rear.  No. 3 shows Serbian villagers placing wreaths on the graves of fallen countrymen.  Photograph No. 4 lets us realise something of the heroic part the women villagers took in helping to achieve the triumph.  As the battle took shape they came forward and cheered the men-folk on, calling out “Napred, braco, Napred,” “Forward, brothers, forward,” also helping (as our photograph shows) to push the cannon and ease the worn-out horses.  Yet another instance of the work the Serbian women did is shown in our page photograph.  Owing to the lack of Red Cross men attendants, the peasant women took on themselves to serve as stretcher-bearers, bringing in the wounded, as these fell in fight, to the dressing-tents in the villages and the churches, which were used as hospitals.—­[Photos. by Topical.]

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44—­THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.—­[Part 21]

[Illustration:  WITH “SPIT” HELD BY RIFLES, A SPADE, AND A COUPLE OF STICKS:  COOKING THE CHRISTMAS GEESE AT THE FRONT.]

There was no Christmas truce at the front.  The grim realities of the war over-rode all considerations of sentiment, and the hope which was, for a while, common to both sides had to be left unfulfilled.  None the less, the Season was not without its little luxuries, and, thanks to the excellent work of the Army Service Corps and the thoughtfulness of sympathetic friends at home, there was no dearth of substantial necessaries and comforts, as well as tobacco and cigarettes galore.  Our illustration shows a group of soldiers cooking their Christmas geese in the open, and as intent upon their task as though such conditions were quite orthodox and even such minor alarums as “spasmodic artillery duels, and local fusillades” were things unheard of.—­[Photo. by L.N.A.]

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THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914—­[Part 21]—­45

[Illustration:  CHRISTMAS AT THE FRONT:  BRITISH SOLDIERS BRINGING IN MISTLETOE.]

It is pleasant to think that, with all the dangers and anxieties of the war, our soldiers at the front paid tribute to the season of goodwill.  It is a reassuring picture, this of the two men in khaki, rifle on shoulder, but swinging from the deadly barrels berried mistletoe, so rich in suggestion of the happiness of Christmases when the scourge of war was not upon the nations.—­[Photograph by L.N.A.]

[Illustration:  TRYING A BRITISH DAINTY!  A FRENCH SOLDIER EATING CHRISTMAS PUDDING.]

The conditions under which tens of thousands of soldiers spent their Christmas were memorably abnormal, but, none the less, the season was not passed without such observance of old customs, and such care for all available good cheer, as were possible.  Our illustration shows a French soldier obviously enjoying his Christmas dinner despite the fact that he has to eat it by the wayside.—­[Photo. by Alfieri.]