,transcriber's ,notes ,the original book did not have a ,table of ,contents or a ,list of ,illustrations4 ,those have been added by ,transcriber1 using the content of the original book1 and placed in the ,public ,domain4 ,punctuation1 hyphenation1 and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book2 otherwise they were not changed4 ,simple typographical errors were corrected2 ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained4 ,,contents ,,the ,,western ,,front ,,the ,,somme ,,battlefield ,,trench ,,scenery ,,the ,,upper ,,hand ,,the ,,british ,,navy ,,and ,,the ,,western ,,front ,,illustrations ,i ,,general ,,sir ,,douglas ,,haig ,,ii ,,grand',,place ,,and ,,ruins ,,of ,,the ,,cloth ,,hall1 ,,ypres ,,iii ,a ,,street ,,in ,,ypres ,,iv ,,distant ,,view ,,of ,,ypres ,v ,a ,,village ,,church ,,in ,,flanders ,,vi ,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,the ,,somme ,,vii 8,,tanks0 ,,viii ,,ruined ,,german ,,trenches1 ,,near ,,contalmaison ,,ix ,,the ,,night ,,picket ,x ,,dug-,,outs ,,xi ,,gordon ,,highlanders3 ,,officers' ,,mess ,,xii ,,waiting ,,for ,,the ,,wounded ,,xiii ,,the ,,happy ,,warrior ,,xv ,,at ,a ,,base ,,station ,,xvi ,,on ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,,xvii ,,disembarked ,,troops ,,waiting ,,to ,,march ,,off ,,xviii ,,soldiers' ,,billets--,,moonlight ,,xix ,a ,,gun ,,hospital ,,xx ,,an ,,observation ,,post ,,the ,,somme ,,battlefield ,,xxi ,,amiens ,,cathedral ,,xxii ,,the ,,virgin ,,of ,,montauban ,,xxiii ,a ,,sketch ,,in ,,albert ,,xxiv ,,taking ,,the ,,wounded ,,on ,,board ,,xxv 8,,walking ,,wounded0 ,,sleeping ,,on ,,deck ,,xxvi 7a and b7 8,,walking ,,wounded0 ,,on ,a ,,hospital ,,ship 8,,walking ,,wounded0 ,,on ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,,xxvii 7a and b7 ,a ,,main ,,approach ,,to ,,the ,,british ,,front 8,,road ,,liable ,,to ,,be ,,shelled0 ,,xxviii ,,trouble ,,on ,,the ,,road ,,xxix ,,british ,,troops ,,on ,,the ,,march ,,to ,,the ,,somme ,,xxx ,a ,,sketch ,,at ,,contalmaison ,,xxxi ,,on ,,the ,,somme3 ,,sausage ,,balloons ,,xxxii ,a ,,wrecked ,,aeroplane ,,near ,,albert ,,xxxiii ,a ,,mess ,,of ,,the ,,royal ,,flying ,,corps ,,xxxiv ,,watching ,,our ,,artillery ,,fire ,,on ,,trones ,,wood ,,from ,,montauban ,,xxxv 7a and b7 ,,in ,,the ,,regained ,,territory ,,xxxvi ,a ,v4,a4,d4 ,,rest ,,station ,,xxxvii ,a ,,gateway ,,at ,,arras ,,xxxviii ,,outside ,,arras1 ,,near ,,the ,,german ,,lines ,,xxxix ,,watching ,,german ,,prisoners ,,xl ,,on ,,the ,,somme3 8,,mud0 ,,trench ,,scenery ,,xli ,,cassel ,,xlii ,a ,,line ,,of ,,tanks ,,xliii ,a ,,kitchen ,,in ,,the ,,field ,,xliv ,,the ,,gun ,,pit3 ,,hardening ,,the ,,steel ,,xlv ,,the ,,gun ,,pit3 ,a ,,gun ,,jacket ,,entering ,,the ,,oil ,,tank ,,xlvi ,,the ,,gun ,,pit3 ,,the ,,great ,,clutches ,,of ,,the ,,crane ,,xlvii ,,mounting ,a ,,great ,,gun ,,xlviii 8,,the ,,hall ,,of ,,the ,,million ,,shells0 ,,xlix ,,the ,,ruined ,,tower ,,of ,b,,cordel-,b,,court ,l ,,embarking ,,the ,,wounded ,,li 7a and b7 ,,mont ,,st4 ,,eloi ,,ruins ,,of ,,mametz ,,lii ,,ruined ,,trenches ,,in ,,mametz ,,wood ,,liii 8,,thawing ,,out0 ,,liv ,,disembarking ,,lv ,,sleeping ,,wounded ,,from ,,the ,,somme ,,lvi ,,distant ,,amiens ,,lvii ,,scottish ,,soldiers ,,in ,a ,,french ,,barn ,,lviii ,,welsh ,,soldiers ,,lix ,a ,,british ,,red ,,cross ,,depot ,,at ,,boulogne ,,lx ,,indian ,,cavalry ,,the ,,upper ,,hand ,,lxi ,,mounting ,a ,,great ,,gun ,,lxii ,,erecting ,,aeroplanes ,,lxiii ,,an ,,aeroplane ,,on ,,the ,,stocks ,,lxiv ,,the ,,giant ,,slotters ,,lxv ,,night ,,work ,,on ,,the ,,breech ,,of ,a ,,great ,,gun ,,lxvi ,,the ,,howitzer ,,shop ,,lxvii ,,the ,,night ,,shift ,,working ,,on ,a ,,big ,,gun ,,lxviii ,,some ,,great ,,guns ,,lxix ,,moving ,,heavy ,,gun ,,tubes ,,lxx ,a ,,coring ,,machine ,,at ,,work ,,on ,a ,,big ,,gun ,,tube ,,lxxi ,,ruins ,,near ,,arras ,,lxxii ,,on ,,the ,,somme3 ,,in ,,the ,,old ,,no ,,man',s ,,land ,,lxxiii 7a and b7 ,a ,,road ,,near ,,the ,,front ,a ,,train ,,of ,,lorries ,,lxxiv ,,on ,,the ,,somme4 ,r4,f4,c4 ,,men ,,building ,,their ,,winter ,,hut ,,lxxv ,,maricourt3 ,,the ,,ruins ,,of ,,the ,,village ,,lxxvi ,,on ,,the ,,somme1 ,,near ,,mametz ,,lxxvii ,a ,,market ,,place4 ,,transport ,,resting ,,lxxviii 7a and b7 ,,the 8,,blighty ,,boat0 ,,and ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,,scottish ,,troops ,,on ,a ,,troopship ,,lxxix ,,troops ,,returning ,,from ,,the ,,ancre ,,lxxx ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,,at ,a ,,base ,,the ,,british ,,navy ,,and ,,the ,,western ,,front ,,lxxxi 8,,oiling03 ,a ,,battleship ,,taking ,,in ,,oil ,,fuel ,,at ,,sea ,,lxxxii ,,on ,a ,,battle-,,cruiser 7,h4,m4,s4 8,,lion07 ,,lxxxiii ,h4,m4,s4 8,,lion0 ,,in ,,dry ,,dock ,,lxxxiv ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,lowering ,a ,,boat ,,from ,,the ,,main ,,derrick ,,lxxxv ,,approaching ,a ,,battleship ,,at ,,night ,,lxxxvi ,a ,,line ,,of ,,destroyers ,,lxxxvii ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,a ,,gun ,,turret ,,lxxxviii ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,in ,,the ,,forth ,,xxxix 7a and b7 ,a ,,fleet ,,seascape ,,the ,,crew ,,at ,a ,,small ,,gun ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,xc ,,the ,,fo',c',,sle ,,of ,a ,,battleship ,,xci ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,the ,,after ,,deck ,,xcii ,,inside ,,the ,,turret ,,xciii ,a ,,boiler ,,room ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,xciv 7a and b7 ,,practice ,,firing3 ,,big ,,guns ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,sunset ,,after ,a ,,wet ,,day ,,xcv ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,airing ,,blankets ,,xcvi ,,captain ,,cyril ,,fuller ,,xcvii ,,the ,,fleet',s ,,post ,,office ,,xcviii ,,in ,,the ,,submerged ,,torpedo ,,flat ,,of ,a ,,battleship ,,xcix ,,sailors ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,making ,,munitions ,,for ,,the ,,army ,c ,,the ,,cinema ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,the ,,western ,,front ,,drawings ,,by ,,muirhead ,,bone ,illustration ,,with ,,an ,,introduction ,,by ,,general ,,sir ,,douglas ,,haig ,g4,c4,b41 ,g4,c4,v4,o41 ,k4,c4,i4,e41 ,a4,d4,c4 ,,published ,,by ,,authority ,,of ,,the ,,war ,,office ,,from ,,the ,,offices ,,of 8,,country ,,life10 ,,ltd41 #bj1 ,,tavistock ,,street1 ,,covent ,,garden1 ,,london ,,mcmxvii ,i have been asked to write a foreword to ,mr4 ,muirhead ,bone's drawings4 ,this ,i am glad to do1 as they illustrate admirably the daily life of the troops under my command4 ,the conditions under which we live in ,france are so different from those to which people at home are accustomed1 that no pen1 however skilful1 can explain them without the aid of the pencil4 ,the destruction caused by war1 the wide areas of devastation1 the vast mechanical agencies essential in war1 both for transport and the offensive1 the masses of supplies required1 and the wonderful cheerfulness and indomitable courage of the soldiers under varying climatic conditions1 are worthy subjects for the artist who aims at recording for all time the spirit of the age in which he has lived4 ,it has been said that the portrait and the picture are invaluable aids to the right reading of history4 ,from this point of view ,i welcome1 on behalf of the ,army that ,i have the honour to command1 this series of drawings1 as a permanent record in pencil of the duties which our soldiers have been called upon to perform1 and the quality and manner of its performance4 ,illustration3 ,d4 ,haig1 ,genl4 7,signature7 ,,general ,,headquarters1 ,november1 #aiaf ,,the ,,western ,,front ,the ,british line in ,france and ,belgium runs through country of three kinds1 and each kind is like a part of ,england4 ,between the ,somme and ,arras a ,british soldier often feels that he has not quite left the place of his training on ,salisbury ,plain4 ,the main roads may be different1 with their endless rows of sentinel trees1 and the farms are mostly clustered into villages1 where they turn their backs to the streets4 ,more of the land1 too1 is tilled4 ,but the ground has the same large and gentle undulation2 and these great rollers are made1 as in ,wiltshire1 of pure chalk coated with only a little brown clay4 ,there are the same wide prospects1 the same lack of streams and ponds1 the same ledges and curious carvings of the soil2 and journeys on foot seem long1 as they do on our downs1 because so much of the road before you is visible while you march4 ,a little north of ,arras there begins1 almost at a turn of the road1 a black country1 where men of the ,south ,lancashires feel at home and grant that the landscape has some of the points of ,wigan4 ,it is the region of ,loos and ,vermelles and ,bully ,grenay1 most of it level ground on which the only eminences are the refuse-heaps of coal mines4 ,across this level the eye feels its way from one well-known stack of pit-head buildings and winding machinery to another4 ,they are1 to an ,english eye1 strangely lofty and stand out like lighthouses over a sea4 ,the villages near their feet are commonly 8model0 or 8garden10 with all the houses built well1 as parts of one plan4 ,as in ,lancashire1 farming and mining go on side by side1 and in ,august the corn is grey with a mixture of blown dusts from collieries and from the road4 ,the next change is not abrupt1 like the first2 but it is as great4 ,near ,ypres you are on the sands1 though yet twenty miles from the sea4 ,here you have a sense of being in a place still alive but pensioned off by nature after its work was done4 ,you feel it at ,rye and ,winchelsea1 at ,ravenna1 and at any place which the sea has once made great and then abandoned4 ,the wide ,ypres landscape drawn by ,mr4 ,bone was all mellow on sunny days at the end of ,july with the warm brown and yellow of many good crops4 ,almost up to the ,british front it was farmed minutely and intensely2 in spring ,i had seen a man ploughing a field where a ,german shell1 on the average1 dropped every day4 ,but all this countryside has the brooding quietude of a sort of honourable old age1 dignity and pensiveness and comfort behind its natural rampart of sand dunes1 but not the stir of life at full pressure4 ,into this vari-coloured belt of landscape1 some ninety miles long1 and into its cities and villages1 the war has brought strange violences of effort and several different degrees of desolation4 ,some villages are dead and buried1 like ,pozires1 where you must dig to find where a house