"BLUE" AND "KHAKI."

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 February 1917, Page 8

"BLUE" AND "KHAKI."

COMRADES ON THE SOMME.

FRENCH .SOLDIERS' PHYSIQUE.

One of the happiest results of the Somme offensive lias been the

monstration of the complete unity of the-British and .French Armies (writes "The Times" special correspondent from British Headquarters under date of December Bth.) The harmony in command and co-operation in action, are, of course, taken for granted. They have been complete from the moment, on the morning- of July Ist, when the line of blue and khaki leaped unbroken over the parapet of Faviere trench, to the other morning three months later, when the British and French entered Combles simultaneously from opposite sides and met to shake hands on the railway line in the middle of the conquered town. Since that day, also, there has never been a moment when they were not literally standing side 'bv side at (he point of juncture of the two armies; and there was at leasl one instance when they took shoulder to shoulder the two ends of the same German trench. It lias again and again been necessary tlwt one army should take a certain position—fi copse, perhaps, or ravine, or fortified position in a trench—before the other could advance on'its next objective, Not. .seldom it was a formidable and unpleasant task that the safety of one ally demanded of the men of the other, but neither has ever hesitated. SeveYal times eaeli party, having taken a position, litis handed it over to the oilier, and has left to its ally the work of reverently burying its dead. These arc things which two nations ran surely never forget; but better than this unity of action—which, after all._ might be but a matter of discipline and command —has been the comradeship, the mutual admiration, and the trust of each in the other's valour and stoutness which has grown up through five months of stern experience. One has it demonstrated in a hundred ways, from the grilling noons of August when the men drank from each other's water-bottles —precious staff, too, was water then—to these short, foe-swathed' November days when they meet labouring through the mud and shout cheery greeting across the dismal waste. The greetings are probably rarely understood. "Va bien, moil vieux?" calls one. "Not 'art! Xa poo! (II n'y en a. plus!) We ain't down-'earled !" comes the reply. It is just as good as if they understood. They are at one except in tongue.

THE BRITISH "INVASION."

I believe it to be a fact that no single instance has been reported of a fracas between a French and a British soldier. It is extraordinary, and, I think, on the whole more to the credit of the French than of ourselves. It is Ave who are the'foreigners; and, when in rest, our troops possess French' villages to bverflowiug. French soldiers, coming home to those villages on leave, might well find cause of ouarrel with the invasion. The British soldier, with all his amazing qualities, is not impeccable. His ways must often be.trying to his hosts; and I have wondered Avhcther we could accept'the daily presence of an Allied army with so much good nature as the French accept our presence here. lam certain that if we did, we could not do it with half such charming manners. To the British out here the French soldier has been one of 'he most astounding revelations of the war. That he could fight we knew.., His dash, his courage, his sensitive honour: these we have alwavs recognised. But how came it that up to the beginning of this war-—I believe, up to the beginning of this battle—we supposed the French soldier to be a little man ?

ADMIRATION OF THE PHYSICAL MAN. For myself—ad I have no shame in confessing an error which I believe was national —when 1 first saw French troops on the inarch, 1 thought that they must be some picked battalion. Then, mingling much with the French .armies, I found that they were all the same: and how -grotesquely these splendid men in blue give the lie to everything that Ave have every thought of them ! I presume that, man for man and battalion by battalion, the French troops weiirh on an average 5 per cent, niore than the British. And it is not only their solidity and statwre, but the'ruddy cheeks, keen eyes, and gallant swing of them as _ they go about their work. Knowing what one does of the French armies now in the field and of the reserves, one laughs to think what Germany has said of French exhaustion. Not only Germany but the world is yet going to be surprised by the achievements of France in this war.

It is largely tliis—the mere admiration of the physical man—which in the first place has won the British soldier's respect for his Allies. Their very appearance tells him that they are fighting men. Then he sees them fight and hears of more things than he sees. And the French on their side have been very quick to recognise the qualities of onr men. Sometimes, in talking with Freeh officers, I have thought that ><thney put too high an estimate on the British soldier, what chiefly moves their wonder being his amjazimg equableness o$ temper uider all conditions. He never rises to the effervescence and buoyant ecstasy of the French, tut "he is never unduly depressed. The conditions which prevailed uponihe Somme in the early

weeks of this winter, when .itjwas difficult to bring-up supplies and do the work necessary to make trenches habitable in the cold and Avet, tested human endurance almost to the limit; and never has the peculiar quality of the British soldier shown to greater advantage. Call it aplomb, or sangfroid, or "spleen," or any name that " you, and Frenchmen, please; but the best and simplest name of all is heroism.

OFFICERS OF THE TWO ARMIES. The relations between French and British officers-are different from those which prevail among the men; but here again I think that the advantage is with the French. The Briton of the "officer class," if the phrase still has a meaning, is a tongue-tied and self-conscious animal, curiously inarticulate in a foreign language, even though he knows it fairly well; and, while the French officer approaches his British "opposite number" with the same unaffected, gay camaraderie which he uses with the comrades of his own mess, the other has insurmountable difficulty in. responding. All British officers have a great admiration for the French as soldiers and an immense and human liking for them as good fellows. And they have •a huge desire to show t ( heir liking, but no notion how to do it. The consequence olteo is.''re-

straint, which does not mar the admiration of either for his fellow, but sends each away smiling —quite happily—at the other's "difference." I do not believe that in their hearts the French would like us as well if we ceased to be so English and become more French. The qualities which they most trust in us are precisely those of which the national awkwardness is the symptom. Contentedly agreeing, then, to be not duplicates or reflections one of the other, but complements each to each, the French and British Armies have got on amazingly together. The Higher Commands of the two Armies have given the world an example of the perfect co-operation of two Allies" in a difficult field. What I believe will have greater importance to the human race in future is the sense of brotherhood which has been developed between two peoples.