Abergavenny Chronicle

OUR ALLIES. I The "Little Blue." I [By V. C. C. COLLUM.] I Le petit bleu," the Little Blue, is the name by which the young recruit is known affectionately in France. Every boy throughout France, unless lie is physically unfit for any sort of military service, goes into the Armies of the Land and Sea, as the Army and Navy are officially styled. lie is called up with all the other lads of his class, and, since this war began, the little Blues have often gone into the fight- ing-line directly they became of military age, although the French Parliament has watched over them and tried to prevent these young soldiers being usei in the trenches before they were twenty-one. Now that the Americans are coming over in such numbers, it will not be necessarv to send the very young boys into the firing- line, nor the old men. French bovs are very patriotic, and thousands of them, rather than wait until they were called up, joined the Army as volunteers while they were still under age. When a new class is called up it is the occasion for great jollifications. All the boys who are to be soldiers that vear are crowned with flowers and green leaves. As they form up into a procession to go to the station the whole village or town turns out to honour them, and there is much waving of flags and singing of soldiers' songs. Before they go a farewell sing-song in the cafe takes place. On the surface all is excitement and fun. Their parents and their sisters and sweethearts manage to keep on smiling until it is all over, and the train, with a crowd of voung heads looking out of each window, is well out of the station. Then, poor souls, they cannot help beginning to wonder how many of them will come back. There is no family throughout France which has not lost some of its men, and it is hard to let the last boy go; but French folk have counted up the cost of victory, and long ago made up their minds that even if the price of freedom was the youth of the country, it must be paid rather than leave Germany any loophole for starting another war of conquest in the children's lifetime. As a rule, all the lads from one district go to the same depot, which is in their province, so that each regiment consists for the most part of men from one neigh- bourhood. This means that boys often have their own village friends with them in the regiment, sometimes even, in the same company or section. There is great comfort for them in this when the time comes to go to the front if anything hap- pens a man can send messages home by one of his comrades who has known his parents, or who is perhaps a friend of the family of his sweetheart. It also binds the villages very close together, because, when that regiment goes into action and there are casualties the blow falls on a whole dis- trict at the same time. All suffer together, j and this brings the village families into closest sympathy. Moreover, if the regi- ment distinguishes itself, then a whole dis- trict can celebrate the victory at once, and the War Cross or the Military Medal given to one son of the village brings honour to all the neighbours who knew him, because they remember that their boys also were with him. The Little Blue is a great favourite when, the training at the depot finished, he is drafted into the regiment with a number of others, and is billeted, perhaps, in a village behind the lines. All the women think of the day when their lads were petits bleus. They think, too, of the pos- sibility that this boy may never live to be a veteran; they are doubly kind to him and the older ones mother him a bit. The ycung girls, I am afraid, care more for the war-scarred veterans, and that, too, is right, because they have already fought I and suffered for France. The veterans of the regiment, as old hands will, often tease the Little Blues dreadfully. They say that it is good for them, and no doubt it is. But the night before the Bleu goes into action for the first time there are sure to he two or three veterans giving him useful "tips," looking over his equipment- to see that he has e\erything right, and trying, in their kind, rough way, to hearten him up by telling him tales of the regimental valour in other fights. When the time comes no Blue ever goes over the top without some older man unostentatiously watching over him, ready to help the lad if in a tight place, to carry him back if he falls, to take his dyino- message if lie is killed. Perhaps the Blue begins by being a little frightened. lIe sees how calm the others are. Then, suddenly, he has to fight for his life; he forgets that he is only a Little Blue. He behaves magnificently. And when it is all over he has won his right to be called a soldier. He is no more a petit bleu, but a man who has struck his first blow for France and freedom.

AEROPLANE AS MASCOT. [British Official An A.S.C, drivrr in Italy fixes a mascot to his radiator. A memorial to our heroes on the Butte de Warlencourt.

"BON VOYAGE" THE TRUTH-BEARERS. [British Official. Releasing balloons with messages to bring hope to French and Belgian civilians in the grip of the Qermans-

