FRENCHMAN PLANS DEATH BATTALION

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 306, 28 December 1939, Page 4

FRENCHMAN PLANS DEATH BATTALION

Hero of Verdun MEN PREPARED TO UNDERTAKE DESPERATE DEEDS PARIS. France's 1 I Death Battalion—Suicide Club—Daredevil Brigade" is neither a propaganda stunt nor a fantasy. Ac tne beginning of every war, one hears such stories—"human torpedoes” in Japan, or attempts at enlistment for any desperate service by patriotic individuals doomed by fatal maladies, writes ’Walter Duranty. When the Franco-German war began in 1870, Garibaldi’s veterans in Marseilles, TouSSn and Nice formed an organisation called “The Knights of Death" and wore a black uniform with a white skull and erossbones over the heart But the corps which former Lieutenant Jacques Perieard is now forming here is far more serious in purpose. Because Pericard’s name stands for something intensely heroic, ri*r and thrilling to all Frenchmen who remember the last war. He typified for his countrymen the miracle of French resistance at Verdun when, taken by surprise and attacked by superior forces in the early spring of 1915, the French made an outstanding rally and held an untenable position by sheer courage until reserves could be assembled. The whole French Army passed through Verdun and left there nearly a quarter of a million dead. The German losses were even heavier in the long drawn-out, terrific struggle. On April 8, Perieard, then a sergeant, called for volunteers to recover a "key" trench which the Germans had just occupied. Half of his men were killed in the first assault, but he persisted and won to the edge of the trench. Then he looked around him and saw —so it seemed—none save dead or wounded Frenchmen. He shouted, ‘‘Debout les Morts!”—"Arise, ye dead!’’ —and rushed the trench with a handful of soldiers. The phrase won a popularity in France almost equal to "they shall not pass,” which was France's motto at Verdun, and that summer General Gallieni, then War Minister, read a brief account of the incident to the Senate at the request of old Clemenceau Perieard himself was unwounded ‘"except,” as he told me quietly, "I was buried by a shell, but, luckily, the next one uncovored me again before I suffocated.” He received the War Cross, the Military Medal and the Legion of Honour, which was the first time the last-named decoration was given to any non-commissioned officer except an aviator. He is now 63, the father of eight children, a short, thick-set man, still active despite white hair, of Borrjchon peasant stock, a prominent member of the French Veterans' organisation. He said, “After the German seizure of Prague, I approached General Reissel, a member of the Supreme Military Council with a proposal to form a corps of volunteers from men—and women— unfit for mobilisation through age, illness, mutilation and other rea» sons. "It is not a theatrical suggestion, and, instead of the name ‘Death Battalion’ or that stuff, we prefer ‘Free Volunteers,’ meaning free for any mission, however perilous. Such men could not stand the strain of continuous soldiering, but could be useful for desperate acts.

“We have already offers from doctors and nurses for first-aid stations at most advanced danger points, and, as the war develops, there will be hundreds of ultra-risky jobs, not perhaps of a spectacular nature, but whera we could render real service. "The War Office said then—that was last March—that no arrangements could bo made in peace time for such a corps, but I have now received an agreement in principle and I am confident tbs corps will be constituted—if only—J he paused and rubbed his forehead, "il only they take us seriously. "I already have had hundreds of applications, .including those of a general over military age and a number oi foreigners. Clearly, we do not want men in the last stages of heart diseast or melancholia, but there must be thousands and tens of thousands physically unable to serve, yet eager to give their lives for France.”

From anyone else, I confess this suggestion would have left me cold. But this Perieard is no imposter, and hi»

"Debout les Morts’’ was no delusion either, as all France knew at Verdun, At present it is too early for the military authorities to decide. Even able-bodied foreigners desiring tq volunteer are told, "Just put down your names and wait—we are still completing mobilisation." But it looks as if the war will be long and hard, and time may show that Perieard is now making a contribution to France that is not unworthy of his battle-cry at Verdun.