUDS

Chasing an "Enemy" Aeroplane at a Height of 13,500 Feet--And
What Came of It--A Dramatic Adventure in which the Pilot
Played a Big Part--I Get a Nasty Shock--But am
Reassured--A Freezing Experience--Filming the Earth as we
Dived Almost Perpendicularly--A Picture that would Defy
the Most Ardent Futurist to Paint 116

CHAPTER XI

PREPARING FOR THE "BIG PUSH"

The Threshold of Tremendous Happenings--General ----'s Speech
to His Men on the Eve of Battle--Choosing My Position for
Filming the "Big Push"--Under Shell-fire--A Race of
Shrieking Devils--Fritz's Way of "Making Love"--I Visit
the "White City"--And On the Way have Another Experience
of Gas Shells 121

CHAPTER XII

FILMING UNDER FIRE

The General's Speech to the Fusiliers Before Going Into
Action--Filming the 15-inch Howitzers--A Miniature
Earthquake--"The Day" is Postponed--Keeping Within "The
Limits"--A Surprise Meeting in the Trenches--A Reminder
of Other Days--I Get Into a Tight Corner--And Have An
Unpleasantly Hot Experience--I Interview a Trench
Mortar--Have a Lively Quarter of an Hour--And Then Get
Off 135

CHAPTER XIII

THE DAWN OF JULY FIRST

A Firework Display Heralds the Arrival of "The Day"--How the
Boys Spent Their Last Few Hours in the Trenches--Rats as
Bedfellows--I Make an Early Start--And Get Through a
Mine-shaft into "No Man's Land"--The Great Event Draws
Near--Anxious Moments--The Men Fix Bayonets--And Wait the
Word of Command to "Go Over the Top" 151

CHAPTER XIV

THE DAY AND THE HOUR

A Mighty Convulsion Signalises the Commencement of
Operations--Then Our Boys "Go Over the Top"--A Fine Film
Obtained whilst Shells Rained Around Me--My Apparatus is
Struck--But, Thank Goodness, the Camera is Safe--Arrival
of the Wounded--"Am I in the Picture?" they ask 162

CHAPTER XV

ROLL-CALL AFTER THE FIGHT

A Glorious Band of Wounded Heroes Stagger Into Line and
Answer the Call--I Visit a Stricken Friend in a
Dug-out--On the Way to La Boisselle I Get Lost in the
Trenches--And Whilst Filming Unexpectedly Come Upon the
German Line--I Have a Narrow Squeak of Being Crumped--But
Get Away Safely--And later Commandeer a Couple of German
Prisoners to Act as Porters 169

CHAPTER XVI

EDITING A BATTLE FILM

The Process Described in Detail--Developing the Negative--Its
Projection on the Screen--Cutting--Titling--Joining--Printing
the Positive--Building Up the Story--It is Submitted to the
Military Censors at General Headquarters--And After Being Cut
and Approved by Them--Is Ready for Public Exhibition 178

CHAPTER XVII

THE HORRORS OF TRONES WOOD

Three Times I Try and Fail to Reach this Stronghold of
the Dead--Which Has Been Described as "Hell on Earth"--At
a Dressing Station under Fire--Smoking Two Cigarettes at
a Time to Keep off the Flies--Some Amusing Trench
Conversations by Men who had Lost Their Way--I Turn in
for the Night--And Have a Dead Bosche for Company 183

CHAPTER XVIII

FILMING AT POZIÈRES AND CONTALMAISON

Looking for "Thrills"--And How I Got Them--I Pass Through
"Sausage Valley," on the Way to Pozières--You _May_ and
you _Might_--What a Tommy Found in a German Dug-out--How
Fritz Got "Some of His Own" Back--Taking Pictures in What
Was Once Pozières--"Proofs Ready To-morrow" 196

CHAPTER XIX

ALONG THE WESTERN FRONT WITH THE KING

His Majesty's Arrival at Boulogne--At G.H.Q.--General Burstall's
Appreciation--The King on the Battlefield of
Fricourt--Within Range of the Enemy's Guns--His Majesty's
Joke Outside a German Dug-out--His Memento from a Hero's
Grave--His Visit to a Casualty Clearing Station--The King
and the Puppy--Once in Disgrace--Now a Hospital Mascot 205

CHAPTER XX

KING AND PRESIDENT MEET

An Historic Gathering--In which King and President, Joffre and
Haig Take Part--His Majesty and the Little French Girl--I
Am Permitted to Film the King and His Distinguished
Guests--A Visit to the King of the Belgians--A
Cross-Channel Journey--And Home 214

CHAPTER XXI

THE HUSH! HUSH!--A WEIRD AND FEARFUL CREATURE

Something in the Wind--An Urgent Message to Report at
Headquarters--And What Came Of It--I Hear for the First
Time of the "Hush! Hush!"--And Try to Discover What It
Is--A Wonderful Night Scene--Dawn Breaks and Reveals a
Marvellous Monster--What Is It? 222

CHAPTER XXII

THE JUGGERNAUT CAR OF BATTLE

A Weird-looking Object Makes Its First Appearance Upon the
Battlefield--And Surprises Us Almost as Much as It
Surprised Fritz--A Death-dealing Monster that Did the
Most Marvellous Things--And Left the Ground Strewn with
Corpses--Realism of the Tank Pictures 230

CHAPTER XXIII

WHERE THE VILLAGE OF GUILLEMONT WAS

An Awful Specimen of War Devastation--Preparing for an
Advance--Giving the Bosche "Jumps"--Breakfast Under
Fire--My Camera Fails Me Just Before the Opening of the
Attack--But I Manage to Set it Right and Get Some Fine
Pictures--Our Guns "Talk!" Like the Crack of a Thousand
Thunders--A Wonderful Doctor 234

CHAPTER XXIV

FIGHTING IN A SEA OF MUD

Inspecting a Tank that was _Hors de Combat_--All that was
Left of Mouquet Farm--A German Underground Fortress--A
Trip in the Bowels of the Earth--A Weird and Wonderful
Experience 245

CHAPTER XXV

THE EVE OF GREAT EVENTS

A Choppy Cross-Channel Trip--I Indulge in a Reverie--And
Try to Peer Into the Future--At Headquarters
Again--Trying to Cross the River Somme on an Improvised
Raft--In Peronne After the German Evacuation--A Specimen
of Hunnish "Kultur" 250

CHAPTER XXVI

AN UNCANNY ADVENTURE

Exploring the Unknown--A Silence That Could be Felt--In
the Village of Villers-Carbonel--A Cat and Its Kittens in
an Odd Retreat--Brooks' Penchant for "Souvenirs"--The
First Troops to Cross the Somme 259

CHAPTER XXVII

THE GERMANS IN RETREAT

The Enemy Destroy Everything as They Go--Clearing Away
the Débris of the Battlefield--And Repairing the Damage
Done by the Huns--An Enormous Mine Crater--A Reception by
French Peasants--"Les Anglais! Les Anglais!"--Stuck on
the Road to Bovincourt 266

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE STORY OF AN "ARMOURED CAR" ABOUT WHICH I COULD A TALE UNFOLD

Possibilities--Food for Famished Villagers--Meeting the
Mayoress of Bovincourt--Who Presides at a Wonderful
Impromptu Ceremony--A Scrap Outside Vraignes--A Church
Full of Refugees--A True Pal--A Meal with the Mayor of
Bierne 275