Trones Wood! That name had been drummed into my ears for days. It seemed to have a fascination for me. I asked several men to describe the place. "Quite impossible, sir; there baint anything like it on earth, and if hell is at all like it then I have been there. It's dead; just dead--dead--dead! And the smell--awful." "Is Fritz strafing there much?" "Yes, sir, he's at it all day: there's not room for a cat to hide in, so why Fritz is dropping his souvenirs there heaven knows; I don't." From the description the place seemed rather satisfactory from a scenic point of view, so I made up my mind to try and film it, as I wanted scenes of heavy bombardment which I could get if Fritz was concentrating upon the wood, for the Hun is a tolerably safe person to deal with if he has a target to fire at; he is so methodical. Going up by my car as far as the top of Camoy Valley, I left it there near a dressing station. [Illustration: FILMING THE KING DURING HIS VISIT TO FRANCE IN 1916. HE IS ACCOMPANIED BY PRESIDENT POINCARÉ, SIR DOUGLAS HAIG, GENERAL JOFFRE AND GENERAL FOCH] "Strafing!" I was out for "strafing," and by all appearances I was likely to get it hot and strong before long. I had only just stopped when a shell came hurtling overhead, falling about one hundred and fifty yards behind the dressing station. I went over to a doctor who was tending some wounded men--our own and Germans. "Has Fritz been sending you these souvenirs very often?" I enquired. The doctor rose, and mopping his forehead, grinned and replied: "Yes; the blighter won't let us alone. Why doesn't he play cricket? He must know this is Red Cross. That sign there," pointing to a large Red Cross lying on the ground, "is large enough to be seen by the men in Mars. Only this morning he put one bang through the roof of our dug-out, rewounding a lot of our chaps lying there. By the way, are you leaving your car there?" "Yes," I replied. "Well, you had better say good-bye to it; several of our ambulances have been strafed there." "Well," I said, "can't be helped; it must take its chance. I'm going to take a few scenes of you at work. Where did these Bosches come from?" "This morning, from Guillemont; our boys had a bit of a stunt on and landed a few of the beggars." I filmed various incidents showing the treatment of wounded prisoners. They received the same careful attention as our own men; whatever they asked for they had. Several padres were kneeling down beside our boys, taking down messages to be sent to their relatives. Stretcher after stretcher with its human freight of Briton and Hun was deposited on the ground. Immediately doctors and orderlies were upon their knees tending to their wants with a gentleness that was wonderful. While I was there several shells fell and exploded only a short distance away.