THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1916. HOW FRENCHMEN FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2715, 9 March 1916, Page 4

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1916. HOW FRENCHMEN FIGHT

The tremendous battle which is now being fought in tho neighbourhood of Verdun; though it may appear to suit the plans of the Entente .lowers, is putting the valour and endurance of t'he French troops to the most searching test. It is impossible ior the imagination of man to pic- , ture a more terrific ordeal than that which tho soldiers of 1 ranee are at present going through. Tho tremendous artillery bombardment, followed by the terrific onslaught of masses of German troops, have caused them to fall back at one or two points, but they have inflicted terrible punishment on the enemy, and their Tine remains unbroken. In his description of one phase of the battle, Mr. ■Warner.Allen gives an illuminating insight into the spirit and character of French sold'icrs. He tells us how they have gladly given up their lives 1 n fi ? hfci ,"S to Sain time", and after all the battering which they have undergone for over a week, ' they "still retain their dash." Their morale is unshakable. "Wo will stay there t'ill we are killed," said one, "so'make sure the reserves are able r,o get up." Another man who had lost his right Hand cheerfully remarked : "I offered my life to France, and she has ti:ken one hand only." French bravery is in some respects different from the bravery of other nations. There is a dramatic touch about it. The Frenchman, for instance, does not keep such a tight rein on hit} feelings as an Englishman. He is not afraid to let himself go. He always has an eye to artistic effect. He even likes to die This characteristic is described in a striking way by a Belgian lady in an article entitled "How they die." She points out that in French literature the review articlo, the short story, seem to bo but a loading up to the peroration,' the final word—satisfying if it is expected, fascinating if it Is paradoxical. And so "the Frenchman loves to seal his dying hour with a word— a word which sums him up and carries him off with a flourish,- Striving unconsciously -after effect, his wholo soul rises to his white lips in a cry of love, piety, or heroic mockery." As an illustration the lady tells of a young dragoon- who had been shot through the body by an explosive bullet. When the haemorrhage set in, he "watched the. flowing tide, and,_ raising himself on his wrists, quivering with enthusiasm, cried out: 'Let God take my blood, but may France be victorious!"' This is tho French way. It is natural to them. It is appropriate to their national temperament. A French soldier in his letters will declare his readiness to offer his life as a "sacrifice for France." "If I die," writes the youngest son of a family of fanners, "you may be sure that it will bo bravely, with my face to the enemy, and giving my life for God and for France."

The English soldier is just as ready to sacrifice his life jor his country, but he does not talk about his patriotism with the same freedom as his French comrades. His mind has been cast in a different •mould. If he spoke of Britain and his affection for her with the same fervour, as Frcnchnwm speak ofFrance his mends might think he was "posing," so he prefers to talk of "playing the game." And yet is not his reserve really just as >uich a pose as the Frenchman's ardour'/ The Belgian lady, already referred to, _is of opinion that it is. Sbo believes that the Briton's impassiveness is simply a pose—a traditional hereditary pose, which has become part and parcel of the individual. The ; Briton, she says, "shows his feelings but little on the surface: j perhaps they are all the deeper and moro sincero for that." The French admire the, steadfast courage and grim determination of the British soldier; but they are a little puzzled 1 at the way in which he regards war as sport on a great scalc, even moro exciting than-football or big-game shooting. This flippant trait in our national character Frenchmen do not quite understand. They do not attempt to conceal their realisation of the terrible seriousness. of war, and they wonder a-t the outward levity of our men. In a recent article in the Review. Mh. Edmund Gosse states that few expressions have been more widely repeated in France than the saying attributed to a soldier in the trenches, who, at the moment when ,an assault on the enemy was ordered, cried out "Debout les marts." It is,..says Mh. Gosse, "the dead, the dead of ten centuries of vicissitude and jglory, who rise at this moment to light with their living brethren for their heritage of humanity and liberty and light against the dark genius of Prussian slavery and tyranny." That is a characteristically French touch.'. Yet bravery is bravery, and nothing else, though it may be shown in different ways. And one of the revelations of the war both in France and England is the marvellous courage and the almost unlimited capacity for endurance and self-sacrifice displayed by all sorts and conditions of men who never imagined two years ago that they would be fighters in the biggest fight in the world's history. A French adjutant who was awarded the mcdaille militaire for exceptionally. brave conduct was questioned by his General as to his calling in civilian life. "I am the son of the proprietor of a night restaurant, and I help my father," he replied. That is said to be typical' of the French Army—of the men who are at tlie present moment fighting and dying; with such magnificent courage for Franca in the great battle raging around Verdun. And is it not abo typical of the armies of the British Empire, wizard composed of men taken from every walk of life—farmers, clerks, teachers, lawyers, shopmen, and representatives of every other trade and profession'? The war has lirought to light the latent heroism of the average man.