"The whole road from here to the river Aisne is under very heavy shell fire all day, and it is only possible to move out at dusk. Even then we often come under shell fire; the guns are laid by angles; the distance is, of course, known, and at frequent intervals during the night shells are fired on the road or at the villages on the way, or at the bridgehead, four and a half miles from here. The enemy in his retirement blew up the bridge over the river, and our engineers have built a pontoon bridge to replace it. This bridge is under the enemy's guns, which shell it with great accuracy. Last night, on starting out--a pitch-dark night and raining hard--we could see the frequent flashes of the enemy's artillery, and hear and see the bursting shells. The whole of the road is lined with dead horses, and the smell is too dreadful for words. We had to halt some little time, as a village through which we had to pass was being shelled. These high-explosive shells make a most terrifying noise, and do dreadful damage when they hit something. When the shelling stopped we moved on, and finally reached the river. "It was impossible to get loaded wagons across a very shaky pontoon bridge in pitch darkness, with very steep banks down to it, and no side rails on it. The supplies had, therefore, to be dumped on this side. This was a matter of great difficulty in the dark and wet--a very narrow road, choked in places by dead horses, ambulances, and pontoons waiting to go forward, and a perpetual stream of wounded men being carried or helped past in the opposite direction. So black was it that I could not see my hand before my face; the only things which showed up were the white bandages of the wounded. "To add to the difficulty, we were waiting every second for the enemy to resume shelling. One shell among that congested crowd would have had dreadful results. We had not left the place more than half an hour when we saw the flashes of guns behind us. . . . We got back to this town at 3.30 a.m. This is what goes on every night--leaving at dusk, getting back at 3.30, and hoping the enemy will refrain from shelling until we are back." * * * * * [Illustration: In the German Trenches on the Aisne. This picture appeared in a Leipzig illustrated paper; it is drawn from a sketch by an eye-witness.] The following officers and men were awarded the Victoria Cross for deeds of outstanding gallantry during the fighting on the Aisne in September 1914:-- Captain Harry Sherwood Ranken, Royal Army Medical Corps, received the highest award of valour for tending wounded in the trenches under rifle and shrapnel fire on 19th and 20th September. He continued his merciful work after his thigh and leg had been shattered. Unhappily, he died of his wounds before the Cross was awarded to him.