stood4 ,there are cities dead1 but with their bones still above ground3 ,ypres is one--many walls stand where they did1 but grass is growing among the broken stones and bits of stained glass on the floor of the ,cloth ,hall1 and at noon a visitor's footsteps ring and echo in the empty streets like those of a belated wayfarer in midnight ,oxford4 8,how doth the city sit desolate that once was full of people60 ,again1 there are towns like ,arras1 whose flesh1 though torn1 has life in it still1 and seems to feel a new wound from each shell1 though there be no man there to be hit4 ,these are the broader differences between one part of the front and another4 ,in any one place there are minor caprices of destruction or survival4 ,mr4 ,bone has drawn the top of the ,albert ,church tower1 a building that was ugly when it was whole1 but now is famous for its impending figure of the ,virgin1 knocked by artillery fire into a singular diving attitude1 with the ,child in her outstretched hands4 ,of the two or three buildings unharmed in ,arras one is the oldest house in the town and another was ,robespierre's birthplace4 ,in the fields1 as you near the front line1 you note an ascending scale of desolation4 ,it is most clear on the battlefield of the ,somme4 ,first you pass across two or three miles of land on which so many shells fall1 or used to fall1 that it has not been tilled for two years4 ,it is a waste1 but a green waste1 where not trodden brown by horses and men4 ,it is gay in summer with poppies1 convolvolus and cornflowers4 ,among the thistles and coarse grass you see self-sown shoots of the old crops1 of beet1 mustard and corn4 ,beyond this zone of land merely thrown idle you reach the ultimate desert where nothing but men and rats can live4 ,here even the weeds have been rooted up and buried by shells1 the houses are ground down to brick-dust and lime and mixed with the earth1 which is constantly turned up and turned up again by more shells and kept loose and soft4 ,the trees1 broken half-way up their trunks and stripped of leaves and branches1 look curiously haggard and sinister4 ,it is hoped that ,mr4 ,bone's drawings will give a new insight into the spirit in which the battle of freedom is being fought4 ,an artist does not merely draw ruined churches and houses1 guards and lorries1 doctors and wounded men4 ,it is for him to make us see something more than we do even when we see all these with our own eyes--to make visible by his art the staunchness and patience1 the faithful absorption in the next duty1 the humour and human decency and good nature--all the strains of character and emotion that go to make up the temper of ,britain at war4 ,g4,h4,q41 ,,france1 ,november1 #aiaf ,i ,,general ,,sir ,,douglas ,,haig ,g4,c4,b41 ,g4,c4,v4,o41 ,k4,c4,i4,e41 ,a4,d4,c4 ,illustration ,,ii ,,grand',,place ,,and ,,ruins ,,of ,,the ,,cloth ,,hall1 ,,ypres ,the gaunt emptiness of ,ypres is expressed in this drawing1 done from the doorway of a ruined church in a neighbouring square4 ,the grass has grown long this summer on the ,grand',place and is creeping up over the heaps of ruins4 ,the only continuous sound in ,ypres is that of birds1 which sing in it as if it were country4 ,illustration ,,iii ,a ,,street ,,in ,,ypres ,in the distance is seen what remains of the ,cloth ,hall4 ,on the right a wall long left unsupported is bending to its fall4 ,the crash of such a fall is one of the few sounds that now break the silence of ,ypres1 where the visitor starts at the noise of a distant footfall in the grass-grown streets4 ,illustration ,,iv ,,distant ,,view ,,of ,,ypres ,the ,ypres salient is here seen from a knoll some six miles south-west of the city1 which is marked1 near the centre of the drawing1 by the dominant ruin of the cathedral4 ,the ,german front line is on the heights beyond1 ,hooge being a little to the spectator's right of the city and ,zillebeke slightly more to the right again4 ,dickebusch lies about half way between the eye and ,ypres4 ,the fields in sight are covered with crops1 varied by good woodland4 ,to a visitor coming from the ,somme battlefield the landscape looks rich and almost peaceful4 ,illustration ,v ,a ,,village ,,church ,,in ,,flanders ,all round this church there is the quiet of a desert4 ,the drawing was made from within a house opposite2 the fall of its entire front provided an extensive window view4 ,illustration ,,vi ,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,the ,,somme ,an exciting moment in the fighting for the summit ridge of the battlefield in ,august1 #aiaf4 ,all the ,british guns have just burst into action and our infantry are advancing unseen in the cloud of smoke on the sky-line4 ,the puffs of smoke high in the air are from bursting shrapnel4 ,the battle is seen from ,king ,george's ,hill1 near the old ,german front line1 taken on ,july #ast1 #aiaf4 ,below1 among the ravaged trees1 are the ruins of ,mametz2 beyond them1 ,mametz ,wood2 beyond it1 again1 the wood of ,bazentin-le-,petit4 ,illustration ,,vii 8,,tanks0 ,in this fine drawing ,mr4 ,bone has seen the 8,tank0 in its major aspect1 as a grim and daunting engine of war4 ,illustration ,,viii ,,ruined ,,german ,,trenches1 ,,near ,,contalmaison ,the drawing shows a former ,german front-line trench reduced by our artillery fire1 before an advance1 to a mass of capricious looking irregularities in the ground4 ,the ,german barbed wire entanglements are seen destroyed by our shell fire to open the way for our attacking troops4 ,illustration ,,ix ,,the ,,night ,,picket ,the hour is ,retreat and a ,sergeant-,major is inspecting the three men for duty at a one-man post during the coming night4 ,each man in turn will do two hours' duty1 followed by four hours' rest4 ,the fine austere drawing of the sunset1 the wide waste spaces1 the intent men mounting picket and the men off duty strolling at ease1 is imbued with the spirit of the region just behind our front4 ,illustration ,x ,,dug-,,outs ,a small hamlet of sand-bagged dug-outs a little behind the front line1 seen during a passing lift of the clouds at the end of a wet day4 ,many dug-outs1 like the one on the left1 bear such names as 8,the ,rat ,hole10 8,it10 8,some ,dug-out1 believe ma10 8,the ,old ,curiosity ,shop0 and 8,the ,ritz40 ,on the right1 a shelf in the outer wall of sand-bags is decorated with flowers in pots4 ,illustration ,,xi ,,gordon ,,highlanders3 ,,officers' ,,mess ,in the bare dancing hall of a village inn behind the ,somme ,front4 ,the artist has found means to interpret with the utmost sympathy and power the extraordinary romantic quality that there often is about a ,highland mess in ,france1 created by the rude setting1 the primitive half light amidst cavernous gloom1 and the spectator's sense of an enveloping world of strange dangers and adventures4 ,illustration ,,xii ,,waiting ,,for ,,the ,,wounded ,a ,british advance has just begun1 and the surgeons of a ,divisional ,collecting ,station near the ,somme are awaiting the arrival of the first laden stretcher-bearers4 ,in a few minutes the three officers will be at work1 perhaps for twenty-four hours on end4 ,at one ,casualty ,clearing ,station a distinguished surgeon performed1 without resting1 nineteen difficult operations1 each lasting more than an hour1 in cases of severe abdominal wounds1 where delay would have meant the loss of life4 ,in almost every case the man was saved4 ,another surgeon operated for thirty-six hours without relief4 ,such devotion is not exceptional in the ,r4,a4,m4,c4 ,illustration ,,xiii ,,the ,,happy ,,warrior ,the place is a field dressing station4 ,the wounded ,grenadier ,guardsman in the foreground on the left1 wearing a ,german helmet and eating bread and jam1 had brought in as prisoner the ,german who is sitting on the right with his hand to his face4 ,the ,guardsman indicated the ,german to the artist1 and said1 8,won't you draw my pal here1 too1 ,sir8 ,he and me had a turn-up this morning when we took their trench1 and he jabbed me in the arm and ,i jabbed him in the eye1 and we're the best of friends40 ,other ,germans are sitting in attitudes characteristic of newly-made prisoners4 ,illustration ,,xiv 7a and b7 ,,red ,,cross ,,barges ,,on ,,the ,,somme ,many wounded or sick soldiers1 ,british and ,french1 are brought by river or canal from near the front to near a base hospital or the sea4 ,the motion is easy1 the men have good air and quiet2 any who are well enough to be on deck have pleasant and changeful surroundings to look at4 ,the ,english have fitted up for this purpose many of the large1 square-built and bluff-bowed--almost box-like--,french canal boats4 ,they are towed1 in pairs1 by small tugs4 ,the ,french ,red ,cross uses barges driven by engines placed aft4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,xv ,,at ,a ,,base ,,station ,a midnight scene at a base railway station4 ,train-loads of 8walking wounded0 on their way to ,england are met at any hour of the day or night by ,v4,a4,d4 workers who offer the men hot tea or cocoa1 and bread and butter4 ,the quality of the food1 and the manner of the gift1 give extraordinary pleasure to the tired men4 ,illustration ,,xvi ,,on ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,the boat here is an old one2 in newer boats the accommodation is finer1 but the drawing shows the ordinary mode of bedding the patients in double tiers of continuous bunks4 ,at some point in the passage an ,r4,a4,m4,c4 orderly asks every patient to what part of 8,blighty0 he belongs1 and an effort is made to send him to a hospital near his home4 ,the orderly's approach1 as he makes his rounds1 is always eagerly awaited throughout the ship by the wounded men4 ,illustration ,,xvii ,,disembarked ,,troops ,,waiting ,,to ,,march ,,off ,an every-day scene at the ,french ports where our men land4 ,whatever may come after1 there are few moments so thrilling to an untravelled soldier of the ,new ,army as those in which he awaits the order to march off into the unknown1 with all the strange events of war before him4 ,illustration ,,xviii ,,soldiers' ,,billets--,,moonlight ,the unusually comfortable quarters of a ,company in reserve while other ,companies of its ,battalion are in the firing and support trenches1 two or three miles further up4 ,reserve billets are more often under ground1 sometimes in the cellars of ruined houses4 ,a thick covering of ruins above gives complete security against shell fire4 ,illustration ,,xix ,a ,,gun ,,hospital ,many wounded or worn guns1 of all calibres1 are brought back for treatment to 8hospitals0 which do not fly the ,red ,cross4 ,here are a few invalided 8heavies40 ,the gun on the extreme right is the first ,british #i4b that came to ,france4 ,like most of our heavy guns she has been christened by her crew and bears the punning inscription1 8,lizzie1 ,somme ,strafer40 ,illustration ,,xx ,,an ,,observation ,,post ,the lower part of the first of the ladders leading up to an artillery observation post in the top of a tall tree4 ,it commanded a large part of the ,somme battlefield until the summit ridge was won2 every detail of several successful ,british advances could be watched from the tree-top4 ,the battle has now left it far in the rear1 and it is disused4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,the ,,somme ,,battlefield4 ,the main ,anglo-,german battlefield of #aiaf is a little range of chalk down or blunt hill4 ,it is ten miles long and seven miles wide1 and its watershed runs from north-west to south-east--from near ,thiepval1 above the small river ,ancre1 to ,combles1 four miles to the north of the canalised ,somme4 ,this summit ridge is not quite #ejj feet high--about as high as the ,hog's ,back in ,surrey4 ,the south-western slope of the range is rather steeper and more broken up into terraces and lateral ridges and defiles than the north-eastern slope4 ,there is no real escarpment1 but enough difference to make the south-western slope the harder to attack4 ,small as this ridge is1 it is the highest ground1 in these parts1 between the ,belgian plain and the main plain of ,northern ,france4 ,it is crossed at right angles by one great road1 the famous ,french ,route ,nationale that runs nearly dead straight from ,rouen1 through ,amiens1 to ,valenciennes1 and so leads on to ,brussels by ,mons4 ,on the battlefield1 between ,albert and ,bapaume1 it reaches the highest point above the sea in all its long course1 at a spot where a heap of powdered brick and masonry1 forty yards off to the north1 marks the site of the ,windmill of ,pozires1 one of those solitary buildings to which1 like ,falfemont ,farm and the ,abbey at ,eaucourt1 the war has brought death and immortality4 ,from this road1 at one point or another1 you can see most of the places that were made famous in #aiaf4 ,a mile and a half from ,albert1 as you go out north-eastward1 you spy in a hollow below you a whitish sprinkling of mixed mud1 brick-dust and lime1 the remains of ,la ,boisselle1 on the right of the road4 ,on its left a second grey patch is the site of ,ovillers4 ,beyond ,la ,boisselle ,contalmaison is just out of sight behind a shoulder of hill4 ,nearly all the most hard-fought woods are in sight--,high ,wood on the sky-line1 and ,delville ,wood larger on its right1 and then in succession1 with sharp intervals of bareness between them1 the woods of ,bazentin1 ,mametz and ,fricourt4 ,above them and more distant are the dense trees that have ,maricourt and the ,french troops at their feet1 and1 high on their right1 the thin file of trees shading the road that runs from ,albert1 past ,carnoy and ,clry1 to ,peronne4 ,you walk on for three miles and may not observe that you have passed through ,pozires1 so similar are raw chalk and builder's lime1 raw clay and powdered brick1 when weeds grow thick over both4 ,but the great road--strangely declined into a rough field track--begins to fall away before you1 and new prospects to open--,courcelette and ,martinpuich almost at your feet1 and straight beyond them the church and town hall of ,bapaume at the end of the long avenue of roadside trees4 ,looking left you see1 two miles away1 the western end of the summit ridge1 the last point upon it from which the ,germans were driven2 so that1 even after the fall of ,thiepval1 a shell would sometimes come from the ,schwaben ,redoubt to remind unwary walkers at ,pozires ,windmill that enemy eyes still watched the lost ground4 ,among the wreckage of the countryside you can detect the traces of old standing comfort and rustic wealth4 ,the many wayside windmills show you how much corn was grown4 ,in size and plan they are curiously like the mighty stone dovecotes of ,fifeshire4 ,almost as frequent as ruined windmills are ruined sugar refineries1 standing a little detached in the fields1 like the one at ,courcelette1 for which armies fought as they fought for the neighbouring windmill4 ,beet was the next crop to grain4 ,there were little industries1 too1 like the making of buttons for shirts at ,fricourt1 where you see by the road small refuse heaps of old oyster shells with many round holes where the little discs have been cut cleanly out of the mother-of-pearl1 though all other trace of the factories has vanished4 ,each village commune had its wood1 with certain rights for the members of the commune to take timber2 ,fricourt ,wood at the doors of ,fricourt1 ,mametz ,wood rather far from ,mametz1 as there was no good wood nearer4 ,all these woods were well fenced and kept up1 like patches of hedged cover dotted over a park4 ,it was a good country to live in1 and good men came from it4 ,the ,french ,army ,corps that drew on these villages for recruits has won honour beyond all other ,french ,corps in the battle of the ,somme4 ,many skilled writers have tried to describe the aghast look of these fields where the battle had passed over them4 ,but every new visitor says the same thing--that they had not succeeded2 no eloquence has yet conveyed the disquieting strangeness of the portent4 ,you can enumerate many ugly and queer freaks of the destroying powers--the villages not only planed off the face of the earth but rooted out of it1 house by house1 like bits of old teeth2 the thin brakes of black stumps that used to be woods1 the old graveyards wrecked like kicked ant-heaps1 the tilth so disembowelled by shells that most of the good upper mould created by centuries of the work of worms and men is buried out of sight and the unwrought primeval subsoil lies on the top2 the sowing of the whole ground with a new kind of dragon's teeth--unexploded shells that the plough may yet detonate1 and bombs that may let themselves off if their safety pins rust away sooner than the springs within4 ,but no piling up of sinister detail can express the sombre and malign quality of the battlefield landscape as a whole4 8,it makes a goblin of the sun0--or it might if it were not peopled in every part with beings so reassuringly and engagingly human1 sane and reconstructive as ,british soldiers4 ,g4 ,h4 ,q41 ,france4 ,january1 #aiag4 ,,xxi ,,amiens ,,cathedral ,the 8,parthenon of ,gothic ,architecture0 is seen in this exquisitely delicate and sensitive drawing from the south-east1 with the lovely rose window of the south transept partly in view on the left4 ,the wooden spire1 which ,ruskin called 8the pretty caprice of a village carpenter10 looks finer in the drawing than in the original1 the relative flimsiness of the material being less apparent4 ,nothing is lost by the intervention of the foreground houses1 as the faade of the south transept1 like the famous west front and the choir stalls1 is sheathed with sand-bags to a height of thirty or forty feet for protection against ,german bombs4 ,patrolling ,french aeroplanes are seen in the sky4 ,illustration ,,xxii ,,the ,,virgin ,,of ,,montauban ,an image which strangely escaped destruction during the time when the village of ,montauban1 now utterly erased1 was being shelled successively by ,british and ,german guns4 ,by a similar caprice of fate the ,virgin of ,carency1 now enshrined in a little chapel in the ,french military cemetery at ,villers-aux-,bois1 received only some shot wounds when the village was destroyed during the ,french advance towards ,lens in #aiae4 ,illustration ,,xxiii ,a ,,sketch ,,in ,,albert ,albert1 as a whole1 is wrecked to the degree shown in this drawing4 ,the building in the middle distance1 on the right of the road1 with its roof timbers exposed1 is a wrecked factory1 and many hundreds of bicycles and sewing machines now make an extraordinary tangle of twisted and broken metal in its basement4 ,illustration ,,xxiv ,,taking ,,the ,,wounded ,,on ,,board ,wounded men from the ,somme1 ordered to ,england by the ,medical ,officer commanding the ,general or ,stationary ,hospital in which each man has been a patient1 are being put on board a hospital ship at the base4 ,in the centre of the foreground is seen the timber framework of the ship's large red cross of electric lights4 ,with this1 and a tier of some sixty green lights running from stem to stern1 a hospital ship at night is a beautiful as well as unmistakeable object at sea4 ,illustration ,,xxv 8,,walking ,,wounded0 ,,sleeping ,,on ,,deck ,the best place to sleep1 on a summer night in a full hospital ship1 for a man whose wound is not grave enough to cause serious 8shock0 and consequent need of much artificial warming4 ,illustration ,,xxvi 7a and b7 8,,walking ,,wounded0 ,,on ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,this drawing was done in the warm early autumn of #aiaf4 ,all 8walking wounded0 wear lifebelts1 if their injuries permit1 during the ,channel crossing1 and each 8stretcher case0 has a lifebelt under his pillow1 if not on4 ,the necessity for this1 in a war with ,germany1 has been proved by the fate of too many of our hospital ships4 ,illustration 8,,walking ,,wounded0 ,,on ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,the deck of a ,british hospital ship is one of the most cheerful places in the world4 ,every man is at rest after toil1 is about to see friends after separation1 can smoke when he likes1 and has in every other man on board a companion with whom endless reminiscences can be exchanged1 and perhaps the merits and demerits of the ,ypres salient1 or the most advantageous use of 8tanks10 warmly debated1 as is the custom of privates of the ,new ,army4 ,silent or vocal1 a great beatitude fills the vessel4 ,illustration ,,xxvii 7a and b7 ,a ,,main ,,approach ,,to ,,the ,,british ,,front ,the canvas screen on the left marks a place where the road had been under enemy observation4 ,a 8sausage10 or stationary observation balloon1 is seen above the road4 8,sausages0 are not pretty4 ,they exhibit1 at various stages of inflation1 the various shapes taken by a maggot partly uncurled4 ,but the work done from them1 besides being always disagreeable and