 D.W. Griffith (qv) filmed some battle scenes during actual battles  at the front in France. While he was out near the front trenches  scouting locations, his party came under a surprise German artillery  barrage. Griffith and his assistant jumped in a nearby ditch, and  when the barrage was over they emerged from the ditch to discover  that although they were uninjured, a shell had exploded near the  ditch, killing the two soldiers acting as their escorts, along with  a dozen other soldiers standing nearby.