Fighting France

who reflects public opinion whether it is just or unjust, genuine or

out of her body. France would like to fight on, to fight to the bitter

t three-quarters of the thinkers, the literary men, the scientists, the philosophers, the professors of the France of tomorrow have been wiped out. They were the flower of her youth, the élite of her intelligence. Add to that seven departments, roughly 20,000 square kilometers in area, which have been invaded, devastated,

estroyed. All the misery, all the mourning, all the sickness: a million wounded and injured men who have been lost as living forces by a nation which did not have too many inhabitants. Add the

mptying France of her strength, of leaving her, fighting for breath and conquered, beaten to the earth for centuries to c

must let figures, facts, statistics and definite

y that is numerically and materially stronger than it was at the war's beginning. In 1914, at the Marne, France had an army

of war of the present day. Here we find the most extraordinary and marvelous effort that history records. France, invaded, occupied, weakened; France that had no munitions industry prior to 1914-or a smal

s. They are vouched for by M. Millerand, who was m

e Marne emptied

ntieth of September, the minister assembled at Bordeaux the representatives of the munitions industry and divided them up into regional groups. At the head of each one he made one establishment or one individual the responsible person. In the face of difficulties which could not be conceived unless they had been overcome, with establishments dimini

e constructed in the month of July, 407 in the month of January, 1916. For this co

l April, 1917, had been given out between September, 1914, and the thirty-first of October, 1915. In the first seven months of the war, from September, 1914, to April, 1915, there were constructed three hundred a

, High Commissioner of the French Republic at Washington,

thousand heavy guns, all of them modern. During our spring offensive in 1917, we had roughly one heavy gun for every twenty-six meters of front. If

per day, now we are making two hundred and fifty thousand shells for

ell on the German trenches during our last offensives, y

tillery

rtillery

tillery

r artille

1442

the monthly expenditure in m

6 6,400,0

1916 7,00

916 5,500,

l expenditure amounted to twelve m

my, but also to supply our friends, our Allies, with the munitions necessary to fight. Up to January, 1918,

,000

,000 ca

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mitra

heav

airp

the light artillery for the American Army-a

d is no longer able to obtain taxes from its ruined citizens. Let

ons of dollars. Of this enormous fund only two billions have been borrowed from outside sources; all the remainder has been subs

billion francs ($1,200,000), and these taxes were paid to the penny, although ten million Frenchmen we

which 6,017 millions were paid in hard cash. That of October, 1916, amounted in round numbers to ten billions francs, of which more than

has in three years raised three national loans of almost seventeen billions francs in h

it has never weakened in the gravest hours of the nation's history, declared on the first of January, 1918, a gold reserve of 5,348 millions of francs, an increase of 272 millions over the gold in hand on January first,

, on the thirty-first of December, 1914, amounted to only 4,050 millions o

f March, the surplus deposits made by the peasants and the working classes in the National Saving B

merce and industry perish. Here is the statement of M. Georges Pallain, Governor of the

of Industry in July last permits the statement that the percentage of factories and business houses rendering a periodical acco

ustrial activity is furnished by the co

less than it was before the war, since the invasion has deprived us of the valleys in the north and the richest portion of Pas-d

the falling off in the importations of coal from England; never

iments have been equally intensified with a view to employing our hydraulic resources. In the Alps, in the Pyrenees and in t

st part, they are on a cash basis. The gradual resumption of credit operations, which former years signalized, is still on the increase. In 1917 the receipts from commerce

ts bed of suffering. France has not waited for the end of the war and the evacuation

ounting to a not inconsiderable figure. Thus a sum totalling more than one hundred and forty millions francs has been expended for the reconstruction of the liberated regions. Seventeen millions have been expended in cash for repairs; in advances to the farmers for work or suppli

onstitution has been organized; great things have already been realized from private organizations. This is the accoun