often risky1 is extremely valuable4 ,illustration 8,,road ,,liable ,,to ,,be ,,shelled0 ,a stretch of high-road which was under enemy observation when drawn4 ,such roads are1 of course1 only used with due caution4 ,the whole drawing is remarkably instinct with the artist's sense of a malign invisible presence--a 8terror that walketh by noonday0--infesting the sunny vacant length of the forbidden road4 ,illustration ,,xxviii ,,trouble ,,on ,,the ,,road ,war has its tyre troubles1 as peace has4 ,in this case the lack of a spare wheel1 and the consequent necessity for changing an inner tube1 had the compensation of giving the artist time to make the drawing4 ,illustration ,,xxix ,,british ,,troops ,,on ,,the ,,march ,,to ,,the ,,somme ,a typical ,picardy landscape behind the frontal zone of destruction4 ,the crescent-shaped line of troops and transport on the road is a small fraction of a ,division moving up to take its place in the front line4 ,illustration ,,xxx ,a ,,sketch ,,at ,,contalmaison ,the place is ,contalmaison1 but the drawing has caught the spirit of the whole of the shattered country-side recaptured this year4 ,illustration ,,xxxi ,,on ,,the ,,somme3 ,,sausage ,,balloons ,a typical winter scene on the ,somme battlefield4 ,the nearer 8sausage10 or captive observation balloon1 is being run out to its proper height for work1 by unwinding its cable from a reel on the ground4 ,the further balloon is already moored high enough and its observer1 alone in the small hanging cage1 is at work with his map1 telescope and telephone4 ,illustration ,,xxxii ,a ,,wrecked ,,aeroplane ,,near ,,albert ,a casualty in the ,r4,f4,c4 ,the smashed biplane and the retreating stretcher party on the right explain themselves4 ,on the left1 ,albert church1 to the right of a tall factory chimney1 is seen in the distance4 ,illustration ,,xxxiii ,a ,,mess ,,of ,,the ,,royal ,,flying ,,corps ,the ,officers' mess at the most advanced station of the ,royal ,flying ,corps on the ,somme front4 ,the great tent was designed as an aeroplane hangar4 ,an ,r4,f4,c4 mess usually has an atmosphere of its own4 ,there is more variety of apparel than at other messes2 there are more dogs2 personal mascots abound1 and in many ways there is more expression of individual choice or peculiarity than elsewhere--corresponding1 perhaps1 to the more individual character of a flying officer's work and responsibilities and to the temperament which leads to success in flying4 ,the officers are drawn from all sorts of regiments1 and each continues to wear his regimental badge4 ,it is winter1 and the second figure from the left is wearing a fur jacket4 ,illustration ,,xxxiv ,,watching ,,our ,,artillery ,,fire ,,on ,,trones ,,wood ,,from ,,montauban ,the drawing expresses well the singular aspect of the parts of the battlefield where artillery fire was heavy and where the conical holes made in the ground by high explosive shells were consequently close together4 ,at a later stage these separate pock-marks overlap1 like the pits in confluent small-pox1 and the whole of the shelled ground becomes soft and loose1 as though raked deeply but unevenly4 ,in the distance the detached higher puffs of smoke from bursting shrapnel are distinguishable from the rising clouds of smoke from high-explosive shells4 ,illustration ,,xxxv 7a and b7 ,,in ,,the ,,regained ,,territory ,both the places drawn were in ,german hands until ,july4 ,the first drawing is of a cemetery found behind the old ,german front line near ,fricourt4 ,there were many imperfectly marked ,german graves near these4 ,they have since been marked1 as many thousands of hurriedly made ,british graves have been1 with wooden crosses and metal inscriptions by our ,graves' ,registration and ,inquiries ,units4 ,the second drawing1 with a helmeted sentry at the sand-bagged entrance to a dug-out1 conveys the sinister air of a village destroyed1 but not quite effaced1 by shell-fire4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,xxxvi ,a ,v4,a4,d4 ,,rest ,,station ,at a base railway station in ,france4 ,between the arrivals of hospital trains from the front the ,v4,a4,d4 workers occupy themselves in the 8dispensary0 in rolling bandages or preparing hot cocoa and other food for the wounded or sick men who will pass through the station4 ,illustration ,,xxxvii ,a ,,gateway ,,at ,,arras ,a few hundred yards from this gate the ,anglo-,french treaty of peace was signed after ,agincourt4 ,part of the city's later history is written in the curious and beautiful ,spanish architecture of its chief squares4 ,it is now in the middle stage of destruction3 almost every building is shattered or injured1 but enough is standing to make the empty city seem still sensitive1 in its very stones1 under the enemy's random shellfire4 ,illustration ,,xxxviii ,,outside ,,arras1 ,,near ,,the ,,german ,,lines ,at ,arras the ,germans always seem very near you4 ,in fact they are4 ,no other famous town in the ,allies' hands has a ,german front trench in its suburbs2 nowhere do the two front trenches come so close to each other4 ,the result is a subtle quality of apprehensiveness in the atmosphere of the silent empty city4 ,it seems like someone standing on tiptoe1 peering and listening1 in a solitary place1 for some vague unseen danger1 or like a horse nervously pricking its ears1 you cannot tell why4 ,this tingle of uncanny dread has been conveyed with remarkable success in this figureless but haunted landscape4 ,illustration ,,xxxix ,,watching ,,german ,,prisoners ,british soldiers watching recently captured ,germans on their way down from the front to an ,army ,corps 8cage40 ,until removed to the base our prisoners are well housed in huts or tents in a kind of compound fenced with barbed wire and placed well outside the range of their friends' artillery4 ,there are no attempts at escape4 ,our men1 behind the front line1 always watch the arrival of new prisoners with silent curiosity4 ,those of our soldiers who have themselves fought with the ,germans1 and captured them1 usually befriend them with cigarettes and drinks from water-bottles4 ,illustration ,,xl ,,on ,,the ,,somme3 8,,mud0 ,at a camp1 near ,albert1 whose ,church1 with the image knocked awry1 is seen to the right4 ,with the permission of the officer on the left some soldiers are fishing in the mud for such fragments of old timber1 boxes and tins as may be of use to them in their field housekeeping1 though they are not worth collecting for deposit at the official ,salvage ,dumps4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,trench ,,scenery4 ,in one of these drawings ,mr4 ,bone gives a rousing glimpse of trench life at a moment of action4 ,these are its moments of transfiguration1 when all the glow of courage1 that has been banked down and husbanded through months of waiting and guarding1 bursts1 at a word of command1 into flame4 ,the rest of trench life is work1 contrivance and observation4 ,it has been called monotonous4 ,but1 for any man who has not lost the heart of a boy1 it has the relish of an endlessly changeful outdoor adventure1 a game with the earth and the weather1 as well as with the more official enemy4 ,no two points in an ,allied front trench are wholly alike4 ,certain general patterns there are1 but no facsimiles4 ,each traverse or bay has a look of its own2 it is personal and expresses1 as ,robinson ,crusoe's stockade might have done1 the nature of some man or men making shift1 each after his kind1 to put up what they could1 in the shortest time1 between their bodies and danger4 ,a ,german firing trench is less various4 ,in it you seem to see the minds of a few large and able contractors2 in ours the minds of thousands of good campers-out4 ,to put it in another way1 the ,german trench has1 in some measure1 the quality of a long street built1 well enough1 to a single design2 ours possesses the charm of a strip of coast or a long country lane1 where nature or man has made every indentation and turn a surprise1 and each farmer has made gates and hedges to his own mind4 ,the line goes through wonderful places and charges them with singular thrills of romance4 ,it has made windmills famous as forts1 and brought herons into the suburbs of cities4 ,in one place it runs across water and land so intermixed that the sentries of both armies are upon little islands crowned with breast-works like grouse butts2 you see them1 when the winter evening falls1 standing immobile1 waist-deep in mist1 each man about forty yards from his enemy4 ,men have stood there1 turn by turn1 for two years and a half1 moving softly and whispering as if in a church1 till the shyest of wildfowl have learnt to treat the surrounding marsh as their own1 and the only sound is of wild duck and snipe astir between the muzzles of two nations' loaded rifles1 snipe safe among the snipers4 ,at more than one place the two front lines converge until each sentry knows that he is within a gentle bomb's throw of the enemy4 ,out of the firing trench1 at one of these places1 you walk on tiptoe along a short sap that halves this short distance1 and from its end you look up at a small heap of rubble--a couple of cart-loads--and know that some ,german is cautiously listening1 like you1 on its further side4 ,those are the cramped and contorted parts of the front4 ,a few miles away it will straighten and loose itself out2 you see it run free1 in great1 easy curves1 up the slopes of wide moorlands1 the two front lines drawn apart almost three hundred yards4 ,each is a double band of colour2 the white ribbon of its dug chalk and the broader rust-brown ribbon of its tangled wire stand out clear against the shabby velveteen grey of the heath4 ,here there is less of thrill and more of ease in trench life2 by day the sentries peer1 hour by hour1 into the baffling mist that is woven across their sight by our own and the enemy's wire2 it is like trying to see through low and leafless1 but thick1 undergrowth4 ,by night the wire makes1 to the sentry's eye1 a middle stratum of opaque dark grey1 between the full blackness of the earth below it and the more penetrable obscurity of the night air above4 ,but the darkness is never trusted for long4 ,all night each army is sending up rocket-like lights to burst and hang like arc lamps in the air over the firing trench of the other4 ,from a commanding point you can see1 at any moment of any night1 scores of these ascending rockets1 each like a line drawn on