The roof was of gray slate, high and sloping, with tall chimneys.
When the shell exploded the roof and chimneys disappeared.

You did not see them sink and tumble; they merely vanished.

They had been a part of the sky-line of Rheims; then a shell removed them and another roof fifteen feet lower down became the sky-line.
I walked to the edge of the city, to the northeast, but at the outskirts all the streets were barricaded with carts and paving-stones, and when I wanted to pass forward to the French batteries the officers in charge of the barricades refused permission.

At this end of the town, held in reserve in case of a German advance, the streets were packed with infantry.

The men were going from shop to shop trying to find one the Germans had not emptied.