AMONG THE GERMANS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 13

AMONG THE GERMANS

EXPERIENCE OF A FRENCH RED CROSS NURSE

The newspapers have kept English readers informed since the beginning of the war of the excellent work done by the Frcnch Red Cross nurses, writes the Comtesse do Courson in "The Queen." Nuns and lay women liavo worthily done their part in the hospitals throughout tho country, and in certain towns shelled by the enemy they have carried on their work under lire. Five nuns at Reims, three at Arras, were killed at their post of duty in the hospital wards. Other women at Compiegne, Luneville, and St. Die have been publicly congratulated by the military authorities for their gallant conduct during the German occupation, as ivell as for their coolness under lire. Among these noble Frenchwomen, whose firmness and dignity won tho respect even of the enemy, aro nine Red Cross nurses, whoso experiences will be made public only when tho war is over;.but the heroine of the story being my perKonal friend, it was my privilogo to hear Jwr story from her own lips. AVhon on August 29, 1914, tho victorious German army, marching towards Paris, entered the | town of N., that the enemy still holds, the Red Cross hospital had just beon organised; the little band ofl nurses were at their post, and at their head was their "infirmiere major," Mile. M. F., who, having a number_ of French and English wounded soldiers under her care, considered it her duty to remain with them,' whatever the consequences might be. The German officers visited tho wards according to their usual .programme, Mile. F. preceding them. Closo to her head was held a loaded pistol, and she was informed that if she attempted to conceal a soldier belonging to tho Allied forces she would be summarily shot. My friend is a small, dark woman, singularly well balanced, courageous and self-controlled. She only smiled at the threat, having realised from the first—events proved that she was right —that the best policy with regard to these menacing invaders was fearlessness not unmixed with contempt for their methods of terror.

Before long, Mile. F.'s medical know, ledge and skill gave her a strong hold over the Germans, to whom her assistance was invaluable. She is an "intumiere major"—that is to say, slio has bad the most complete training the French Red Cross can give, added to considerable experience. "You must be a doctoress," said the German doctors; "our sisters do not know what you know." "No," was the answer; "I huve > the instruction that our Red Cross gives its pupils." By degrees they got into the habit of referring to , her on all occasions, and required her ' presence at the operations. "Do your I Paris surgeons operate in the same way as we do?" they asked. "Our methods are more elegant than yours," was the reply. _ About a fortnight later my friend realised that the tide of success bad burned, and she and her companion* begaa to hopo for the prompt arrival of the French, whoso cannon was heard close to N. The Ci ermau troops flocked in, she says, from the battle of the Marne in a state of utter exhaustion, footsore, hungry, discouraged, dazed with want of sleep I "If only our soldiers came now they would carry all before them!" said the Irench inlirmieres to each other., They listened, waited, and continued to hope with almost breathless anxiety ; but only I'rencli wounded and oaptivo. soldiers came to N. These canio in hundreds; the hospital, says mv friend, literally ran with blood." The men had to be. laid in the garrots, in the oellars, on the stairs; every place was crowded with maimed and dying Gorman and French soldiers. Tho Red Cross uurses took care of both, but over the latter they bent with sisterly devotion, for at that suPr&ino moment they alone represented the' dying soldier's home, family, and TOuntry! , ' In spite of tho terrific pressure of work that kept hor busy day and night, my friend, when assisting these lonely victims of the war, understood that it might one day bo in her power to unravel the mystery that shrouds tho fate x>V Ini'i'lveds «)i French wounded prisoners, who, being in the dopartoments envahis, cannot make a sign. She did her best to keep a list of those who died under her care, writing down their names, their parents' address, and sometimes their final messages to their loved ones at home.

The terrible pressure of work lasted a few weeks; then gradually many convalescent soldiers were moved on, and the Red Cross nurses found themselves less busy, but more weary. They had 110 news but what was given by their German masters; thoy were told of I'raich defeatsi and that Paris was partly destroyed. They knew that a newspaper, printed in French, was sold on market days, where these tales were repeated for the benefit of the country folk. They heard the French cannon so distinctly that tho .wounded French officers, who were left at No., could measure its exact distance, yet they were really as much cut off from their own country as if they had been buried 111 the heart of Germany. No news of homo ever filtered through the barrier of iron and fire that separated N. ■ from the French lines. Twice, however, during nine months Mllo. F.' was able to communicate secretly with a friend in Paris. In recogution of her valuable services, a German military doctor proposed to transmit a few lines in her handwriting through Switzerland to a friend in France, who was told to answer through the same channel. Scanty as tho news was, it served to reassure anxious relations, who. sinco August, 1914, had heard nothing of the lied Cross group of N.

This brings me to quote my friend's candid opinion of the German medical staff, who, in her opinion, were inferior in science and superior in benevolence to what at the beginning of the war she had been led to expect. Accustomed as she was to work with eminent Paris surgeons, she was by no means dazzled by German surgery; but, on the other hand, she owned that, as a rule, tlw French wounded soldiers were eared for with the same medical attention as their Gorman neighbours. But her indignation was roused and expressed itself vehemently , wlion the wounded soldiers, imperfectly cured, were removed from tho hospitals and put under military rule. Of the harshness of Prussian militarism she speaks with horror, and the cold-blooded execution of some English soldiers who hid in a farm near N. to escape being made prisoners led her to reproach a German officer in no measured terms for what ] she considered "a crime." Ho began by denying tho fact; then when she brought it home to him, and he could no longer deny it, she gathered _ tlie significative avowal, "Well, yos, it is true. You say it is contrary to tho laws of war. Do not you know that there are no laws in war?"

One of Mllo. F.'s companions 6peaks enthusiastically of my friend's attitude duriim those months of tension, of her coolness, courage, ilevotedness, and dignity. Tho German docotrs admired her skill and science, hut there were other sides to her character that they could not fathom. One, who had been particularly careful and considerate of the wounded French soldiers. and invariably courteous towards the Red Gross nurses, once expressed a "wish that she and her companions who had their meals apart, should once a day havo tea with him. She refused for different reasons of convenience, till the doctor, realising that her real motive was unspoken, demanded an explanation. "I cannot understand," he said, "why 'you should decline 7 - to lia.v'B lea with wc. when all day Rocman doctors and French »ums work

together in good fellowship in the wards."

"Do you not understand," was the answer, "that whereas French nurses and German doctors are bound to work ■together for the benefit of the wounded in _ tho wards, outsido the wards there is no common ground upon which Germans and Frenchwomen can meet? What you ask is impossible." "No, I cannot understand." And probably to this day this well-meaning but obtuse enemy marvels at Latin subtlety. When, after nine months' captivity, Mile. F. was exchanged and returned to France, she was informed that, before leaving, her person and her luggage would be severely searched, and that no letter or paper would be allowed to pass. The notebook in which she had written names and dates, invaluable to the /mourning families at home, was thereby doomed to destruction. Happilv, she was able to leave it in safe .hands that, she believes, will ono day after tho war restore it to her. But the absence of this notebook made her task a hard ono when she reached homo at iast. Her door was besieged all day and every day by wives and mothers, who, believing their own soldiers to have passed through N., were hungry for news.

After a brief spell' of rest, Mile F. to take up a poßt on a hospital ship bound for Salonika. . She js there now, and, after nine months' imprisonment in the German linos, she is facing experiences scarcely less tragical under'the Eastern sky.