A FRENCH TRIBUTE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 5 August 1918, Page 5

A FRENCH TRIBUTE.

TO BRITISH AND AUSTRALASIAN TROOPS. WELL-DESERVED PRAISE. PARTS, Aug. 3. General Berlhelot, commanding he- ' tween the Marne and Rheims, in an j army order to the British, Australian, I and New Zealand troops, says: "Direct--Ily you arrived you threw your army \ corps ardently into the " struggle. I harassing the enemy in the Ardre val- ? . ley. which was so liberally sprinkled I with German blood. Thanks to tt\<

proverbial heroism and tenacity of j Britons, you mauled four enemy divi- | sions, made 1300 prisoners, and took I 140 machine-guns and 40 cannon. All added to the glorious page of your history. Marfauxj Chaumazyj and Bligny must be inscribed in letters of gold in the annals:of your regiments. France will remember with deep emotion your brilliant bravery and perfect ' comradeship in the battle." I Mr Perns, describing General Berthelot's reception of the British, Australians, and New: Zealanders, who marched past the General along the road within the enemy gunfire, says what every Frenchman murmured was: "Just look at their stride! How sturdy they are! They must be fresh, divisions." Mr Perris says the Frenchmen were wrong. This British corps I had been fighting for ten days ceaselessly, and had taken a brilliant part in defeating the Crown Prince, but they swung along to the sound of the bagpipes and brass bands in perfect order, though some of the companies were sadly thinned. AH, however, were brushed clean of the trench mud^ the rifles were polished, the horses were well groomed, and the waggons were spotless. They fully deserved General Berthelot's praise.—Aus.-N.Z. C.A. and Reuter.