The Colorado statesman., 1918-01-26
BLACK TROOPS
|NFRANCE WIN
MANY HON0RS

DARIS. France, Jan. 1S.-The "Bul-
Hletin of the Armies" issued by the
French government after the COM
pletion of every drive in which the
allied armies participate, gives some
of the most amazing records of hero
ism in the history of wars. The Al
gerian and Singalese soldiers are
gaining favor continuously as fighters
of the first rank. The records of these
soldiers are heralded on the English
continent as Incompatible achieve
ments of bravery, and upon every oc-
casion where they have paraded the
streets preparatory to leaving for the
first line trenches storms of applause
have greeted them from every road
side and tavern, and upon one oc-
casion when these black troops re-
turned to the city of Paris, after hav-
ing been engaged in a vigorous drive
against the Germans at Verdun, every
soldier was bedecked with a shower
of flowers rendered him by French
women, who wept bitterly as they
viewed the wounded troopers limp
through the Paris thoroughfares.
One of the most remarkable feats
recorded in the bulletin was the work
performed by a corporal of a French
infantry regiment, Louis Hermitte.
Singalese. After a German attack in
December last he went out OF the
trench and drove back the enemy by
hurting hand grenades. He dug him
self in a little corner quite close to
the German line and stayed there for
several days. He received military
medal
Black troops of France have won
many honors and have shown them
selves unafraid of suffering. One page
in the bulletin was devoted to the
mention of five cases of Algerian and
Singalese soldiers, men born in hot
climate and quite unused to frost and
snow, who remained at their posts un-
der fire and fought brayely, though
all of them were terribly frostbitten-
so badly in two cases that both legs
had to be amputated In two other
cases the men lost leg each. One OF
these men endured the agony of frost
bite and of terrific German attacks
for nineteen consecutive days and
finally fell when his ammunition gave
out. Still another, with hands and
feet frozen, fought with such fury that
he captured several machine guns and
single handed brought back sixty Ger
man prisoners. These feats of hero
ism have crowned several of the men
with the Victoria cross honors, but
these honors are not received with
vainglorious boast on the part of the
soldiers. 1t is one of the highest hon
ors that a soldier can receive from
the government.
Hard fighting in close quarters calls
for a greater measure of athletic abil-
ity and superior physical strength and
endurance. This the Singalese seem
to possess to a greater degree than
any other allied body. In every sim
gle close battle with the Germans
they have proved themselves masters
of the situation and have slaughtered
their opponents unmercifully. In one
instance Corporal Handle Annonetti
was badly gassed, but continued work
until his lungs were overcrowded with
the vapor. He was taken to tho re-
lief station and begged to go back to
the firing line to finish his attack At
ter being temporarily relieved he es-
capped from the hospital and dragged
himself two miles over bullet riddled
ground and renewed his attack, kill
ing, it is claimed, over five Germans
who were manning a machine gun. He
was picked up by the ambulance corps
with both legs shot away.