The Monticellonian., 1916-11-16
BRlTISH-FRENCK
 RIVALRY BRINGS
 MUTUAL RESPECT
Two Commanders Go Over Para pets Side by Side in Somme
 Battle.
STORY REPEATED MANY TIMES
Old and Recent Arrivals From Great Britain Look Equally Like Vet erans Today-Generous in Praise of Each Other Are
 British and French.

British and French.
 British Front OH the Somme.-When the big push of the Somme was about to begin and the French and British armies were on the keen edge of ex- pectation the battalion commander on the extreme right of the British forces sent word to the battalion commander on the extreme left of the French forces and asked him where he would be in the attack. writes Arno Dosch- Fleurot in the New York World.
 4'I shall be over the pafapets with the first Wave of my troops was the French commanders reply.
 "So shall l. Was the British com mander's return message; "keep an eye out for me"
 So. when the troops were damned in the forward trenches waiting for the enormous mine explosions under the German communication trenches which were to be the signal for the assault, the British commander worked his way to the end of the fafthest trench and there he found the French commander. They stood there wait ing, side by side. until the terrific ex- plosions tore the German trenches to pieces. then. one with tn "En 8vant" and the other with Charger leaped over the parapets. automaties i'll hand and led the charge into the German lines.
 Luckily both escaped unhurt. and the story of their unusual action has run through the two great allied armies on the Somme. II has gone complete ly through the British army, in faet, and l first heard it long before reached the Somme l heard it SC often that l am not sure where l heard it first, but 1 remember being told it at the table of the divisional command CT just south of Ypres. nearly hun dred miles from the Somme.
 Mutual Good Will.
 As 1 kept on hearing this story began te feel it Was little too pat to be true, but 1t also struck He that il did not make much difference whether 1t waS or not. Since I have reached the Somme I have had t con firmed, but whether it was true or not was nowhere nearly so important IS the effect 1t had upon the troops. It thrilled the allied armies. and gave them dramatic example of their brotherhood in arms. Certainly, from the point of view of the British army it has done much toward making them feel good toward the Frenehman fight ing beside them.
 This has interested me, as the re lations between the French and the British armies has always interested me, l know from my own experience with the first British troops that came to France that they had the typical in sular attitude of superiority, except in the case of individuals who had seen the French in action and knew Ut first hand what good soldiers they were. After two years every bit of that is gone. Going about the British front, as l have just been doing, l have been struck, in faet, hy the WHY everyone has made Il point of calling attention to the work of the French troops. At most points along the 1G0=kiinmcter front The British noW hold there Were formerly French troops. aud the Brit ish troops who now occupy these trenches have daily object lessons in what good soldiers the French must he te de some of the things that are everywhere apparent.
 Death Foil at Vimy Ridge
 had q striking example of tbis the other day when l arrived on the Brit ish front The first place where ap- preached the firing line was at the Xtny Ridge, north of Arras. d piece of France that has been fought over no less fiereeIy than the Mort Homme or Les Eparges. The fight began at Notre Dame de Lorette. which fig ured in the French eommuni4ues aI- most daily for months. and as The Germans were pushed out of there hv the French poilus they left behind the wreck of Ablain-St. Nazaire and Souehez before they were forced to the height of Ntmy Ridge. which they still hold. The little valley in between is soaked with blood At Notre Dame de Lorette. on Il space not over mile long and 300 yards wide, at least ao.- GOO men gave up their lives. It k i'm possible to walk there now without constantly stumbling over boots with in which the dry bones rattle in n Very ghostly manner.
 All this magnificent fighting was done by French soldiers, and vet il was the first place to which the Brit. ish brought me. They have bloody hattlefelds of their own to show Ypres, Loos and Neuve Ghapelle- but the place they chose showed only what the French had done. IL is true that over on the yimy Ridge there is daily battle going on that would he considered important in any other war but is never even mentioned ir the British eommuniques. While was there the trench m 9rtars on bott ~>~N-'~|~@@0-3->~o~-@-~>o-> @-~>o->~~~~o-o~ooooo