A DESERT JOAN OF ARC

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 145, 16 December 1933, Page 23

A DESERT JOAN OF ARC

With the surrender of Sheik Ous Skounti, the fierce Berber diehard, the Trench forces in Morocco completed their conquest of the Atlas Mountains region a few weeks ago. In the last desperate stand the tribesmen were led by an Englishwoman—the wife of Ous Skounti, who took over command when her husband was sorely wounded. Binged with steel and fire on a few acres of rocky, barren tableland, and faced with the prospect of dying of thirst, the Amazon and her faithful warriors laid down their arms. Not even in the wildest flights of fiction is there a story comparable with the amazing career of this intrepid woman, who was born in Staffordshire 36 years ago. The astonishing circumstances tinder which sho became the bride of a desert chieftain are related by a correspondent of the "News of the. World." In the course of the most desperate stage of the fighting the Foreign Legion observers were amazed to see moving freely among the rebel tribesmen, and obviously urging them on to fresh efforts, a remarkably good-looking ■woman of striking presence, with dark flashing eyes and jet-black hair. It transpired that, the woman was the former Miss Eileen^ Parsons, a native of West Bromwich, and the daughter of a merchant who has been in business in Morocco for some years. Her amazing translation from the quietude of an English home to the fierce battlefields of the desert provides a story more fantastic and romantic than any in. fiction. ■ Thirteen years ago Miss Parsons — then a girl of 23—was a member of a tourist party in the Sahara which fell into the hands of a raiding party of Bedouins. In turn, the Bedouins were attacked by a band of Berbers under Ous Skounti and routed. The Berbers took the whole party of tourists to one of their strongholds in the Atlas Mountains with- the idea / of holding them' for ransom. ■ In the fight with tho Bedouins, Sheik Ous Skounti received a flesh wound, and by the time the stronghold was reached his life was in danger. Miss Parsons, who had received medical training, volunteered to nurse him, and ■when he recovered he showed his gratitude by releasing all the captives. The English girl was invited to spend some months as the gu,est of the tribe in the mountains, and she accepted. Later Miss Parsons astounded her family and friends, by announcing that she was completely captivated by the

ENGLISH GIRL LEADS WILD TRIBESMEN

life of the desert people, and that she had decided to accept an offer of marriage from tho sheik, who already had ono wife. At the request of her family, a missionary in the region interviewed her and pleaded that she should abandon her idea. She refused, and in due course became the sheik's second wife. In a few years tho English, girl rapidly gained ascendancy over her husband and his followers. She shared their life as nomads and raiders, and became expert in the use of the carbine. It is claimed that she took part in most of the fighting the Berbers had had with the French, Moroccan, and Spanish forces. In the recent operations she is credited with the only success scored by the tribesmen against tho French airmen—that of bringing down a machine in flames after, piercing the petrol tank with a bullet. Miss Parsons played a notable part in the final drama. France was determined to extinguish, once and for all the turbulent elements in her vast North African possessions, and slowly but surely the armies of the Bepublic oncireled the Berber tribes in their fastnesses. Overwhelming forces compelled the surrender of tho main body of 3000 under their veteran chief, Ou Arlji. Hemmed in on every sido and deprived of water by the systematic bombing of wells, they realised that resistance was hopeless. Sheik Ous Skounti was severely wounded, and his band debated the question of surrender. A council was held to settle the matter, and a native witch doctor, an aged widow claiming descent from the Prophet, advised the tribesmen to lay down their arms. The former Miss Parsons, however, was made of sterner stuff. She spoke boldly in favour of-: resistance to thei last, and when the majority sided with the witch doctor, the fearless Englishwoman, with her wounded husband, their three children, and a handful of faithful warriors, retired to a barren, rocky tableland on Mount Badou, only a few acres wide, to renew their, conflict with the invaders. The heroic band numbered only 110 fighting men, and soon the Foreign Legion machine-guns and the famous 75 's cut them off from their last water supply. Death by thirst was only a matter of hours, and as there were hundreds of women and children with them, Ous Skounti and his gallant wife bowed to the inevitable. They led their followers through the French lines, and personally surrendered to General Giraud.