New-York tribune., 1912-02-04
FIGHTING FOR FRANCE
An American Engineer in the
FranCo-German War.
1T HARD TO ENLIST
Long Strife Wasn't Expected,
but He Had Opportunity for
Much Active Service.

but He Had Opportunity for
Much Active Service.
q record of veterans OF the French army
and navy who served In the Franco Ger
man War and who live in New York and
| New Jersey was made up for Bastile Day
this year and gave the number as 6,534. All
these veterans are entitled to a medal un-
der a recent act Of the French Republic.
one of the resident survivors is an Ameri-
can. w. ID. Forbes. a mechanical engineer.
He is a native Of Perth Amboy, n. ]. At
| the outbreak OF the war he was a student
at technical institute in Paris. lie vol
unteered his services. but found difficulty
| In being accepted because the opinion OF
the officers was that the army would be in
| Berlin in month and that not more than
| two-thirds Of the armed forces would be
used in conquering Prussia and her con-
| federates i'm the German states. France
| expected that Italy and Austria would aid
| her and that Denmark would lend its navy
and few troops.
Through Louis Blanc young Forbes got
! into the service in n company OF scouts
/ and shsrpshooters. In speaking OF his ex-
! pcriences to a reporter the other day Mr..
| Forbes said:
THE object FOR which companies like that
Of which l was a member was organized
was 10 operate we'll forward and develop
! the enemy and then retire. As matters
! turned out. however, the enemy invariably
developed US. but the companies were use
! full In scouting and acquired a great deal
| Ct sound information. At one time my
company was sixty miles In the rear OF
the Germans operating against Strasburg.
| The French rifles were far better than the
Prussian needlegun. The chassepot had a
much greater effective range and was cas-
| ily kept in order. Our fellows could al
ways kill many OF the enemy with rifles
! before they could get bullet among US.
The German artillery had longer range
than ours. but II was not so well served.
While the Germans fired four shots our
fellows fired six or seven.
"In taking villages from the Germans we
always used rifles or bayonets, and some
: times both. We rarely failed to drive the
Germans out. but in most cases they got
back again by Smelling us out with ar
tlllery. Our machine guns were in good
]
one battle the lat Regiment OF Branden-
berg Grenadiers lost 81 per cent OF it's men
| r charging against machine guns. Most
Of them were killed as soon as they got
/ within our range.
| The French ammunition was good and
so were the uniforms. but there were gross
| frauds in most OF the departments that
sent out supplies In several cases OF rifles
which / saw unpacked for serving to men
on the eve Of battle there was n top layer
| Of rifles. the rest OF the space was filed
with bricks One department Of great value
| to tho French was the intelligence bureau.
/ The officers and men who belonged to Il
| had yellow badges and each platoon bore
q yellow nag. which meant Information
! Patrol II worked this way: y regiment
marched along and met SOME one from the
e, ,intelligence department. who told them
! they would find good water at such place
! or hot chocolate or coffee at this or that
place II then was the duty OF the inteli-
Rence department man TO guide them where
/ they wished 10 be for refreshing the men.
I'm hundreds OF ways the information
men made themselves Of great use to the
army. They had perfected maps and knew
erals had no maps and were often lost In
their own country never had any founda-
ton In fact. The Germans used French
maps throughout their campaign and found
them accurate. 1t often happened in my
company and battalion that we came TO
deserted villages. the names of which we
did not know. That was because II was no
part OF our business to study maps we
were feeling the lines Of the enemy's COM
munications and taking shots at the Ger
| man scouts.
| Despite the hard fortune of the French
army, the men and inferior officers were
always in good spirits and made lots OF
! fun at the encampments. Most OF the Of
| lcers were Of the kind who said: Follow
me, boys, rather than: Go forward. boys
The marching was rapid, and after the men
had walked two or three miles they were
halted and ordered 10 take off the stocking
on the right foot and put II on the left foot
and change the other stocking, then shake
the shoes well TO free them from pebbles
or dust Then they were ordered to loosen
! their shirts and Wristbands and then re-
cline upon the ground for a few minutes
and eat something. The result was that
the men were wonderfully freshened and
went forward at good pace.
"I made part Of the practice march
from Marseilles 10 Havre recently with
brigade that did the march In record time.
I turned into the line at Rouen and went
onward to Havre. I noticed that the men
we're lust as intelligent and martial as the
men were In the time Of the Franco-Ger-
man war The soldiers still followed the
custom Of loosening their uniforms and
taking off their shoes for rest along the
line of march AS In my days In the
French army. there were lots OF good sing
ing and much cutting up when the com
mands were marched at ease. and the old
French custom Of perfect good fellowship
between officers and men-yet with proper
respect for the officers by the men-was In
being, just as IT was I'm lS0-'T
I'm my humble opinion, Germany would
lose in a war against France to-day. The
grave faults In the French army OF 1901
were chargeable TO Il number Of high Of
| Goarg ho bad IaornoJ yothino NJ tho mod