'Running out the flank gun of a 4.5" Howitzer Bty. to escape Boche infantry coming round the flank of Bty, March 1918'

Pen and ink and watercolour by Lieutenant Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly MBE, MC, RI (1896-1971), Royal Field Artillery, 1918.

The inscription continues, '...The Bty. was still being shelled with Gas & H.E. & The German Infantry were afraid to close it'.

British artillerymen, on the Western Front during World War One (1914-1918), under counter-bombardment, moving a howitzer into to avoid attacking German infantry. Some of the crew wear gas masks while one has a bandaged head. The word 'Boche' in the title is one of the slang words, along with 'Hun', used by Allied troops to refer to the Germans.

As part of an 18-pounder gun battery crew, Talbot Kelly took part in many of the major offensives of the Western Front. 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, inspired him to draw his experiences.