Abergavenny Chronicle

OUR ALLIES. I The "Fantassin." I [BY V. C. C. COLLUM.] I When due recognition has been given to the gunner, the genu, as the French engineer is called, the cavalier, the sapp±r and miner, the tank-man, the commis- sariat and the auxiliary soldier, the back- bone of the army remains as ever, the plain infantry-man, or, as he is called in France, the fantassin. Before the War, the gunners, and more particularly the cavaliers, thought them- selves to be the pick of the army; the fantassins were just the common herd that remained. So naturally the French fan- tassin, who is a gay fellow, full of humour, rather enjoyed the position when the War of the Moles began, and the world acknow- ledged that this was an infantry-man's war. The cavalry had to come down off their horses, and, leaving their lances and sabres and plumed helmets behind, had to take their turn in the trenches as dis- mounted troops. He chaffed the very life out of the cavalier, who was left in billets in charge of the horses, calling him an embusqui, which is the French word for the shirker or the soldier who stays behind the lines in a "cushy" job. It was all good- humoured chaff, for the fantassin knew quite well that the cavaliers, as reserves, had often got the infantry out of a hole, and that they were only waiting their chance—now come, as the cavalry hunts the Huns towards Germany—to prove themselves again the fine troops that they were during the first months of the war. And the cavaliers, proud as they are of their cavalry tradition, have always been the first to own that the fellow who has really defended France, to whom the lion's share of the glory of victory will go, is the cheerful, muddy, unshaven man in blue who has endured four years of trench war- fare—the ordinary infantry poilu. For the most part, the French infantry regiments are merely distinguished by numbers, though there are special corps, such as the Zouaves, the Chasseurs, the Colonial and Native Rifles, and the Foreign Legion, which I will deal with later. Among the hundreds of thousands of fantassin*, there are a great many townsmen, mechanics, shopkeepers, clerks and so on but the bulk of them, like the bulk of the entire French population, are peasant farmers. The French do not use the term peasant" or "agricultural labourer in describing themselves. The word they use is cuitivateur. A good word, that, cultivator; there is a certain dignity about it, suggestive of skill and love of the soil. Some of these men work for others, but most of them work on the little holding that they own. A French writer of the Revolution said: "the land of France belongs to twenty millions of peasants, who cultivate it; the land of England belongs to an aristocracy of thirty-two thousand persons, who have it cultivated for them." No wonder the French citizen soldier fights with a self-sacrificing passion of devotion to la patrie (the native land) which has something personal in it. This same writer said of the French cultivator: The land is his mistress it brings forth because it is loved." This love of the cultivator for the soil explains the French soldier's rage when he finds the enemy has mutilated fruit trees, ruined farms, and desecrated peasant homes with his un- speakable filthiness. To him it is almost as bad as the unnameable things he has done to captured French women and to innocent little children. And yet the fantassin, through it all, keeps his gaiety. He is the gayest, wittiest soldier in the world. As one of them, badly wounded, said to me. We are always ragging:" It is true; in the trenches, going over the top, on long marches, in the mud, in the wet, in the cold, in hospital—even on the operating table, which he nicknames the billiard table the poilu has his joke. But there is one thing about which he is in deadly earnest: the Hun has got to get out of France and Belgium and A lsace- Lorraine—bag and baggage, before the French fantassin will ever unload his rifle and stop running after him

BELGIAN CAPTURE.. A BELGIAN CAPTURE. -I [Belgian Official. Two German mortars that have faUen into the hands of the Belgians.

I ———————————————————————.————————————— AN ITALIAN GIANT. [Britisti Offtcial. This 15-inch gun of the Italian Navy is used on a monitor on the river Piave.

WHERE LORRY REPAIRS ARE DONE. I A finely-equipped repair workshop "somewhere" In Prance [British Official. I