the dark with a pencil of flame1 arching over to intersect each other near the zenith of their flight1 incessantly tracing and re-tracing the lines of a ,gothic nave over all ,no ,man's ,land1 from the ,alps to the sea4 ,all night1 too1 there is a kind of pulse of light in the sky1 along the whole front1 from the flash of guns4 ,from the trenches the flash itself can seldom be seen1 but the sky winks and winks from moment to moment with the spread and contraction of a trembling radiance like summer lightning4 ,at most parts of the line a man in the front trench is cut off from landscape4 ,to look at a tree behind the enemy's lines may be to give a mark to a sniper hidden in its boughs4 ,by day you see the upper half of the dome of the sky1 and1 through loopholes1 a few yards of rough earth or chalk1 then the nebulous wire and1 through its thin places1 perhaps a few uniforms1 blue1 grey or brown1 lying beyond1 among the coarse grass and weeds4 ,at night you see all the stars well1 and on moonlight nights1 if you walk the trench softly1 you can watch strange friezes sharply silhouetted on the sky line of the parapet1 the wars and loves of capering rats1 8flouting the ivory moon40 ,whole choirs of larks may be heard3 neither cannon nor small arms seem to alarm them2 and most of the ground has its own hawk to quarter it daily4 ,to men put on this short allowance of natural sights and sounds it is an extraordinary pleasure to find in the rear of their trench a clean rivulet1 such as often occurs in chalk land1 where the surface water filters rapidly in and comes out at the bases of slopes like so many crystal springs4 ,but the greatest of all trench delights is the re-discovery1 every year1 of the sun4 ,some day in ,march it is suddenly found to have a miraculous warmth1 and everybody off duty comes out like the bees and stands about in the trench1 sunning his head and shoulders in the tepid rays and adoring--quite inarticulately--and feeling that all's well with the world4 ,a winter in trenches revives1 in us children of civilisation1 a pre-,promethean rapture of love for the sun2 and the dark nights1 in which not a match must be struck1 makes us1 at any rate1 think more highly than ever we did of the moon1 which halves the strain of the soldier on guard1 and of the stars which guide him back overland to his billet1 at a relief1 to sleep in ,elysium4 ,so1 for a man who has all his senses alive and unjaded1 the hard and bare life has its compensations4 ,it makes him do without many things2 but it also quickens delight in the things which are at the base of all the rest1 and without which there could not have been the incomparable adventure and spectacle of life on the earth4 ,g4 ,h4 ,q41 ,france4 ,february1 #aiag4 ,,xli ,,cassel ,cassel has no great part in this war4 ,but it has endured ancient sieges2 three notable battles have taken its name since #ajgj2 the last of them led to the annexation of ,cassel to ,france in #afgh and gave her a town finely set on a hill amidst lowlands1 and equally good to look at and look from4 ,the many windmills about it give ,cassel an air of liveliness as you approach1 and this cheerful effect is maintained on reaching the main square1 drawn by ,mr4 ,bone1 with its lightsome spaciousness and comfortable1 well-proportioned houses4 ,the eyes of passing ,scottish soldiers find a familiar look in the 8step0 gables of many of ,cassel's roofs4 ,one is seen on the right4 ,illustration ,,xlii ,a ,,line ,,of ,,tanks ,thanks to the imaginative power of the artist1 the 8,tank0 is here seen not as the ,british soldier sees it--a friendly giant with lovably droll tricks of gait and gesture--but as it must look to a threatened enemy1 the very embodiment of momentum irresistibly grinding its way towards its prey4 ,in the presence of 8tanks0 as here drawn--though there is no trace of exaggeration in the drawing--the spectator is as a crushed worm and1 in fact1 finds there is more force in that phrase than he knew4 ,illustration ,,xliii ,a ,,kitchen ,,in ,,the ,,field ,one of the improvements in our field organisation since the early part of the war is the more general provision of hot meals for the men in the front trenches4 ,from cookhouses like the one shown in the drawing1 or from travelling field kitchens1 the hot stew and tea are brought up the communication trench in dixies1 two to a platoon1 each dixie being slung from a pole carried on two men's shoulders4 ,the cooks work under shell fire and many have been killed4 ,illustration ,,xliv ,,the ,,gun ,,pit3 ,,hardening ,,the ,,steel ,the drawing shows one of the most thrilling moments in the making of a great gun4 ,the doors of the furnace have just been thrown back and the heated gun tube is about to be lifted by the giant pincers of the crane4 ,illustration ,,xlv ,,the ,,gun ,,pit3 ,a ,,gun ,,jacket ,,entering ,,the ,,oil ,,tank ,the gun jacket shown here has just been heated in the furnace and is about to plunge into its oil bath4 ,the spectacle is always striking1 especially at dusk1 when the fierce glow of the huge mass of metal seems more brilliant than ever4 ,the passage is made in a few seconds4 ,illustration ,,xlvi ,,the ,,gun ,,pit3 ,,the ,,great ,,clutches ,,of ,,the ,,crane ,the figures in the foreground give a scale by which to judge the size and power of the crane that handles the heavier guns in the gun pit4 ,the tube has now been lifted from the oil tank and waits to be carried back to the gun shop lathes4 ,illustration ,,xlvii ,,mounting ,a ,,great ,,gun ,this is one of the largest guns4 ,at such a scene as its mounting one is always struck by the contrast between the restless stir of the minute figures busy about it and the massive impassivity--for the present--of the thing they have created4 8,a great gun10 it has been said1 8is so sheer40 ,in a gun shop it dwarfs everything round it and seems the embodiment1 at the same time1 of immobility and of menace4 ,illustration ,,xlviii 8,,the ,,hall ,,of ,,the ,,million ,,shells0 ,a store containing loaded shells of every calibre4 ,all the plant has been made since #aiad1 in answer to the challenge of ,german militarism4 ,the railway trucks in the foreground are incessantly filled and refilled from the supplies pouring into the store for dispatch to the front4 ,women drive the cranes that gather up bunches of shells from any part of the building and lower them1 with absolute precision1 to their appointed places in the trucks4 ,all handling of shells must be cautious and deliberate1 but the work proceeds1 without haste and without rest1 at a remarkable speed4 ,illustration ,,xlix ,,the ,,ruined ,,tower ,,of ,b,,cordel-,b,,court ,the village of ,bcordel-,bcourt is just on the ,allies' side of the front line as it was before the ,battle of the ,somme4 ,it has1 therefore1 sustained only the ,german artillery fire1 not that of both armies in turn4 ,hence the survival of this comparatively large fragment of the village church4 ,illustration ,l ,,embarking ,,the ,,wounded ,sketched at night at a ,port of embarkation of the wounded4 ,owing to the low tide the 8stretcher cases0 or 8lying wounded0 had all to be carried underneath the pier to the level of the hospital ship4 ,this meant very hard work for the stretcher bearers1 and one is here seen resting a moment while the previous stretcher is being carefully taken aboard to be lowered by the lift from the deck to the large wards below4 ,illustration ,,li 7a and b7 ,,mont ,,st4 ,,eloi ,in the left centre are the tall ruins of the large church of the monastery at ,mont ,st4 ,eloi1 a little hill about five miles north-west of ,arras4 ,the hill is a splendid viewpoint1 commanding the ,vimy ,ridge1 the ,german lines between ,neuville ,st4 ,vaast and ,thelus1 the city of ,arras itself1 the wood of ,souchez and the slopes of ,notre ,dame de ,lorette4 ,on the ground for many miles north and north-east of it the ,french fought with heroic determination in the advances which gained them ,carency1 ,souchez and ,notre ,dame de ,lorette in #aiae4 ,illustration ,,ruins ,,of ,,mametz ,mametz must have been one of the pleasantest of the villages on the ,somme battlefield4 ,it was built on a gentle slope1 facing south1 a little way off the dusty main road from ,albert to ,peronne1 and large1 shady trees were intermingled with the houses4 ,the drawing shows what was left of the village after its capture in the beginning of ,july4 ,the tall fragment of the parish church stands in the centre of the drawing4 ,illustration ,,lii ,,ruined ,,trenches ,,in ,,mametz ,,wood ,in this one drawing may be seen the face of all the hard-fought woods of the ,somme battlefield--,mametz1 ,fricourt1 ,bazentin1 ,delville1 ,thiepval1 ,foureaux and ,st4 ,pierre ,vaast4 ,everywhere in them all there is the same close network of half-filled trenches1 the same bristle of ruined tree trunks1 the same litter of the leavings of prolonged fighting at close quarters--bits of broken rifles and bayonets1 perforated helmets1 unexploded hand grenades1 fragments of shell1 displaced sand-bags1 broken stretchers1 boots not quite empty1 and shreds of uniform and equipment4 ,illustration ,,liii 8,,thawing ,,out0 ,it is always cold in an aeroplane in flight1 but in winter the cold endured by airmen is often atrocious1 however perfect their equipment4 ,a pilot1 who has just come down from his three hours of duty in the air1 is here seen 8thawing out0 over a spirit stove in his tent4 ,like the thawing of meat taken from cold storage1 the process requires some patience4 ,illustration ,,liv ,,disembarking ,at a base port in ,france4 ,officers are disembarking from the upper deck4 ,many officers arrive under orders simply to 8proceed overseas40 ,at the 8,a4 ,m4 ,l4 ,o4 ,office0 they receive1 through the ,assistant ,military ,landing ,officer1 exact orders where to go and what to do4 ,the men on the lower deck disembark by a second gangway and the boat is cleared in a few minutes4 ,illustration ,,lv ,,sleeping ,,wounded ,,from ,,the ,,somme ,every soldier on active service has more or less of deferred sleep1 as well as deferred pay1 due to him4 ,if he be wounded he usually recovers a large instalment of both--the former during his first nights and days in hospital1 the latter when he leaves the convalescent hospital for the ten days' sick leave given to all wounded or sick men who have been sent to ,england for treatment4 ,illustration ,,lvi ,,distant ,,amiens ,as you walk southward