A SHEAF OF WAR STORIES. I Thrilling Incidents of the Fighting cn Land, en Sea, and in the Air. I An Ammunition Ship Ablaze. The Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life at sea has been awarded to Commander Walter Henry Calthrop Calthrop, R.N. On the night of April 14th, 1918, a fire broke out on board the s.s. Proton," an ammunition ship, at Port Said. Commander Calthrop imme- diately proceeded to the scene. The ship had already been abandoned bv her crew, and was ablaze in Nos. 1 and 2 holds. The forecastle was also alight, and it was impossible to get down to the fore well deck owing to the heat (f the flames. Knowing that the Proton had 240 tons of ammunition on board, Commander Calthrop decided to endeavour to flocd the ship, and went down into the engine-room and opened the sea inlet, lie tried with- out success to break the main sea valve- cover. He then sent for a gun-cotton charge for the purpose of sinking the ship, and warned all ships in the vicinity to get under wTeigh. The Proton was now blazing fiercely forward, the sides red-hot as far aft as the bridge, and the bridge- screen all alight. He again boarded her with the first and second engineers, and went below, trying to break the doors of the condenser with sledge hammers. This being found impossible, they returned on deck. By this time a picket-boat had arrived with the gun-cotton charge, and the operation of sinking was carried out at once. Commander Calthrop displayed the utmost gallantry and disregard of his own personal safety in making protracted efforts, first to flood and then t-o sink the ship, while exposed to continual risk of an explosion of the ammunition on board. His efforts undoubtedly prevented serious loss of life. I A Tragic Letter. One of the daily pa pers of Paris quotes the following from a letter taken from a German prisoner This cannot endure much longer, for if the enemy does not destroy us bv rifle, machine-gun ifre, shells and bombs, we fall a prey to his gas. His poison bombs swarm over us like bees, and the poison is terrible. Our gas-masks are -N laiiv of us are not a little bit of use. Many of us are sightless, many are in hospital, many more are dead, and half of the rest of us are poisoned. I myself am half dead, and my eyes are red. It is the same with us all. Constantly we require to take the muzzle from our noses. Life' Whv this is Calvary that we are enduring. The enemv is our superior in every way-iii numbers, in physical strength, and the gas he uses is terrible. And his aviation I Hundreds of his airplanes fly over our positions, launching their bombs. And ours: Well, they come out when the enemv planes have flown away. There you have it all. We are soldiers and are proud of it. but we can- not endure this any longer. What is the use of it all? I have no longer any hope in our victory. The bad days are on us and will not depart. I Decoyed by an Aeroplane. liNe is another instance, from trance, of the way in which British airmen assist the artillery and tanks during an advance. Two airmen at great personal risk to them- selves enabled a successful local raid to be made with hardlv a single casualty to th. attacking British forces. It had become necessary to take a small salient in the line from the Germans, who were ex peck- ing an ordinary attack with its preliminary bombardment. Early in the morning a British aeroplane passed very low over the front trenches and purposely flew slowly parallel to the German line but about five or six hundred yards behind it. The Germans thought this a target nut to be missed, and unsuspectingly fell into the trap set for them by turning their backs to tiie British trenches in order to fire on the machine. Then the British infantry leaped from their trenches and captured in a few minutes a position to which con- siderable importance was attached by the British Staff, incidentally taking quite a number of prisoners. Compliment from a Dying German. In connection with General Gouraud'a progress in Champagne, neuter's corn"- spondent describes a t-ui-lotis tribut-e paid by a dving German officer to General Gouraud's infantry. The officer was found mortallv wounded in a captured position by-, some French privates. He asked them to bring a French officer. They brought the first officer t hey could find, and the German said to him. Monsieur, you have fought magnifi- cently. I am a soldier, and I must pav you that tribute. L'nhappilv. you will be in my country by Christmas, but as a soldier I congratulate you." He asked the Frenchman to shake hand? with him. and fell back. He died a little later. The German soldier's compliment was well deserved. Only the perfection of method, the closest interaction of all units, and the uttermost devotion among officers and men have enabled the French to break through the b?lt of field works which the enemy calculated he would be able to hold against them indefinitely. A Smart Capture. A French lieutenant, the other dav, with the assistance of a sergeant and a private carrying an automatic rifle, ca p- tured a trench and 105 prisoners. The automatic rifleman at one end of the trench and the lieutenant and the sergeant at the other end made the Germans believe that they had been out- flanked in force by a detachment with a machine-gun. They obeyed the order to surrender, and came out from the trench unarmed, one by one. American Pilot's Brave Deed. How an American aviator captured an enemy machine is described by the Dailv Chronicle" correspondent with the United States Army. Captain Charles Biddle. of Philadelphia, one morning, true to the spirit of American aviation, which savs ''Keep doing something and something, and get on with the wa,') ventured aloft on his own account to see what might befall. At 6,000 yards he found himself in close juxtaposition with a German 'plane, likewise unaccompanied Biddle elected to fight, and the enemy accepted the chal- lenge. There at an immense height from earth, and lost from the view of any eye. the two set out each to do the other to death. The American's first. fusilade shat- tered the German's machine-gun and slightly wounded the German himself his second punctured the tank of the German machine. Biddle had a helpless captive in the clouds and drew close up to him. The German was not so hurt that he could not guide his 'plane. The American turned the muzzle of his machine-gun upon him, and indicated that he was to spiral down, and thus, like a policeman of the sky, he marched his prisoner home. ♦

A USEFUL DIRECTORY. In war nothing is definitely gained until all is finally won. With ultimate triumph in sight, our duty is so to concentrate our energies that the end may be the more quickly attained. If this be true of our armies all over the world, it is equally true of our people at horae. Demands for voluntary workers on all sorts of war-work are still being made, and the fact that several bodies have applied for inclusion in the Directory of Govern- ment Departments and national organisa- tions requiring such workers shows not merely that there are unsatisfied needs in the industrial fields, but al.-o that the Directory has proved a real value in placing men and women in useful war employment. A new edition of this Directory is pos- sible during the coming winter, but, in the meantime, every man or woman wh-) is able to offer himself or herself for part- time voluntary work is urged to procure a copy of the existing Directory. More than 35,000 have been distributed. While copies mav be consulted at public libraries, railway stations, and Government informa- tion kiosks, application to the Ministry of National Service. Hotel Windsor, London, S.W. 1, will bring one post free to any address.