The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-06-01
Blue DEVILS OF FRANCE.
Their Defense of Gcrbeviller a Shin
ing Example of Daredevil Bravery.

washington, May Z7-A StrlKlns
pen picture Of the blue Devils" of
France some of whom have just ar.
rived in America, is given in a COM
to the National Geograph-
ic Society from Harriet Chalmers
Adams, the noted traveller and wal
correspondent. A part of Mrs.
Adams communication is issued by
the Society in the form of war
geography bulletin, as follows:
"Gerbeviller, the bare skeleton of a
town i'm the Toul sector, where the
Americans are holding their share of
the Western battle line, is the Pompeii
of France. POmpeii was wrecked
by the might of God; this town by
human hate. To reach the most
spectral ruins / saw in all France we
crossed a bridge which will flame in
history, the one held by the Is chas-
seurs.
We iidNt cSDcCldl III
the chasseurs, for they have been
training our American boys at the
front. No soldiers of France are as
picturesque as these sun-burnt, fiery
eyed men of the Alpine and Pyrenean
heights, who have left the stain of
their loyal blood on every frontier
they have touched. The Germans call
them the blue DEVILS and say they
can run faster than the chamois, but
II is the BOche who runs when they
come his way They are merry,
care-free lot. ! heard a story Of one
who fired in kneeling position in
stead of lying fiat on the ground
When asked by a fellow soldier why
he was so fOolhardy, he explained
that he had bottle of wine in his
pocket and it had no cork
During the battle of Lorraine, Is
chasseurs were posted ut the bridge
which leads to Gerbeviller AS the
German column hove i'm sight they
tore up the pavement, threw breast
works across the bridge, and station
ed their machine guns. This was in
the early morning. At four that af-
ternOOn lone chasseur fired the last
round of ammunition and slipped
away to join his companions, 81 Of
whom had survived. For eight hours
rs Frenchmen had held off $4,000
Germans!
"Angered into fury by the machine
guns, which had held them so long
at bay, the Prussians entered the
town, firing and burning every house
they passed. Like many French
towns. Gerbeviller was built on.s one
long main street, with lanes leading
was poured into the cellars to make
more of a blaze. If the people re-
manned in the houses, so much the
better
THE refugees have crept back. On
mangled wall / saw the sign Cafe
of the Ruins A girl in black was
placing Il bunch of wild flowers be-
on the wall of what was once a
church. Only one building in the
OF n n1c-fha II l.. L,
pice which shelters Sister Julie, one
of the great heroincs of France.
1--WE rang the doorbell and Sis
ter of Mercy ushered us into n mar
row hallway, and then into a little sit
ting room with oil-cloth on the table.
and a few stiff backed chairs. There
was a battered organ and an an
cient chest and two pictures of re-
ligious subjects on the wall. / can
sec every detail even now, for this
was the setting of the woman who de-
fled the whole German army.
"She sat upright in her chair with
hands crossed-a short. plump wo-
man past co, with bright hazel eyes.
rosy cheeks, and firm mouth. Sis
ter Julie, whose name before she was
Mother Superior was Madame Amelie
Rigard. has n most authoritative air
Beneath the cape of her black habit
CLEANS the cross of the Legion Of
Honor, pinned there by the president
of the Republic, who, with many
other dignitaries, made q pilgrimage
to this remote village to decorate this
little old woman.
Sister Julie speaks rapidly. with
an occasional gesture. She told us
of the 10 chasseurs-hOw the first to
be wounded were brought to her