from ,amiens1 across meadows and cornfields1 the ground rises more gently than the immediate south bank of the ,somme1 on which the ,cathedral and the ,city stand4 ,thus the city sinks gradually out of sight until nothing is left but the thin ,cathedral spire1 looking like the mast of a sunken ship4 ,mr4 ,bone's drawing was done from a point1 about a mile south of the city1 at which the ,cathedral roof1 the tower of ,saint ,martin's ,church1 and one or two factory chimneys are still unsubmerged4 ,illustration ,,lvii ,,scottish ,,soldiers ,,in ,a ,,french ,,barn ,a typical billet for troops on the march or enjoying a 8,divisional rest0 between two turns of duty in the trenches4 ,an average-sized barn at a ,french farm will house about thirty men4 ,if the straw be deep and the roof sound it makes better quarters than anything but a good bedroom4 ,its chief drawback in the men's eyes is that smoking has to be forbidden because of the straw4 ,in the winter evenings the men usually cross the farmyard to the kitchen1 where they smoke and make friends with the farmer1 and buy coffee1 at a penny a bowl1 from his wife4 ,illustration ,,lviii ,,welsh ,,soldiers ,characteristic trench attitudes1 two of the men with their heads well down1 the cheek cuddling the small of the butt1 while the ,n4,c4,o4 beyond directs their fire1 with his head a little free4 ,there is just the same soldierly combination of 8much care and valour0 in the typical ,welshman in ,france to-day as there was in ,shakespeare's ,fluellen4 ,illustration ,,lix ,a ,,british ,,red ,,cross ,,depot ,,at ,,boulogne ,dead low water in ,boulogne ,harbour1 and a slack time for the motor ambulances parked on the quay above4 ,the work of the ,r4,a4,m4,c4 inevitably comes in rushes1 with lulls in between4 ,the great thing is1 when a rush comes1 to treat every case with a rapidity exactly proportioned to its urgency1 removing instantly to the base hospitals or to ,england every serious case which will be the better1 or none the worse1 for a slight delay in operation4 ,to work this system perfectly there must always be in readiness1 at every point where wounded are entrained or transhipped1 a supply of ambulances equal to the maximum call4 ,illustration ,,lx ,,indian ,,cavalry ,our ,indian ,cavalry on the ,somme were given a chance of showing their quality at the ,bois de ,foureaux on ,july #agth1 #aiaf4 ,they used it4 ,apart from other soldierly qualities1 the grave dignity of their bearing impresses all foreign visitors to the battlefield4 ,they always salute a passing officer as if they were ,kings and he an ,emperor4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,the ,,upper ,,hand ,in these better days it is no harm to speak of the time when the ,marne had been won and yet our ,army in ,france was within an inch of its life4 ,the thread of its fate had frayed very thin2 only one strand remained2 at last1 not even that--what had taken its place was a gallant sham1 a last forlorn bluff1 scarcely a hope4 ,and then came the ancient reward of those who fight on without hope4 ,like a storm that had blown itself out1 the strain was suddenly gone4 ,the strong had not known all their strength1 the weak had steadfastly hidden their weakness1 and they had worn out the strong4 ,that extreme peril has never recurred4 ,but there were months in #aiae when men in our trenches still felt that the upper hand was not theirs4 ,what would happen was this4 ,once or twice in the day the ,germans1 after their meals1 would spray a piece of our trench with trench-mortar bombs and rifle-grenades4 ,as a rule they did not mean to attack1 in the fuller sense4 ,the piece was not an overture2 it was complete in itself2 a sort of isolated pas d'intimidation4 ,not many men on our side would be killed4 ,but1 while the shower went on1 everyone on duty in our firing trench felt with crystal clearness that he was on the defensive4 ,at each fresh discharge he would plaster himself upon the front wall of the trench and gaze upwards for the coming evil4 ,if he saw the approaching waddle of a trench-mortar bomb1 wagging its tail through the air1 he would judge it like a catch in the long field1 only with an ardent desire to miss it2 and to this end he would jump round corners of trench and put solid angles of earth between him and the large muted sound like 8pfloonk0 that was to ensue4 ,if what he heard was the thin hiss or spit of a rifle grenade1 then he knew that it could not be seen1 and he kept his head down and wondered how near the venomous little metallic smash of the burst would be4 ,in any case he was bespattered1 throughout the bombardment1 with little falling bits of earth1 warm metals and products of combustion2 the tinkling of this hail on his helmet deepened his rueful sense of resemblance to a hen crouching under the lee of a hedge in bad weather4 ,and1 all this time1 our own mortars and guns would be silent or--almost worse than silence itself--would reply with the mildness of ,sterne's patient ass4 8,please do not shell our front trench4 ,but1 if you want to1 you may10 so they seemed to be saying4 ,from these mortifications the men in the firing trench1 and the gunners who had endured the sharper torment of not being able to help them1 were saved by the women1 whom ,mr4 ,bone shows us working at home1 arming their knights for battle in a sense more valid than any known to ,froissart or ,malory4 ,there came a time1 most moving and memorable to all who were then in our trenches1 when any ,german attempt to gall them began to evoke new1 heart-warming sounds4 ,all the upper air1 over the place where the pelted sentries were crouching1 seemed to have come to life on our side4 ,at last our own trench mortars were answering1 not in a few grudged monosyllables1 but volubly1 out of the fulness of the dump4 ,higher up also1 there rose arch over arch1 as it were1 of audible1 reassuring protection--first the low-pitched bridges of sound traced by the whizz of our field guns1 and then the vast rainbow curve of our heavier shells making wing1 high over head1 with a more august1 leisurely waft that sounded divinely4 ,it was a changed and cheered world to be living in4 ,we had the upper hand now1 and every woman turning a shell or driving a crane in ,england had helped us to have it4 ,we have it now still more securely4 ,since that time we have learnt the technique of attack--how to keep what we take and how to take what we want at no more than it need cost in lives4 ,we have won1 in hard fight1 the best of all posts of observation--the sky1 so that during the great engagements last year on the ,somme there was not a ,german aeroplane to be seen in the air while ours were ranging everywhere over the battlefield1 each with its eyes on the enemy's lines and its voice at the ear of our guns4 ,our men and the gunners have now crossed bayonets so often that all the old awe in which ,europe held the men of ,sedan and ,sadowa is gone2 boys from ,wiltshire and ,worcestershire farms1 recruits of a few months before1 have chased ,prussian guardsmen uphill out of their trenches and then held these ruined defences against all that those picked products of intensive military culture could do to regain them4 ,all this turning of tables has been brought about by one cause1 in the sense that if that cause had been absent1 the care and skill of the finest leaders1 the daring of all our airmen1 the staunchness of all our infantry would have been strength to no purpose4 ,munition workers have woven the curtain of smoke that our gunners now draw between our advancing troops and the eyes of their enemy4 ,it is munitions that1 thrown from our howitzers1 make level roads through the tangles of wire on which1 in the old days1 the corpses of whole platoons of our men were hung up to rot and look1 from far off1 like washing put out to dry on thorned hedges4 ,it is munitions that1 when we attack1 hold back the hostile supports behind a wall of falling bullets as hard to pass as ,adam found the flaming sword at the gate4 ,it is1 then1 not without reason that in this sheaf of drawings of the war on the ,western front are included some drawings of guns and shells in the making4 ,they are drawings of victory in the making1 and of the saving of hundreds of thousands of ,british lives4 ,g4,h4,q41 ,,france1 ,march1 #aiag ,,lxi ,,mounting ,a ,,great ,,gun ,one of the largest guns viewed from the breech4 ,however many large guns may have been turned out by the same men before1 a glow of pride is always felt in a gun shop when one more masterpiece like this is ready at last to go out to its work in the field4 ,illustration ,,lxii ,,erecting ,,aeroplanes ,a great contrast to the scenes in the gun shop4 ,here everything is light and delicate1 the bright1 varnished wood curved to delicate shapes like violins1 the women flitting with their needlecraft around the wide1 dazzling planes and the brilliant pigmy engines shining like jewels--all seem gay and exhilarating after the sombre company of the guns4 ,there is even a lightsome airiness about the thought that these delicate creations fly away from their makers' hands when completed and do not burden any railway with their transit4 ,illustration ,,lxiii ,,an ,,aeroplane ,,on ,,the ,,stocks ,another view of the same shop4 ,close to1 the propeller seems a great thing1 wonderfully subtle in its graceful curves4 ,illustration ,,lxiv ,,the ,,giant ,,slotters ,these machines are among the largest of their kind4 ,a row of them1 jutting colossally forward like the heads of ,egyptian sculptured lions1 make an impressive feature in the spacious avenues of a great machine shop4 ,the nearer machine is at work on part of a big gun mounting4 ,illustration ,,lxv ,,night ,,work ,,on ,,the ,,breech ,,of ,a ,,great ,,gun ,the breech is open3 underneath it1 hidden from sight1 the mechanics are at work4 ,such a scene has a special appeal to those who loved the stories of ,jules ,verne in their youth4 ,these largest of all guns seem as if they could fulfil the hopes of ,verne's sanguine ,president of the ,gun ,club and justify his fervid belief in ballistics as your only science4 ,illustration ,,lxvi ,,the ,,howitzer ,,shop ,howitzers of various calibres are in the background2 in the foreground1 guns of lighter types4 ,guns are like ships2 each piece seems endowed with a personality which endears it to its creators4 ,the soldiers to whose keeping they are sent feel a similar