'Artillery F.O.O & Signaller going up old German trench to observe for a shoot. Somme, Nov: 1916.'

Pen and ink and watercolour by Lieutenant Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly MBE, MC, RI (1896-1971), Royal Field Artillery, 1916.

Two figures (a Forward Observation Officer and signaller) wading through a water-filled trench on the Western Front during World War One (1914-1918).

The artist's caption continues, 'A walking stick was invaluable to feel for shell holes in the mud.'.

As part of an 18-pounder gun battery crew, Talbot Kelly took part in many of the major offensives of the Western Front, including the Battle of Loos (1915), the Battle of the Somme (1916), the Battle of Arras (1917) and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917). He regularly served as a Forward Observation Officer, tasked with spotting where the artillery shells were landing. The unique vantage point of the battlefields that this job gave him, obviously inspired his illustrations.