on our way in the gathering darkness, we wound along the road to Ostel. Five or six kilometers be­ yond Vailly, we came to a cross-road where a large sign bore the word, "Ostel." Presumably this was the village of Ostel; yet we had to peer into the darkness intently before we saw the heaps of stone that told us men had once had their homes there. From Guy Empey and various war correspondents, we had learned of the “hell" that Sherman made famous. Stories of gas and H.E. (high explosive) shells, shrapnel, and whizz-bangs were uppermost in our minds. Nevertheless, it was not until we halted on the steep hill, just below our position, that any shells fell near us. Now the Boches began shelling a French battery position beside us.

Although no splinters reached us, the whine and crash of the shells made any orders to work fast quite unnecessary. No lights of any sort could be used, because of the danger of observation by Boche aero­ planes. By skillful driving, the four guns were brought safely past trenches, shell holes, and barbed wire to the gun pits. As rapidly as possible we put the guns into position, and unloaded the two wagons that carried kitchen, anti-gas, and personal equipment, telephones, observing instruments, and tools. Then we sought our dugouts. Nor was this quite as easy as it sounds. It was pitch dark. Trenches wound in all directions, and the dugouts were located here, there, and everywhere.

This position, we found, had been built by the French but had been abandoned for some time. As long as we could preserve the camouflage of aban-

CONTENTS
INDEX