DISASTER TO A FRENCH REGIMENT

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 177, 21 April 1908, Page 2

DISASTER TO A FRENCH REGIMENT

hurricane in the desert Additional'details have been roceired of thb' disaster tfo.tho -Second- Regiment;of the French Foreign Legion, in Algeria.. „ lnja Twentieth - Company, under Captain Gapillierv, was marching from Berguent to l'ort Hassa, and left Ain-bon-Khelill oh February 1. Tho • weather cloudy,, and :iti icy wind was blowing- from. ,tlw north. . The troops reached their halting-place ' for. the night in perfect condition, and , camp was pitched, affording them-ample, shelter.-Soon afterward the gale increased.- in fury, - accompanied by violent snow, squalls, until a hurricane was raging. The tents were blown down, and all efforts to put them up again proved unavailing- It being impossible to remain on tho ground, CJaptain Gapilhery decided to make a dash for Fort - Hajisa through this blinding snowstorm; Darkness came on while the coluinii; was- on tho march, and tho troops, who were an experienced guide, lost their Something like a panic ensued, laud although the officers worked hard to keep tho column together, they could not prevent'the , ranks from being broken. Tlm- men rushed- distractedly into the desert, seeking - hi' vniij for nativo .huts in which they mj;;ht find shelter- 'Fifty, men, with the onpl.iin,: siiccc*»bd in reaching a native duar. and a.mim-; bor of stragglers were found the next .dav in -various other native encampments. -'A search was immediately organised' for tlw remainder of the column, and thirty-four bodies, including tboso of two sergeants aiid three corporals, were discovered in the mow. Many others are: missing, and doubtless perished. At. last accounts nothing luid been heard' of a provision convoy, .which was escorted by a sergeant, two corporals, and fourteen men. ■