As we passed through the Headquarters of General Nivelle, he
sent down word to us not to wait to call on him then, but to proceed
at once to Verdun as later the passage would become more
difficult. He kindly sent down to us one of the officers of his staff to
act as escort. The officer sat by our chauffeur, warning him of the'
dangerous spots in the road which the Germans had the habit of
"watering" from time to time with "marmites," and ordering him to
put on extra speed. Our speed along the road into Verdun
averaged well over a mile a minute.




The "Movies" Under Fire



Within range of the German guns, probably not more than four or
five kilometres from Verdun, we came on a line of men waiting
their turn to go into the cinema. After all there was no reason "de
s'en faire," and if they were alive they decided they might as well
be happy and amused. Just before entering the gate of Verdun we
passed a number of ambulances, some of them driven by the
American volunteers. These young Americans have displayed
splendid heroism in bringing in the wounded under difficult
conditions. Many of them have been mentioned in despatches,
and have received from France the Croix de Guerre. I also saw an
ambulance marked "Lloyds."

It would be useless to pretend that one entered Verdun without