Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-04-16
SOLDIERS OF THE sLUMs
Reformed RaseaIs Make Gallant Fight.

as much heroism and as fine a quality
of chivalry az his brother poilu who
has never sidestept from the narrow
path OF rectitude, Is the conclusion
arrived at by Paul Ayers Rockwell
staff correspondent Of the Chicago
| Daily News. who tells OF the exploits
Of that battalion Of men who are
wiping out their crimes against the
laws Of France by heroic fighting for
their country.
Rascals. asSassirs, If you will. but
hard fighters. though difficult to ham
die when not engaged in warfare.
| Rockwell writes:
Henry de Forge tells in the Excel
sior a touching story Of the Battalion
dAfrique. that heroic corps OF beard
less youths who made mistakes in
civilian life but are wiping clean the
slate Of the past by fighting and dy-
ing gallantly for their country. I like
this story so we'll. because 1t is 80 true
to life. that / translate II here:
This calm and gentle man, whose
young face. smoothly shaved as the
visage of a priest. smiles from under
snow white hair; this man, who Is the
chief, nevertheless, Of violent troops,
the most terrible to lead that are,
spoke Of them with pride. sort Of
pride Of father.
Yes; rascals, robbers. assassins,
| outcasts' he said. 1t Is Il battalion OF
accursed ones, but hard-fighting bat
TALON, I assure you. 1t Is difficult to
| manage them when they are at repose
for when they are not occupied they
commit a thousand stupidities. Thus
they almost never have a rest. But
under fire there are no finer troops IN
the world and l love these men,
whom | know how to make listen to
me-
The officer, Commandant H,
pointed out the groups.
Look at their faces. Are they
badlooking? The uniform. fortunate
ly. sets these lads off little. But in
what state they come back each time
from the combat. One would say
they have homesickness to be badly
drest. What's the difference! They
have the pride of their poverty. One
can depend upon them.
Listen. This is the latest adven-
ture of the third company. find 1t
singularly symbolic of the state Of
mind of these men, and l guarantee
the story's authenticity:
This company was in line at forty
meters from the German trenches
often, as you know, the enemy finds 1t
pleasing to put in line troops Of the
kind that he has before him: dragons
against dragons, chasseurs against
chasseurs, troupes d elite against
troupes d elite.
lone morning we relieved the AL
pins. 1t was not long before the
enemy found out who was facing him,
and my men were not delayed in see
ing appear above the enemy trenches,
50 near. placards with insulting in
scriptions written in French:
""Beware of pickpockets!"
"'And other friendly remarks Of
this kind exasperated my lads. There
fore. we had devilish trouble In
holding them back. and each night
they slipt out and prowled around the
I wire ENHANCEMENT Of the Germans
who lodged showing themselves.
"A new placard notified US:
"'"You will soon have some one to
talk to-
Three days later, surely enough
information was given us that We had
facing us a battalion Of the guard.
| 'Acclamations greeted this news
For one time the enemy had not
sought to pair Off his troops with ours
I'm face of the vagabonds. the
poverty stricken. the undesirables, was
the fine flower Of the Teuton nobility.
We were going to laugh.
After several days of calm an in
scription appeared above the German
trench in red letters, very readable.
upon a white board. 1t bore this
stinging phrase:
1--we have before us the scum OF
France. 1t Is not with rifles that we
will come to seek you; it will be with
lashes."
| My men shrugged their shoulders.
But they were nervous. I felt that
another provocation Of that kind was
going to be dearly paid for.
| "'All the night. from one part to
another, the trench engines did not
cease firing. Vengeance does not wait
long, with the "Joyeux."
| "'At dawn, suddenly a human
form emerged from in front and stood
erect in the midst of the wires. with
= strange temerity.
| My soldiers did not fire. They
wished to see what was coming, to see
well.
| 1T was an officer Of the guard,
very young. with the face Of an adol-
escent.
He had his sleeves rolled up. No
weapon. In his hand only a lash as
we had been forewarned.
1.-TWO rife-shots then struck down
the imprudent fellow, who rolled out
into the free zone between the lines Of
wire entanglements.
From the two sides men rushed
forward 1t was a ferocious fray. q
fray with knives to take the officer,
who was only wounded and who was
trying to crawl away.
THE fight. was not long. The
"Joyeux" at grips with the guard!
That could not drag along. >. The
body was brought into our lines .
The Commandant H was silent
for an instant. He was living again
those poignant moments.
From a neighboring TRENCH he
began once more. I had witnessed the
| affair. and I ran over in haste, not
having any doubt as to the violent