tenderness towards their own special charge4 ,they express it by giving them fond names like 8,saucy ,sue10 8,sweet ,seventeen10 8,jill ,johnson10 8,our ,lizzie10 and 8',ria40 ,illustration ,,lxvii ,,the ,,night ,,shift ,,working ,,on ,a ,,big ,,gun 8,a scene10 the artist writes1 8so romantic in its mingling of grimness and mystery that one thinks with compunction of the long line of romantic artists whose lot it was not to have seen it60 ,the work on hand seems carried on by noiseless ghosts1 so completely is the noise of their labours drowned by the incessant hum of machines4 ,illustration ,,lxviii ,,some ,,great ,,guns ,a sketch in the heavy gun bay4 ,the size of these unmounted guns may be judged by the figures at work near them4 ,illustration ,,lxix ,,moving ,,heavy ,,gun ,,tubes ,this is a corner in the gun shop where heavy gun forgings of all sorts lie about1 awaiting their turn on the machines4 ,the overhead crane is lifting one of the guns4 ,many of these cranes are being driven by women4 ,illustration ,,lxx ,a ,,coring ,,machine ,,at ,,work ,,on ,a ,,big ,,gun ,,tube ,the big gun tube is rotating slowly while the tool inside scoops out long shavings of the metal like cheese parings4 ,the mounting heaps of the metal shavings are constantly cleared away4 ,the iridescent colours of these shavings 7showing the different temperings of the steel7 present surprisingly beautiful effects to the eye1 tired with the bewildering rotations of the immense gun tubes on their machines4 ,illustration ,,lxxi ,,ruins ,,near ,,arras ,landscape near ,arras is like the biblical vine hanging over a wall--8,all the archers have shot at her40 ,injured1 but not yet destroyed1 the woods seem like creatures scared1 as if the trees themselves were possessed with the disquiet of dryads crouching somewhere in hiding4 ,many different parts of the front have their own almost personal expression1 but it is seldom one of fear4 ,at and around ,arras this expression of alarm is so curiously strong that1 if he transgressed prose1 the visitor might fancy the taut bulrushes were nature's hair standing on end1 and a slight stir in the poplars her shudder4 ,by some means1 which a layman cannot mark down1 ,mr4 ,bone has suffused his drawing with his own sense of the tragic queerness of this vacuous and unnerved landscape4 ,illustration ,,lxxii ,,on ,,the ,,somme3 ,,in ,,the ,,old ,,no ,,man',s ,,land ,high ground near 8,king ,george's ,hill10 whence the ,king viewed the main battlefield of #aiaf2 the drawing shows this in the distance4 ,the foreground was won last ,july by the ,manchesters4 ,they found in ,no ,man's ,land the bodies of many ,frenchmen killed in earlier fighting1 and buried them beside their own dead4 ,not all the bodies could be identified3 ,some of the crosses shown in the drawing bear such inscriptions as 8,in honoured ,memory of ,two ,unknown ,french ,soldiers1 buried here40 ,illustration ,,lxxiii 7a and b7 ,a ,,road ,,near ,,the ,,front ,the canvas screen on the left remains from a time when this stretch of road was under enemy observation4 ,the battle of the ,somme has left it far behind the front4 ,from a point just beyond the trees indicated upon the skyline on the right every detail of a part of the fighting on ,july #ast1 #aiaf1 could be seen4 ,illustration ,a ,,train ,,of ,,lorries ,whether on the road between a rail-head and the front1 or during a halt by the way1 or at rest in their own park1 the lorries of a ,division keep their proper distance or interval from each other1 like men on parade4 ,if one falls lame it is taken in tow2 if disabled past towing1 it falls out and waits for a first-aid mobile workshop to come and repair it4 ,the scene here is one of the two chief roads to the ,somme front4 ,in ,july and ,august1 #aiaf1 the procession of lorries along it was often unbroken for several miles4 ,field railways have much lightened its traffic since then4 ,illustration ,,lxxiv ,,on ,,the ,,somme4 ,r4,f4,c4 ,,men ,,building ,,their ,,winter ,,hut ,to most ,english soldiers it is one of the compensations1 and not of the hardships1 of active service that they so often have to do work which is not their own trade nor a regular part of all soldiering4 ,they find a flavour of the sport of peace-time camping-out in the work of making or finding their own shelter from the weather4 ,sometimes it is done1 as here1 with excellent materials1 sometimes with hardly any at all1 and the man who has built himself a rain-proof hut1 for one1 out of a few old biscuit tins1 some sticks and a waste piece of corrugated iron enjoys a special thrill of triumphant ingenuity4 ,illustration ,,lxxv ,,maricourt3 ,,the ,,ruins ,,of ,,the ,,village ,near ,maricourt the ,british line ended1 and the ,french began1 during the battle of the ,somme4 ,blue and khaki were equally blended in the endless lines of traffic passing both ways through ,maricourt and raising a barrage of dust all along the road to ,bray-sur-,somme4 ,at ,maricourt crossroads there was a doubled post of military police1 one man ,british and one ,french1 ready with rebuke or instruction in either tongue4 ,the place is now several miles behind the ,british front1 and its old animation is gone4 ,it and the woods near it are less completely destroyed than most of the neighbouring villages4 ,many walls are standing2 even a few roofs remain4 ,illustration ,,lxxvi ,,on ,,the ,,somme1 ,,near ,,mametz ,the ,german front line1 until ,july #ast1 #aiaf1 run a few yards on the spectator's side of the two dismounted figures in the foreground4 ,in the background are the bare poles of ,mametz ,wood4 ,the nearest figure can be known for an ,australian1 by his hat4 ,illustration ,,lxxvii ,a ,,market ,,place4 ,,transport ,,resting ,after work the divisional motor transport lorries return methodically to their own parks4 ,during long journeys they rest now and then1 tucked into the right of the road or standing in a market place1 while the men eat their haversack rations4 ,mixed with the lorries here are their seniors1 the covered vans of ,french country carriers and1 still older1 the long1 low1 ,french farm wagons now drawn by horses1 but built1 as is shown by the very low pole1 for draught oxen4 ,in the market place there wait also the cars of ,british staff officers visiting the town4 ,the handsome building in the background has its red-brick faade set off with alternating square bosses of white stone1 on each side of the windows1 after the custom of #agth and early #ahth century builders4 ,illustration ,,lxxviii 7a and b7 ,,the 8,,blighty ,,boat0 ,,and ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,leaving a ,french base port4 ,the artist has contrived to suggest in his drawing of the homeward hastening leave-boat the happy eagerness with which the eyes and minds of all on board are turned westward4 ,the slower hospital ship is just leaving the harbour4 ,there is no possibility of any honest failure to distinguish1 by day or night1 the black painted lightless transport from the hospital ship with its gleaming white and light-green paint and its festal-looking tiers and crosses of scores of brilliant green and red lamps4 ,illustration ,,scottish ,,troops ,,on ,a ,,troopship ,there are some ,scottish soldiers on all troopships4 ,on this one there were no others4 ,the ,highlanders on the drawing have the good fortune to be on deck and also not to be crowded4 ,on most troopships the men1 if on deck1 look1 at a little distance1 like a solid brown mass4 ,illustration ,,lxxix ,,troops ,,returning ,,from ,,the ,,ancre ,a unit coming back from the trenches to rest is unlike anything ever seen at home4 ,everyone is dead tired2 everyone1 though washed and shaved1 has caked mud on his uniform2 most of the men are stooping to get well under the weight of their packs and so ease the cut of the straps on their shoulders2 cooks and a few footsore men trail behind the transport wagons and field kitchens1 taking a tow with one hand4 ,odds and ends of light baggage are carried in little1 almost toy-like hand-carts1 the men pulling them by many ropes and pushing them from behind4 ,some men1 perhaps1 are wearing ,german helmets4 ,everyone's face has a look of contented collapse1 the restful reaction of senses and nerves relaxed after many days of strained attention and short sleep4 ,the weary and happy procession serpentines slowly across the chalk downs1 carried along by the rhythm of the swing it has learnt from months of route marching in ,england4 ,illustration ,,lxxx ,a ,,hospital ,,ship ,,at ,a ,,base ,the ship's large wooden ,red ,cross1 to be illuminated at night with electric lights1 is seen near the centre of the drawing4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,the ,,british ,,navy ,,and ,,the ,,western ,,front ,our ,western front is a line that does not really end at the sea4 ,if it did1 then its left flank might be turned4 ,but its real left flank is not there4 ,it is somewhere far out on a line that runs north-west of ,nieuport1 through and beyond the ,north ,sea4 ,the ,british soldier in ,belgium or ,france may not see much of the ,navy itself4 ,but every day brings him some proof that the ,navy is holding its part of the line4 ,his letters never go wrong1 and he knows that1 but for the ,fleet1 they would have to make their way to him like swimmers across a bay full of sharks4 ,it is faith in the ,navy that makes the men going on leave laugh when obeying the order to put on lifebelts on leaving harbour4 ,in the soldier's mind that long left flank of our line is not forgotten but rather written off1 once for all1 as unbreakable4 ,he puts much the same sort of trust in the power of the ,fleet as he puts in the affection of friends at home4 ,to him it is one of the things that need never be feared for2 it cannot fail4 ,this is not to say that soldiers underrate the hardness of the ,navy's task4 ,a few sailors visit the front from time to time and hold curious arguments with the soldiers1 each side being deeply convinced that the other has the harder time of it4 ,the soldier's imagination is struck by the large proportion of deaths among the casualties of naval war and by visions of night duty on vessels at sea in bad winter weather4 ,what strikes the sailor1 in presence of the imperfections of dug-outs1 is the soldier's hardship of not being able to 8go below0 into some small cubic space of warmth and dryness when action is over or a watch is through4 ,when a