The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1917-07-27
Veteran Chasseurs Detailed
as Instructors in Excit-
ing BayOnet Practice.
BILLETED IN VILLAGES
Many Black Eyes Result From
Failure to Get Dummy
BOche.
ny FLOYD GIBBONS.
SPECIAL Gable DsspatcA to THE Sun and the
chicd00 Tribune.

SPECIAL Gable DespateA to The Sun and tAs
cAicuOo Tribune.
Copyright, 1917 an rights reserved
TRAINING CAMP OF THE AMERICAN
ExPEDITIoNART FORCE IN FRANCE. July
ss.-Clip the sky line from the Blue
Ridge, arch It over with arboreal vistas
from the forests OF Oregon. reflect the
two in the placid water scenes from the
dells Of Wisconsin and you have some
which the first contingent of the Ameri-
can expeditionary force is training in
France.
Reckoning white roads curl through
the rolling hills like ribbons Of dental
cream squeezed out evenly on rich green
velvet. Chateaus. pearl white centres in
settings of amethyst. push their towers
and gables above the mossy plush OF
the mountain sides. Lazy little streams
oliver the valleys with their aimless
ERnderings
1t is a peaceful looking garden of
pastoral delight that the United States
soldiers have picked out for their mar
tiAl training ground. It is a section
whose physical appearance has been un-
touched by three years of the red and
roar certain number of miles to the
north The war took the men and the
boys. but left the old people and chill
dren to prune the hedges and trim the
roads for their returning.
But the restful scene is changing,
slowly. to be sure, but as fast as the
present number Of troops will permit.
The treeless ridges, carpeted with Just
enough green to veil the rocky forma-
ton Of the ground, are beginning to
break out with superficial rash of the
color Of fresh earth. In rows and cir
eles. by angles and xigzags. the trenches
are taking new form daily as the French
and American soldiers work side by side
with pick and shovel
The American troops are billeted In a
string Of villages that comprise one side
OF the letter ''V." The French COM
rades and instructors, veterans OF three
years Of fighting. occupy the other con-
vergng line. Between the two lines is
the area in which the post graduate
course in war is being pursued. Where
The two lines converge is where the
American commander and his French
confrere direct the studies.
The clay colored rectangles that move
evenly like brown caravans along the
white roads are the working units Of the
United States troops. The columns of
British gray that pass them on the road
are those tireless Frenchmen who after
almost three years Of the front line real
thing now play at a mimic war with
their taller and heavier novitiates who
are matriculating for the same school
Have Seen Hard Fighting.
The French troops are chausseurs of
certain class. which the censor deems
best should remain unnamed because IL
would reveal the unusual strength and
efficiency of these instructing soldiers,
and might also carry coveted informa-
uon to the German formations which
they were opposing.
But these chasseurs with their dark
blue caps. which resemble Tam o. Shan
ters but are not. are Justly proud of the
distinction which their uniforms give
hem not TO speak OF the record of
which one battalion boasts namely. that
OF The twenty-six officers who led IL into
NE first fight only four now exist.
White spots on the green banks may
oe Identified from the distance as Uncle
sans nephews bathing In the canal
The brown dots on the green field back
from the road will be known as parties
engaged in bayonet practice Black
eyes or skinned knuckles on the troopers
are demerit marks for a slow parry or
balance losing thrust. The cold steel
medicine that introduces the ''kamerad"
chorus is not without its penalties even
at practice An instructor stands before
pupil and carries long pole with a
none too large canvas pad on the busi-
ness end. The instructor thrusts the
pole at the pupil. and most frequently
the thrust is made toward the pupils
iace. that being the one little annoyance
70 which he must acciIafnm himsel