5 cabbag

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0 whit

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hicory and

celery

tomato

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tal plants of

ey have sufficed to nourish not only the people who have retur

orn out. The French colonial empire remains intact while the German colonial empire has disappeared from the face of the e

he celebrated German

nd diamond mines, its metals which were worth commercially thirty-seven millions of marks in 1911; German East Africa, twice as big as the German Empire, having 1,225 kilometers of railroads, with its harbors where nine hundred and thirty-three merchant ships had touched in 1911; German New Guinea, as large as two-thirds of Prussia, with its rich deposits of gold and coal, its maritime commer

f General Aymerich, commander-in-chief of the troops which conquered Kameroon,

roops who are natives of

orts, you have just wrenched from the Germ

e nights without a change, you have been under the torrential equatorial rains, you have traversed impassable forests and fetid marshes, you have without a rest taken the enemy's positions one after another, leaving dead in eac

with her Senegalese Tirailleurs, the famous Tirailleurs, so much decried and discussed before

commanding officer of these troops, because it shows us a s

considering that the preparation was sufficient, bravely led his troop on to the attack. This courageous initiative failed under a severe fire from fifty meters of German trenches. Lieutenant Thomson fell mortally wounded. However, the Senegalese Tirailleurs, faithful to that tradition which has already proved its value in our colonial epic by such famous exploits, refused to abandon the body of the unknown leader their captain had given them and continued to hold their position. When the f

exists that is not in the hands of the Allies today. England holds the greater

e picture the French

s, two millions in Tunis and four millions in Morocco. When the war broke out there was not a si

ssacre of the French would be followed by an appeal of all the Moroccans for the intervention of the Kaiser. But nothing of the sort took place. In Algiers the most perfect calm continued to reign; in Tunis

troops, the famous Moroccan regiments, the best fighting units there were in 1914, to the battle fields of Flanders, receiving in exchange territorial divisions recruited for the most part from the Midi. However, with these territorial divisions General Lyautey assured the safety of all that portion

aceful but they also made a marvelous effort in coming to the

d native soldiers and military workers in eighteen months. They were recruited from the Asiatic possessions of France. In Senegal, in Soudan and in Morocco

largely took care of

ith 1,625,000 quintals of wheat, 918,000 quintals of barley, and 77,000 quintals of oats. In 1916 this figure was passed and the total exports amounted to four million quintals of grains. As for Morocco, it exported in 1914, 90,000 quintals of wheat and 130,000 quintals of barley; in 1915 it exported 200,000 quintals of wheat and a million quintals of barley; in 1916 it exported more than two million quintals of grains. Add to that t

been constructed. In the midst of war Algeria has opened up railroads; Tunis has opened the line

"A workshop is worth a

ever so much work done. The colonial empire was ne

ce has been able to come to the aid of the other Allies. She has lent them a strong helping hand, she has been able to save them from total extinction. French troops have fought and are still fightin

egions. Invaded by three armies, the German, Austrian and Bulgarian, all of them amply supplied with heavy artillery and asphixiating gas, poor little Serbia was doomed beforehand. But, tenacious to the end, her heroic defenders preferred to leave their country rather than submi

as still fighting at the Dardanelles. It was not Italy, whose special efforts were directed towards preventing the junction of Austria wit

worn out and bled white, heard Serbia's c

ot maintain their positions in the Adriatic ports even with French help from the sea. The complete evacuation of an entire army, piece by piece, had to be undertaken. The transporting of

r, 1915, the smaller French ships, torpedo boats, trawlers and transports made the trip from Durazzo to San Giovanni di Medua to embark the Serbian Army. Gre

of the unfortunate troops to a great distance. A new plan was arranged. The remaining Serbs were to be transported not into Tunis, which was so far away, but to a land as near as possible to the scene of disaster. Corfu was there; Corfu, only sixty miles away from the farthest point of debarkation; Corfu,

bmarines. A second flotilla followed it forty-eight hours later. On the eighth of January the armored cruisers Edgar Quinet, Waldeck-Rousseau, Ernest Renan, Jules Ferry and five torpedo boat

appen. With him went guides and automobiles to finish everything quickly before the Germans could offer any opposition. Some minutes later, on time at the rendezvous agreed upon, the French cruisers came into the harbor and immediately disembarked their contingent of Alpine Chasseurs. Before daybreak the principal vantage points as wel

ut nine miles from the city. If Achilleion had been a French property and German soldi

f procedure that is peculiarly their own. This is what happened, acc

This isn't the time for visitors." For the owner, who found that there are no such things as small profits, permitted a visit for the sum of two francs per person. Surprised, the occupant of the palace submitted, and our detachment entered Achilleion, whose occupants it assembled-the watchman and two red-haired chambermaids-en déshabillé, also a mechanic and an entomologi

all over, and the French cruisers put

ccupying Corfu; it was also a matter of arranging to receive a worn-out and decimated army. It was a diffic

