Phoenix tribune., 1921-01-29
ATTY. WATKINS
DELIVERED GREAT
Church lecture

UEIUnUu LLUIUHAL
At the c. NJ E. church last Monday
night a good crowd turned out to hear
Attorney Watkins lecture on the work
Of the Colored soldier in the World
War. He gave a detailed account of
their engagements on the field and in
the trenches. He spoke of the great
fight of the 18th of New York. and
that great stand they made at Chateau
Thierry They hold the worlds rec
ord for staying in the trenches longer
than any soldiers in the war.
Their great stand at Chateau
Thierry formed the pivot upon which
the Allies swung victory around to
their side.
After the war was over the Army
and the Y. NJ. c. A opened up leave
areas so the boys could have some
place to spend a little vacation.
Aix-les-Bains, the first place opened
as a leave area for American soldiers
in France, and one of the leading
French summer resorts, was built up
on the reputation of its mineral
springs. According to the official
guide, the first baths known at AK
les-Bains were built by the Roman
pro-consul, Domitius, in the year 122
B. C.
February 16, 1918, Aix-les-Bains
was opened as playground for the
American Expeditionary Forces in
France. In hundred hotels at AK
les-Baines the army can accommodate
5000 soldiers at a time. besides 500 in
Chambery and 700 in Challes-les-Eaux
the other two towns of this area.
Chambery and Challes-les-Eaux were
set apart as leave areas for the Col
ored soldiers. Some of the points of
interest at this leave area are Temple
of Diana, now used as a museum. The
exact date of the temple is not known.
The thickness of the walls are more
than three feet and the enormous size
of those Roman tsones and the fact
that no mortar was used in its con-
struction would indicate that it be-
longs to a very early period, long be-
fore the Roman baths which were
tuilt 122 B. c.
The lake trip, a sail on Lake of
Bourget, the largest lake in France.
After a sail of IS minutes we come
to Hautecombe Abbey, which is a.
large Italian church and the royal
burial ground of Italy.
Hannibal's Pass-To students of
history one of the most interesting
features in this whole region is a
road, now known as the Chambery to
Lyon road. but built by the ancient
Romans. 1t follows the lake shore
from Bourget to Bourdeau, then
winds up Cat mountain and over the
pass into the Rhone valley That pass
is called Hannibals Pass, for there is
pretty clear proof that Hannibal came
over it on his way to Italy, 218 B. c.
In the third century B. c., there
were two strong republics; one
headed by Rome in Italy, the other
ty Carthage on the northern shore of
Africa. The rivalry between them led
to a series of three wars, known as
the Punic wars and dating respective
ly, 264-241 B. c.; 21S-2O1 B. c.; 49,
LAG B. c. With a train of elephants
and an army of about 100000, this is
what the Carthaginian general had
done: Starting in the summer of 218
B. C. with we'll drilled army he
crossed the Ebro river and the
Pyrenees mountains. His great care
then was to evade the friends of Rome
located along the coast, consequently
he led his army northward along the
Rhone valley.
1t was late autumn when he reached
the Alps (218 B. CO and his crossing
was fraught with the greatest dangers.
Overwhelmed by snow storms; strug-
CLING over a steep and dangerous trail,
sometimes so narrow that the rocks
had to be cut away to make room for
the elephants; looking down over
dizzy precipices or up to snow-covered
heights where hostile natives rolled
great stones down upon them. the dis
couraged army of Hannibal toiled on
day after day, exhausted. cold and
hungry. Heavy losses reduced the
number of men to about $4,000, yet
with this little army the dauntless
Carthagenian youth entered the terri
tory of the strongest military power
of the time, a notion which could call