A SHEAF OF WAR STORIES. Thrilling Incidents of the Fighting on Land, on Sea, and in the Air. A Victoria Cross Chaplain. I During the King's visit to France in August last, he decorated the Rev. Theo- dore Hardy Bailey, Army Chaplain, with the Victoria Cross, and, believing that the chaplain's influence would be of great value in England, His Majesty urged him to return to this country. Mr. Bailey, however, objected to leave his work in the field, and he has now died from gunshot wounds at a hospital in Northern France. Formerly the rev. gentleman was incum- bent of Hutton Roof, Kirkby Lonsdale. Although more than fifty years of age, he was permitted to go to the Western Front as a chaplain, and he won the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order before the V.C. Mr. Bailey's daughter, who was present when her father was invested with the V.C., is now serving at a military hospital at Dunkirk. Hidden for Four Years. I Remarkably interesting is the story of a British cavalryman named Fowler. He was cut off from his comrades, on August 26th, 1914, and, after being in conceal- ment for more than four years, he was found by the British forces on October 9th, last. It will be remembered that General Smith-Dorrien's army made a great stand at Le Cateau in August, 1914, and Fowler was, on that occasion, given up as lost. He belonged to A" Squadron, and, some time afterwards, a Frenchman named Barquin, found him starving in a wood, brought him to his village, and asked his mother-in-law to look after him She agreed, and concealed him in a small cup- board. At other times lie lav under a mattress, the centre part of which had been hollowed out, or stood in a hole under the stairs with a basket of potatoes over his head. Now the British, on entering Le Cateau the other day, discovered Fowler still alive. A corporal of the same regiment as Fowler was discovered by the Germans. He was taken out, made to dig his own grave, and shot. The woman who had protected this corporal, had her hair cut off and was taken away into Germany she has never been heard of since. Her three children were left by the Germans to starve, but the people of the village looked after them. I Stories by Ceneral Haig. In his despatch, published in October, dealing with the operations of the Forces in the early part of 1918, Sir Douglas Haig pays a notable testimony to the great deeds done by our men. To show the difficulty of our task, he mentions that, in the six weeks of almost constant fighting, from March 21st to April 30th, a total of fifty-five British infantrv divisions and three cavalry divisions was employed on the battle fronts against a force of 109 different German divisions. During this period a total of 141 different German divisions were engaged against I the combined British and French forces. On March 21st, the troops of the Fifth and Third Armies had the glorv of sus- taining the nrst and heaviest blow of the German offensive. Though assailed bv a concentration of hostile forces which the enemy might well have considered over- whelming, they held up the German attack at all points for the greater part of two days, thereby rendering a service to their country and to the Allied cause the value of which cannot be over-estimated. There- after, through many day3 of heavy and continuous rearguard fighting, they succeeded in presenting a barrier to the enemy's advance until such time a* the arrival of British and French re- inforcements enabled 1113 progress to be checked. In the battle of the Lvs, continues General Haig, many of the same divisions which had just passed through the furnace of the Somme found themselves exposed to the full fury of a second srreat offensive by fresh German forces. Despite this die- advantage, they gave evidenoe in many days of close and obstinate fighting that their spirit was as high as ever and their courage and determination unabated. Both by them and by the divisions freshly engaged every yard of ground was fiercely disputed, until troops were overwhelmed or ordered to withdraw. Such withdrawals as were deemed necessary in the course of the battle were carried out successfully and in good order. At no time,. either on the Sommi Jt on the Lys, was there anything approaching a breakdown of command or a failure of moral. Under conditions that made rest and sleep impossible for days together, and called incessantly for the greatest physical exertion and quickness of thought, officers and men remained undismayed, realising that for the time being thev must play & waiting game and determined to make the enemy pay the full price for the success which for the moment was his. On countless other occasions officers and men, of whose names there is no record, accomplished actions of the greatest valour, while the very nature of the fighting ShOW8 that 011 all parts of the wide battle fronts unknown deeds of heroism were performed without number. The British infantryman has always had the reputation of fighting his best in aji uphill battle, and time and again in the history of our country, by Eheer tenacity and determination of purpose, hu .08 victory from a numerically superior foe. Thrown once more upon the defensive by circumstances over which he had no con- trol, he has shown himself to possess in full measure the traditional qualitiee of his race. I The Courage of the Artillery. I Sir Douglas Haig's report gives an example of the devotion of his artillery. On the occasion of the attack east of Arras on March 28th, a six-inch howitzer battery was heavily engaged by the enemy's artillery. After all the run detachments had been either killed or wounded and all the guns but one had been destroyed, the remaining four officer* of the battery continued to serve their last gun, until two of them were killad and the other two wounded. I Cave his Life for his Pipes. How a piper won the Victoria Cross and lost his life was told a few days ajo, in the "London Gazette." Piper J. Richardson, late [Manitoba Regiment, obtained permission from hi3 commanding officer to play his companv over the I top before an attack in 1918. As the company approached its objective, it was 1. 1  I I- held up by very strong wire and came ander intense fire, which caused hea.vy casual- ties and demoralised the formation for & moment. Piper Richardson strode up and down outside the wire, playinj blis pipes with the greatest coolness. The ¡ effect was instantaneous. Inspired by his splendid example, the company ruahed the wire with such furv and determina- tion that the obstacle was overcome and the position captured. Later, after taking part in bombino, operations, Richardson was directed to esoort a wounded comrade back and some prim- ers. After proceeding about 200 yards, he remembered that he had left his pipos behind. Although strongly urged not to go back, he insisted on returning to recover his pipes. He has never been seen since, and it is presumed tb&t fee was killed. Now the V.C. is oonfsered on him as a posthumous honour.

Keep the Home Fires I Burning Low. Then British Coal will j Win the War. j I

(Continued from last column.) necessity." The German people lias taken upon itself the brand of guilt. which we have tried to believe belonged to their rulers alone. The crowning infamy of the Germans is that they do not see that the deeds which their soldiers and sailors have done are atrocious. They want peace, because they know that if the war con- tinues, they will be beaten past recovery, and will have to submit to the terms of the Allies whatever they are. But they have not yet begun to see right and wrong as we see them they are not a bit sorry for all the grief and misery that they have brought on the world. They do not even acknow- ledge that the war was the fault of 'their rulers. They just stretch out a bloodstained hand with a grin, and ask us to cry quits. They will be genuinely surprised and hurt when they find that we are not taking any."