HOW THE FRENCH FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2352, 7 January 1915, Page 5

HOW THE FRENCH FIGHT

BRAVERY UNHONOURED

, BY THE ENGLISH PRESS

The debonair way in which the British soldier fightfl is much commented on in France, writeß a correspondent of the "Westminster Gazette. There ia

a> story going the round of Paris'of a . well-known diplomat representing one j of the smaller nations, who recently,,' visited the English front in order, to . make inquiry concerning a very old)fiend, a British officer, who had been 1 £ 5 military attache at the same Court ia , Europe with this diplomat,- and. withiij whom he had formed a lasting frietieliip. ; The officer was severely wounded; and/? " the diplomat, who is a brave man, hady ~v no hesitation in visiting a hospital with*■ : in the artillery, zone. On his-return to>, \ Paris, he said: ''These Englishmen are* really a wonderful race; the private soldiers laugh and joke in the trenches > with shells bursting and, manj a time it happens tney chaff each other J - about their wounds. One remarkedto a comrade the other day! after having been hit ia the leg, 'Hi, Bill, this bally; f ' old leg of mine's got to come off; I won-, der if they've got-any .spare legs up. oK-i . headquarterai" And in my ca6e,' : said,;' ; . the diplomat, "the Germans caught \ sight of my car on. the skyline; they-* landed thirty shells:.around-niejjlcilleql'i •my chauffeur, and gave me a shocks' which will last me all,my life; an3f> friends of mine tell me that my adventure is really the most amusing inci«i dent of the whole campaign." It is true . that the personal contempt of the Brit-> ish private for the German soldiery iß*' : a .very powerful asset to the Allies, ant?., this feeling is now spreading to - land, where no amount-of casualty lists - has any deterrent effect upon recruit-' ■ ing; on the contrary, it seems to stimulate it. The greatest satisfaction is expressed in-Parisian circles and elsewhere >vith the splendid co-operation of the Allied Armies at the present moment in their efforts to repulse the Teuton foe from the region of the; principal ports , Northern France, and 1 of the perfect ao-.*| r cord existing betwen General Joffre \ the Commander-in-Chief of the Britisau. Force9. ; But among those of us who.'i areion ,the.J3ontinent the-.- , battle linoj there is a feeling • that _too, much praise is given in the English Press to the English Amy; it is full of-, the .exploits' of the British troops, while those of. the French Army, witn ■ their deeds of daring and acts of eal-' lantry, are not sufficiently linked with them, or brought before the public in Great Britain. .A few soft people are actually* say-- ' ing that as Boon as the Germans are beaten out of France the French will give in and make a peace. Never was such an insult directed at a brave nation—a nation that for forty-four jears ... has been preparing to wipe out the hu« milialtions perpetrated on its fore-; fathers, and which has already, eatfrt- £ ficed over 300,000 men to this cause.. Some little misunderstanding _ may. t perhaps, be expected between Allies or different race, temperament, and language, though undoubtedly the French l and the English have got on well to- • gether during this war, and created a j lasting and sincere, friendship. One • cannot help noticing the cordial and spontaneous references to the braye and gallant Allies which appear so &e* 1 quently in the French _ Press. . The 1 world 'knows the fine fighting qualities / of the Frenoh, and nobody better than the British, who have repeatedly had occasion to test them; and it is to be ; hoped that the same frank and un- * . stinted admiration may be eulti-, vated in England for the French' soldiers as is lavished by tbem upon our troops. One recalls a story, of the Gorman Emperor at Sedan, when the French cavalry were charging with all • the dash and eclat of men on parade, to certain destruction and death. It •is said the Emperor was greatly affected by the sight, exclaiming over and over again, as the tears ran down his cheeks. V "The brave fellows, the brave'fellows.' I The spirit of France, has not changed. •• The valour of her troops never shone A with brighter lustro than in this war. Paris is full of stories of the daring feats of their iscouts, their cavalry, their aviators, not to speak of the : weeks of iterrifto fighting which the thousands of unknown heroes filling the ; French Army have been and are doing, - holding in check what has always been considored the army par excellence of \ the world, and driving them surely and steadily baok, in spite of their deter- . mined and desperate efforts to advances ' 5 The father of one young hero lrrites , : me the following letter announcing his ' sou's death: "To you who loved him I wish to announce personally his loss. : He was killed at —— the — day of ' . ——, thirty yards in advance of his troop, which he was leading in a bayonet charge on the German trenches.' His noble forehead was riddled with bullets fired at him at four yards' distance by the Germans. Ho received four bullets also in his chest.. In sprto of this it was five hours before ho reri-

dercd his beautiful soul to God." .One

could multiply incidents of this kind of everyday heroism wliioh. exists in tile French Army as well as . in our own.

Our Allies are generous and unstinted in the pmiso'.of our men. Let, us meet: them on the same ground, and as we •try to rival our gallant Allies in valour, ■ let us also endeavour to ajjifctafi thm ,