naval officer1 who visited the ,somme front last summer1 and saw a fight near ,martinpuich1 rejoined the ship that he commanded1 he paraded his whole ship's company and spent two hours in telling them what a rough time the soldiers had1 and what fine work they were doing4 ,the generosity of the praise made his soldier guide feel almost ashamed1 remembering the almost instant fate of the 8,cressy10 8,aboukir10 and 8,hogue10 and the obedience of the 8,theseus0 to the heart-breaking order to abandon her sinking consort4 ,few officers or men from the western front can visit the ,fleet2 but the winds of chance1 which blow casualties and convalescents all about ,great ,britain1 drop a few of them down in spots where the ,fleet1 as ,mr4 ,bone draws it1 is under their eyes4 ,drawings like those of 8,a ,fleet ,seascape0 7,,lxxxix7 and 8,a ,line of ,destroyers0 7,,lxxxvi7 awake recollections of guard duty in a small ,scotch fishing village2 of the majestic seaward procession through the midsummer night1 before the battle of ,jutland2 of the return from the fight1 the destroyers streaming tranquilly back to their moorings under the hill1 with the great searchlight wheeling to and fro along the sea outside them1 like a sentry moving alertly on his post2 a few wounded ships steaming in more sedately1 or taking a tow1 one with a couple of funnels knocked out of the straight1 another with a field-dressing of bedding stuffed into a hole in her side1 and the whole wound1 apparently1 smeared with red paint1 as the surgeons smear flesh wounds with yellow2 and then of the coming ashore1 the men triumphant and happy1 the officers learning with astonishment and indignation that people at home had heard more of losses than of the victory4 ,mr4 ,bone's drawings give an insight into the world of the ,navy to which these random glimpses can add nothing4 8,h4,m4,s4 #8,lion' in dry dock0 7,,lxxxiii7 is wonderful1 technically--if a layman may judge--and in spirit4 ,a whole aspect of modern naval life is lit up by 8,a boiler-room on a battleship0 7,,xciii74 ,for1 to the astonished landsman visiting a man-of-war1 the sailors of to-day seem to work and eat and sleep in a variety of engineering laboratories1 surrounded by countless wheels1 handles1 buttons and bells for the evocation or dismissal of the genies of steam1 petrol and electricity4 ,nothing could be more unlike the lower decks of seventeenth and eighteenth century battleships as we imagine them4 ,the only things which have not changed1 from the days of ,drake to those of ,hawke1 and from ,nelson's time to ,beatty's1 are the hereditary instinct for the sea and the fine fighting temperament of officers and men4 ,g4 ,h4 ,q41 ,,france1 ,april1 #aiag ,,lxxxi 8,,oiling03 ,a ,,battleship ,,taking ,,in ,,oil ,,fuel ,,at ,,sea ,viewed from the bridge4 ,a large oil 8tanker0 is alongside4 ,unseen1 but very fast1 the oil fuel is running into the battleship4 ,how great a boon this new fuel is can be understood1 at any rate partly1 by those who have endured the coaling of a great ship in the old way4 ,the scene shown in the drawing was animated by the changeful gleam of the gay signal flags flapping in the foreground and by the flashing of the wings of innumerable hungry gulls4 ,illustration ,,lxxxii ,,on ,a ,,battle-,,cruiser 7,h4,m4,s4 8,,lion07 ,the ship's funnel behind and the sailor's figure on the left help to give the scale of the great gun4 ,illustration ,,lxxxiii ,h4,m4,s4 8,,lion0 ,,in ,,dry ,,dock ,the great hull we see here has seen more battling in the present war than any other of our 8capital0 ships4 ,officially 8sunk0 by the ,germans1 she will yet prove a troublesome ghost to them4 ,in the foreground the dockyard workers are busily surveying the ship's ,gargantuan cables for weakened or damaged links4 ,illustration ,,lxxxiv ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,lowering ,a ,,boat ,,from ,,the ,,main ,,derrick ,the 8,main ,derrick0 is a great crane and lifts a heavy boat like the one in the drawing1 or an ,admiral's barge1 out of the water and stows it on deck with the greatest ease4 ,illustration ,,lxxxv ,,approaching ,a ,,battleship ,,at ,,night ,a battleship revealed by the beam of its own searchlight4 ,a big gun emerges in silhouette1 as well as a sentry on duty4 ,one feels considerable awe when threading one's way in a small picket boat between the ships of the ,fleet at night4 ,illustration ,,lxxxvi ,a ,,line ,,of ,,destroyers ,a line of destroyers at anchor4 ,seen from a distance1 in this formation1 a long line of destroyers looks curiously like a battalion drawn up in line of platoons in file1 at a wide interval1 and standing on the sea4 ,it will be remembered that the battle of ,jutland was as much a battle of destroyers as of any other type of warship4 ,illustration ,,lxxxvii ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,a ,,gun ,,turret ,part of the deck of one of the most famous of ,british ships1 cleared for action4 ,illustration ,,lxxxviii ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,in ,,the ,,forth ,britain has many beautiful estuaries1 but the ,forth has features like the distant ,highland hills and its enormous ,bridge which make it unique among our waterways4 ,the ,bridge makes even the largest warship seem a pigmy1 yet one has a queer sensation when about to pass under it for the first time2 one momentarily expects all the ship's top hamper to be carried away--everything about the ,bridge being on so big a scale that what is safely distant seems perilously close4 ,illustration ,,lxxxix 7a and b7 ,a ,,fleet ,,seascape ,to the left a group of destroyers are gathered round a parent ship4 ,to the right is the beginning of an imposing line of battleships4 ,illustration ,,the ,,crew ,,at ,a ,,small ,,gun ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,from this point of view the shield partly hides the muzzle of the gun4 ,the gun crew are listening to instructions4 ,note the 8,navy ,warm0 worn by the figure in the middle3 often1 when the weather is 8fine0 from the landsman's point of view1 it is still bitterly cold on the ,north ,sea4 ,two larger guns can be seen protruding from their turret in the deck below4 ,illustration ,,xc ,,the ,,fo',c',,sle ,,of ,a ,,battleship ,the crew of a ,battleship at 8,general ,drill0 on a brisk spring morning is an exhilarating sight to the spectator posted at a quiet corner well out of the way4 ,the band of the ,marines plays1 and the maximum of everything possible seems to be going on at once4 ,in the sketch the ship's boats have been launched and are making their way with steady stroke out to a neighbouring ship and back4 ,illustration ,,xci ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,the ,,after ,,deck ,the delicate but firm precision of the drawing conveys aptly the general air of a man-of-war's deck1 where everything is intricate without confusion1 and busy without fuss4 ,illustration ,,xcii ,,inside ,,the ,,turret ,interior of a ,big ,gun ,turret on a ,battleship1 with the crew at their stations4 ,the breech of the gun is open and looks gigantic in this confined space where every inch is made to serve some purpose4 ,an officer is seen in the gangway between the twin guns1 but of course the higher direction of the firing is transmitted from the 8,fire control0 station situated elsewhere4 ,illustration ,,xciii ,a ,,boiler ,,room ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,the vessel is oil-driven1 so the stoke-hold is robbed of its old terrors and is remarkably cool4 ,the stokers seem few in proportion to the size of the place1 but they are experts of a higher class than coal furnaces required4 ,illustration ,,xciv 7a and b7 ,,practice ,,firing3 ,,big ,,guns ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,here the scale of the great guns is only given by the dwarfed rail beneath and by the long stretch of horizon which the funnels subtend4 ,but no merely physical ratio can convey the impression of enormousness that a great naval gun makes on the imagination4 ,by subtler technical means the artist has managed to transfuse this impression from his own imagination to that of the spectator of the drawing4 ,illustration ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,sunset ,,after ,a ,,wet ,,day ,the sailor has much to bear from the weather1 but at any rate he sees to extraordinary advantage the glories of sunset and the 8incomparable pomp of dawn10 unsullied by the smoke of the land4 ,illustration ,,xcv ,,on ,a ,,battleship3 ,,airing ,,blankets ,an unfamiliar aspect of a warship to the public1 but1 to ,jack1 it returns with unfailing regularity once a week4 ,in the cramped space it requires careful management to keep all the great crew in health and comfort4 ,illustration ,,xcvi ,,captain ,,cyril ,,fuller1 ,c4,m4,g41 ,d4,s4,o41 ,,royal ,,navy ,illustration ,,xcvii ,,the ,,fleet',s ,,post ,,office ,to the right is an old hulk which now serves as a sorting office for the ,fleet's ,post4 ,around it there is at certain hours a busy scene1 picket boats coming from the various ships to deliver or collect their mails4 ,illustration ,,xcviii ,,in ,,the ,,submerged ,,torpedo ,,flat ,,of ,a ,,battleship ,interior of the ,chamber from which the torpedoes are fired4 ,the torpedo in the foreground is partly engaged in the tube through which it will be fired4 ,to the right is seen the exterior of another tube4 ,the men are lowering1 for stowage in safety1 a trial torpedo which has been fired for a practice run and then re-captured4 ,illustration ,,xcix ,,sailors ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,,making ,,munitions ,,for ,,the ,,army ,this is ,jack at his handiest1 especially from the ,army point of view4 ,the party are using spare time to make 8grommets0 of rope-work to go round the bases of #i4b shells4 ,not many people1 even in the ,army1 know that the ,army have come to look to the men of the ,fleet for a great supply of these necessaries4 ,illustration ,c ,,the ,,cinema ,,on ,a ,,battleship ,a relaxation immensely popular and quite easy for the handy men1 who abound in the ,navy1 to equip and run4 ,being their own child1 each ship takes a pride in its 8pictures40 ,the operator in this case was the ,chief ,mechanician of the ship and the film the 8,battle of the ,ancre40 ,in the centre are a group of midshipmen1 to the right a group of warrant officers4 ,in the foreground will be observed the ever ready fire hose4 ,illustration