Show HOW FRANCES BLACK MEN FROM AFRICA FIGHT THEIR BATTIES BATTLES by PAUL SCOTT MOWRER Clil chicago cago dully daily newa news elomay Ep franco france there are two to principal categories of foreign troops lighting fighting eido side by side with tho the french to defend title this lovely land tho the arit ish from across tho the channel and tho the Alge algerians rians booro and senegalese galoso from across tho the mediterranean in africa dozens ot of correspondents have followed tho the british expeditionary dorco to cliant chant tho the heroism ot of tommy atkins hut but though tho the exact figures are not available I 1 believe tho the french african troops now facing the germans are about as numerous as tho the namely in the neighborhood abor of somebody ought to chronicle their too some strolling poet of tho the atlas somo some blade black voodoo with an epic turn ot mind in tho the meantime antimo me I 1 may bo be permitted to toll tell tho the little I 1 havo have learned about thorn them as I 1 havo have seen thorn them in these old french and marching among tho the vineyards of champagne you may read in ill tho the old testament how low david after stunning goliath of gath with a stone cut off tho the glante giants head and carried it back to exhibit in camp or liow how joshua and his israel ites on taking jericho utterly destroyed all that was in tho the city both nan and women young and old ov ox end jand sheep and asa o 0 mith the edge of tho the sword this was vas tho the ancient idea of warfare not merely to defeat tho the enemy but to exterminate him and carry off the beade heads of his champions as trophies it Is tho the idea of tho the turcos burcos and senegalese riflemen to this day cant change nature habits theme africans have by no means been able to shuffle ott oft their native habits just because they have been brought to fight in tho the white mans battles all of their officers are french one of these officers con tided to mo that he lie often had the greatest di difficulty in persuading the men to behave in a civilized manner toward prisoners and tho wounded mounded indeed I 1 should say that the greatest dilu culy is a euphemism somewhere up near the belgian frontier tho advancing germans found u P barn with 82 wounded turcos burcos in it they burned and dynamited the building just as it stood two kinds of african troops roughly speaking thoro there ore are two sorts of french african troops tur cos and Senega senegalese leEe is a general name covering moors derber ca cavalry alry and algerians Alge rians but property properly applying ing only to the last so called in the crimean war mar by the russians m aho vho ho mistook them for turks the turcos wear vear white or light blue baggy trousers light blue jackets and rod hats they are recruited promiscuously among the various peoples ina in habiting ba biting tho the north african coast but all anro edans and in most of them arab blood predominates they wage war with the same fanatic fury which in their forefathers tho the saracens saracena Sara cens aroused the wonder of the crusaders and their specialty Is tho the bayonet charge but the day of cold steel and the hand to hand fight though by no means past Is gradually passing as the turcos burcos have found to their cost A division of them was in the rear guard which covered the french retreat from belgium at signy iab 1 bayo baya they made a stand the ing germans halted in tho of a abod and Drow presently antly the Tur cirs whom their officers wore unable longer to restrain with the bayonet over tho the stubble fields eliere the wheat still stood in the shock swept the long brightly colored line blie rod red white brown and the aver of on polished metal As they drew nearer to the toe foe thoy redoubled their shrill yells and began discharging their guns four hundred yards bards yards where were mere the germans had tho the visible fury of the onslaught already froen their hearts at yards a ter terrific rifle fusillades of rifles and opened from the woods the panting tur bos ipos undaunted increased their speed sura sure now of bictory ic tory when suddenly barbed wire viro the german had meshed the field with noth barbed wire the rhe turcos burcos were caught like flies in the cruel web half of them returned thit as far as I 1 know mas as the first and thus far tho the only great bayonet of the present war ar though minor engagements of this nature have been frequent and e effective fact it was written he should die it is curious how the bo oriental fatalism of the mon men soon spreads to their occidental len leaders dera last night in a quiet cafe of this town I 1 was nas conversing with noth a sergeant of the moroccan fusi leers he ile was vas a frenchman of lyons who had served four ears nears in algeria and two in lifo morocco rocco a fine brown eyed handsome fellow lu in his baggy light blue trousers biu blu jacket of oy the it same color docked