The wind was blowing forty knots, which prevented the use of the French aeroplanes, but it cleared the air, and, helped by brilliant sunshine, it was possible to follow the smoke of the battle for fifteen miles.

The wind was blowing toward our right, where we were told were the English, and though as their shrapnel burst we could see the flash of guns and rings of smoke, the report of the guns did not reach us.

It gave the curious impression of a bombardment conducted in utter silence.
From our left the wind carried the sounds clearly.

The jar and roar of the cannon were insistent, and on both sides of the valley the hilltops were wrapped with white clouds.

Back of us in the wheat-fields shells were setting fire to the giant haystacks and piles of grain, which in the clear sunshine burned a blatant red.