SOUL OF FRANCE UNDIMMED BY TERRORS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14688, 21 August 1918, Page 7

SOUL OF FRANCE UNDIMMED BY TERRORS.

NATION'S SPIRIT EMERGES STRONG. (By Philip Gibbs.) War Correspondents' Headquarters, , July lb. Up in Flanders on Saturday theic was som«_ heavy shelling by the enemy directed upon tho roads' and tracks and defensive works in Hazebrouck area around about the forest of Lamotte, and north'of that between tho village of Locro and th© old Scherpenberg foul. North o£ th© Somme by i_>ouz:ncouii> tho German gunners i^evoted seven hours, from 5 m the alternoon until midnight, to an intense bombardment of our ground, but no infantry attach tallowed on Sunday morning aiter that storm of hate. Rain has ,been falling, steadily on this Fourteenth of July, .out colors of. the French Hag are bright above tho main oottages in. tho war zone and on the pubuo buildings of small towns where British troops » are billeted. .. j, 'J 'here is, as far as I know, iio public ceremonial in our lines to celebrate the fete day of France, but iii the he.JJ.t_. of all of us out here there is a salute to th© French armied and people, who havo suffered the tragedy of this four years of war with an enduring, heroism and fortitude of soul that is more than a i>hrase to our officers and men. Each of them has remembrances .of the French men and women, who in the hours _of most dreadful) menace have remained unshaken, uncomplaining, and defiant of tho danger about thein with gallant courage. Our men see these people now living, in the villages close to the lines within range of German gunfire, .and damaged by inany air raids. Ihey gee them working in the field preparing the liar- j vest of France on the edge of war; old women and young girls, who rise from thoir toil a moment among the hayricks to wave friendly hands to- our troops M*ho. go marching down the roads, where sometimes into the ripening crops the enemy shells dig deep craters. In the battles tliis year, when at this end of March, tho Germans came like a river against our defensive^ works, overwhelming our first lines by- sheer "weight of men, thousands . of French civilians had to take flight, from homes suddenly menaced by this advancing terror, and it was the courage of the young girls, of the oid people, of the children even, which revealed to our men the .-spirit of this Frenali race, so contemptuous of war's worst evils, so patient .with any misery so long, as France herself may be saved. There were civilians whom our men learned to know hrst and best because they were billeted among them, but -*fter the first onrush of the German hordes were stopped by our weakened and tired ranks, the French troops came to Flanders, stood Isesido oui* . men and fought in the same fields' Md" ditches with them, and! then closer than ever before there was a new: understanding and _ sympathy amota; the .French and British soldiers, and tliey knew tlie quality of each other. •*""' In. one day aaid night* the French cavalry rode Seventy-five miles to come to our aid in the north, and I saw those streams, of horsemen pass and pass, with their lances' tipped with fire as the sun shone en them. As they rode hard along the dusty roads, one's heart beat faster at the sight of them, and afterwards, when theii* infantry mingled with ours, one's admiration was stirred anew by the hardiness, the ' tall and sturdy physique and the fighting look of the French poilus from other battlefields. Side by side they fought below Ypres, and tlie blue and khaki mingled in those shell-torn fields. So now to-day, the 14th of July, is saluted by the soldiers of both nations, and the little flags which I saw on tho buildings and in the cottages among the cornfields round Amiens, where, through the mist and rain the cathedi*al ' stood, .which had a meaning to all our men. They meant that though the enemy had tried to kill the spirit of France, lie had failed utterly, and that the soul of Franco and of her people still lives in the cities which have suffered the great agonies of war. For the first time Americans were here in great numbers for the fete of July 14, and Saturday and Sunday I went among many of them and saw them, fraternising with their French and English comrades and buying the tri-oolor of France for the children in their billets. I "WILL SEE IT THR.OUGH." There was a field day on Saturday ' for some American troops, and 1 came upon them in the afternoon when they were tired after long marching and lying about the roadsides during their halt. They were covered with dust, and their packs weighed heavy.' at -"that hour, and there were no candy srlvops for their refreshment, but they chattered cheerfully enough to some of bur men, and I talked with some who were not too' tired to sum up their first impressions of war. There was ono soldier among all these hoys who was full of wisdom and shrewd observations. He fought Cuba and Philippines, but told me with, a grin that fifteeen minutes of this was equal to threo years of the others he liad known. "But for all tliat," he said, "we are going to see this through. Old Frits is a pretty hard nut to crack, but . sooner or late_* we shall crack -him and the world • will get a good peace and live at. ease." That is the spirit of all these American • lads so far as I met them, aaid Francs is glad on her national feast day because they have come.