with yellow braid hie his bright red saah sash and his cap like a fez w m without a tassel ills life moroccan campaigns lie eald said were moro practical jokes johes to the present butchery und ho lie told ne me this etory story of tho the tren trenches clies from which ho lie had juba returned wo we havo have a hard time making malting the men stay down under cover thoy they want to moo ahat Is going on the want mant to jump out and wave their gulls and nhouy insults at the enemy occasionally casio nally as thy used to la in morocco our captain who was mas ot of course n frenchman was ae as bad as any except to sleep ho lie absolutely refused to descend into tho the trenches ho ile would kneel for hours on oa the ground a little to tho the rear watching tho the enemy through his glasses and directing our fire when we ne remonstrated with him he merely bald said like any Aloham mohammedan that a bullet woul find him when hen ills life timo time came camin neithel sooner nor later but so many ol 01 our men paid for their temerity with their lives that lie too finally consented to come down out of tho the hall of bullets which had never ceased about him yesterday was his first day in tho the trenches about three in the afternoon a she shell I 1 I 1 bur burst s t overhead A piece of it hit him on tho the crown and killed him instantly 0 so you think it was nas because his time had come what elsa can ono one think ho lie had found safety in the midst of death but death had found him in what nhat should havo have been tho the midst of safety the captain was right it Is written think alls fair in war I 1 do not know tho the origin of tho th pro proverb erb alls fair in lovo love and war but it has an ancient oriental eavor savor and I 1 suspect tho the turcos burcos thoroughly subscribe to it cheso african fighter ers are the only ones among the allies whom I 1 hai havo 0 heard speak openly in praise of german ruses auses sly onest say the turcos burcos and wag their brown bromn heads and grin appreciation they think it a very good scheme of the Clor germans mans not to mako make any effort to bury their dead before retreating from one position to another for thua the pursuing enemy must either bother to do the job himself or elso else run tho the risk of discomfort and even disease they especially admire the german anck of standing up lip their dead helmet on and gun in hand along a deserted trench so that tho the french will nill tho the french Is still defended and tho the wonder nonder to them Is not that the germans havo have burned and shelled towns but that they bavo have not done so more frequently senegalese worship fetishes tho the senegalese curs although resembling tho the turcos burcos in certain of their military ethics are beings of an altogether different order there Is but ono one allah and mohammed is his prophet means nothing to thorn them they worship fetishes they aro are black men of timbuctoo and the ivory coast where the fiery flery blonts southwestward south off tho the sahara toward the sea sen knowing that the forefathers of ot briny of our own good american negroes had been captured by english and portuguese slavers in precisely these regions I 1 expected to find something familiar in the aspect of the senegalese riflemen I 1 was destined to disillusion three days ago on the road to reims I 1 overtook an entire regiment they rhey stood or squatted or sprawled led lor several hundred lords ards along the grass at the edge of tho the winding road resting under the poplars their rifles stacked thor white off leers withdrawn into groups always ays at somo soma distance from tho the men save for a red sash under their tunics they were uniformed entirely in dark blue oven to their cloth caps and their putt putties les I 1 walked past them slowly fascinated I 1 host lost 1 wore sli ashes tees some were barefooted in sand dais but I 1 had to look very closely at tho the dark feet to distinguish thie difference dine rence they seemed very tired under the weight of their baver packs their eyelids drooped like those of an exhausted animal or of a man who has been drugged their look causes shudder it may have been this or it may bavo have been tho the bloodshot blod ahot shot whites of their ees which caused me to shudder slightly when oro u looked at me they scarcely spoke somo some sat star ing into space bent forward over their long thin logo logs which extended itice poles in front or ot them A number were ere bearded abat Is to eay say the had across ther upper lips ard under their chins a f ircle of black bair the center of allic which h was a pair of thick cipu ons once of them took off oft his ills cip to mop bis blo brow I 1 was war amazed to see a headdress like the engravings grav ings in the anthropology anthrop olgy textbooks a shaved heal with a tuft on top from ilitch descended on or all sides little kinky strings rome some too 4 bad had earrings carrl nes |