Whether or not Bosche had seen movement I don't know, but suddenly a group of four 5·9 came crashing over. Everybody ducked—wise plan, rather, out here—they fell and burst about fifty yards behind us. I awaited the next lot; they came very shortly and fell in almost the same place.
"Before he shortens the range," I thought, "I'll move," and suiting the action to the word I moved out towards the Bois de Savy and was half-way there when another lot burst in my direction. This time I made for the Bois de Holnon, and fortunately the shells ceased.
As I reached the furthest side of the Bois de Savy several tear shells came whistling over and burst just behind me. Needless to say I had fallen flat, and, as I arose, the sweet smell of tear gas made itself evident. Not intending to risk a repetition of my previous experience at Beaumont Hamel, I closed my eyes and ran like—well, you couldn't see me for dust.
Yard by yard we continued to press back the enemy. For me the film story of the taking of St. Quentin is an obsession. It holds me as a needle to a magnet. And in this section, at the present, I remain—waiting and watching.
My leave is fast running out, and I am nearing the end of my story. In all the pictures that it has been my good fortune to take during the two and a half years that I have been kept at work on the great European battlefield, I have always tried to remember that it was through the eye of the camera, directed by my own sense of observation, that the millions of people at home would gain their only first-hand knowledge of what was happening at the front.
I have tried to make my pictures actual and reliable, above all I have striven to catch the atmosphere of the battlefield, and whilst I have dwelt as little as possible upon its horrors, I have aimed at showing the magnificent spirit which imbues our fighting men, from the highest in command to the humblest unit in the ranks.
I am proud to think that the task of doing this has been mine, and in doing it, I have tried "to do my bit" for the land that gave me birth.
THE END