in this war, M. Emile Vedel, has painted in the pages of Illustration an

cholera; in a word, of putting on their feet the diverse offices that come under the heading of direction of the port, all the machinery of which was yet to be created. At the same time it was necessary to maintain and repair the booms of the harbor, to test the channels, make arrangements concerning piloting, anchorage, and new supplies of water, provisions and coal for the always hurried transports which arrived, unloaded and sailed away at all hours of the day and night; constantly to clear out and drag the waters near the island; establish observation posts around it, station batteries in suitable positions, and finally to protect the channels around Corfu and the Albanian

ifty thousand more mouths. Every bit of flour had to come from outside, from Italy, France or England since Corfu has very few resources and we did not wish to encounter the hostility of a population to which it was necessary for us to show firmness more

umerable obligations the aquatic anthill, from an industrial and

rs, twenty-six thousand foot soldiers, seven thousand horses and two thousand cattle; at Durazzo there were thirty-six hundred officers, sixty-nine thousand soldiers, t

forty-one field pieces, the gloriou

ir exodus towards the coast and also the pitiable troop of refugees, sick men, old men, women, c

risoners to Sardinia. But where were the typhoid and the cholera patients to be transported? No one wanted them; and in this stampede of a people, cholera and typhus had

or there are few deaths as hideous as that to which they exposed themselves in taking in their arms poor beings touched with a malady essentially so contagious, and so dirty and covered with vermin that they made everyone shudde

been evacuated, as had the Austrian prisoners. All the money of the Serbian treasury had been trans

rtain number of field pieces. After so many men and guns had been saved, were these to be abandoned? No. Everything must b

fficers of the French fleet come aboard his ship, the Marceau, Ensigns Couillaud and Augé, who commanded the little traw

ou will succeed," Capta

Giovanni. Here we must quote Ensign Augé's words. He commanded the Marie-Rose,

entered the Gulf of Drin, whose water is very turbid. More watchful than ever, since submarines had been sighted in the neighborhood, we finally arrived at Medua. Almost blocked off by the sand bars, the little harbor was further encumbered by a dozen wrecks, boats which the Austrians had sunk. The question was where to pass through this

ly cold wind, which tried to blow it offshore and which nothing could restrain. It was impossible to locate any responsible person and out of the question to make one's self understood. Everyone thought only of escaping from that Hell. Finally some Serbian officers came up who succeeded somewhat in controlling their impatient troops. T

fficer of the Serbian Army was there with all the state archives. A crowd of people instinctively pressed towards us and got mixed up with the soldiers who were supposed to keep order. In spite of the tempest which thwarted everything, we managed to embark eighteen .75 guns and three 100 howitzers, as well as a hundred cases of projectiles. The weather grew more dreadful, with hail stones in the icy rain. Blows were necessary to prevent the crowding aboard of that mob o

f spray put the finishing touch to the inextricable disorder that prevailed aboard ship. The storm stayed with us until we made Brindisi, where we arrived at seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-second. When Italy was sighted, the tiredness

e, as everywhere else, was "to the bitter end." On the twenty-fourth of January the Petrel and the Marie-Rose started on the final trip. Will they arrive in time? Probably not. In the mountains that surround San Giovanni rifle shots and the rattle of mitrailleuses were heard; the road to Alessio was deserted, the beach seemed deserted, Medua harbor was covered with wreckage of all sorts, rendering navigation impos

n their old boats, aided by a huge lighter which they took in tow. A grave responsi

ry caissons, two radio outfits, a thousand new rifles, hundreds of cases of shells, cartridges and grenades and likewise large quantities of harness were loaded on the trawlers. All the men wh

oss our bows, too low, fortunately. A submarine has tried to attack us but has missed. We describe a great circle in order to avoid a second attack. Fortunately night falls to end the chase, and we make for the Italian coast. Although the sea is smooth, the third boat is lurching terribly. About midnigh

and towers of Brindisi appeared in the distance. The entire squadron of Allied ships was there, ranged in battle formation. When they saw the two little boats which were bringing in the last Serbs

during an after-dinner speech, in a voice that did not conceal his emotion and with a differ

bia's heart will remain attached thro

ause they attest in history what France, the nation "worn out

ts, in rags, under flesh that is cruelly bruised, there beats a virile heart which fights on and on. And there is young