Chapter III: Part 3

An Irish regiment was on the extreme southerly end of the English line, and thus joined with the French Zouaves.

Pieces of white muslin were pinned to the backs of many of the Légionnaires (they advanced without knapsacks) so they could be distinguished from the enemy. This precaution was taken for the reason that in the attack on May 9th, a serious delay occurred because the observers attached to the French 75 guns were unable to distinguish the French from the Germans. A despatch bearer who had messages from the officers at the front stating that the Legion had made a great advance, and directing that the range of the guns be changed so as to pass over the French troops, was killed and the messages undelivered. When the soldiers of the Legion reached this line of range of their own guns, many ran into the fire, and the others were compelled to hold back until another messenger was despatched.

After a terrific bombardment of the German trenches for several days, the French troops left their trenches at eight o’clock in the morning of June 16th, for the attack.

Ladders were in the front line trenches to enable the soldiers to get out quickly; a ladder being provided for every five men.

It will be remembered that on May 9th Battalion C led the advance, followed by A, and then B, but on June 16th it was Battalion B, containing these five Americans, that was first to leave in its sector. It faced a very severe fire from machine guns, rifles and shrapnel. The men ran forward in a line, at a distance of about a yard apart, and many fell before the first line of German trenches were reached. These had been destroyed by the French artillery and vacated by the enemy, and little of the barbed wide defences remained. However, the broken ground where those trenches had been afforded some slight shelter and advantage was taken of it to rest and rearrange the line.

They then rushed for the second line of trenches, which were strongly defended, having many machine guns in action; the French lost heavily before reaching these trenches, those who did safely reach them had a hand to hand fight with the Germans. It was here that Paul Pavelka received a bayonet wound in his leg and Lawrence Scanlan was severely wounded in his leg and foot by rifle fire, Russell Kelly received what a companion described as “a clean wound in his left shoulder that did not seem to be serious.” All trace of John Smith and Kenneth Weeks was lost at this point. Weeks carried the supply of hand grenades for his section.

But in spite of all resistance the French captured those trenches, and pushed on to the next, where they had another desperate hand to hand encounter but which they also captured.

This division of the French army then drove its way through Cabaret Rouge, which has been frequently mentioned in the despatches. It is only a wine shop on the road to Arras and on the southern outskirts of Souchez.

In spite of the German artillery and machine gun fire they continued to advance, driving the enemy before them, capturing many, and taking Hill No. 119 to the southeast of Souchez. Pavelka and Scanlan, who lay wounded at the second line of trenches, could plainly see their comrades, distinguished by the pieces of white muslin on their backs, fighting their way, step by step, up Hill 119.

The division pushed on towards Givenchy, which is about a mile east of Souchez; but the Germans were able to attack them on their left flank, and the German artillery established a curtain of fire and thus cut off reënforcements. The rest of the line did not advance as fast nor as far as the portion that included this Battalion, so before the day was over the Germans had surrounded the men who were so advanced, and subjected them to a most severe artillery and machine gun fire. The men so surrounded numbered about five hundred and they held out until the afternoon of the next day, when, with every man remaining wounded and exhausted from thirst, they were all captured with the exception of some few who were able to conceal themselves within the German lines, it having been since reported that some of the men avoided capture in that way.

Every officer in the regiment was killed.

The battle that day resulted in a net gain to the Allies of about two miles in depth over a front of about two miles; which gain was held for about six months, when the Germans recovered nearly one mile.

OFFICIAL WAR (night) COMMUNIQUÉ.

FRENCH

_Paris,
Thursday, June 17, 10 p. m._

Great activity along the entire front during the last two days is reported in to-day’s despatches. The fighting to the north of Arras has assumed an extremely violent character since yesterday. Infantry actions have been numerous and vigorous, while the artillery duel has been exceptionally violent and uninterrupted. We have achieved important gains which were almost all maintained despite furious counter attacks, which were repeated to-day with renewed vigor.

Yesterday and to-day we advanced steadily toward Souchez from the northwest, the south-west and the west. Further to the south we have gained a footing in the park of the Carleul Château, where the enemy had been making use of the moat around the Château as a defensive base. We captured the Souchez cemetery and gained some ground on the slopes to the southeast of Souchez (Hill No. 119) following several brilliant charges. The results achieved yesterday were extended to-day.

After our infantry had delivered some extremely vigorous attacks, which were most efficaciously supported by the firing of almost three hundred thousand shells by our artillery, it was compelled to face, during the night of Wednesday, several violent counter attacks made by important hostile forces. These attacks were repulsed along the entire front, the only point evacuated by us being a small wood which we captured yesterday morning south of Hill No. 119 and which the enemy’s artillery made it impossible for us to hold.

In these engagements the Germans used eleven divisions, which all suffered extremely heavy losses. On our side the losses were also serious.

The morale of our troops continues to be perfect. The number of prisoners captured by us exceeds six hundred, including more than twenty officers.

GERMAN

_Berlin,
Thursday, June 17._

The British and French continued yesterday their attempts to break through our lines. North of La Bassée Canal the British, overpowered by Westphalians and Saxons, after a hand-to-hand fight, were forced to beat a speedy retreat into their positions. South of Souchez the French succeeded in penetrating into our positions over a width of about 600 metres, and obtained a foothold. Fighting still continues. At all other points they were repulsed with sanguinary losses.

FRENCH

_Paris,
Saturday, June 19, 10 p. m._

In the sector to the north of Arras we have continued our action and on several points gathered the fruits of the favorable engagements of the last few days....

We hold the slopes of Hill 119 where our troops are maintaining themselves, clinging to the ground beyond the last German trenches, notwithstanding counter attacks by the enemy. To the south of these slopes our front has been carried forward to the northeast of the Labyrinth.

GERMAN

_Berlin,
Saturday, 3 p. m._

Several French attacks on the Lorette Hills, on both sides of Neuville and northeast of Arras broke down. We cleared a few trench sections which we had previously lost, of all enemies.

Account of battle from the _New York American_, August 7, 1915.

THREE AMERICANS IN LEGION CAPTURED

Orderly Describes Brilliant Charge Against Germans by Squad from U.
S. in French Ranks

_By International News Service
Paris, August 6._

It now seems certain the three Americans of the famous First Regiment of the Foreign Legion who have been missing since the big fight north of Arras on June 16th are prisoners in Germany. They are Kenneth Weeks, Russell Kelly, and John Smith.

The news was brought to Paris by an orderly of the regiment’s colonel, who, while lying in the field of battle with a shattered leg, was picked up by the German Red Cross. His leg was amputated in a field hospital and he was recently repatriated.

According to the orderly, Battalion B, of the Legion in which these Americans were fighting on June 16th, broke far through the German lines left of Cabaret Rouge. The Germans reformed on both sides, attacking in force, and by the curtain of shells and machine-gun fire made reinforcements or retreat impossible.

The Légionnaires dug in and throughout the night of the 16th until the afternoon following resisted all attacks. Then, covered with wounds and parched with thirst, the survivors surrendered.

The American squad when the first regiment moved north from the Champagne region early in May included Kenneth Weeks, of New Bedford; Paul Rockwell, of Atlanta; Paul Pavelka, of Madison, Conn.; Russell Kelly, of New York; Frank Musgrave, of New Orleans; Jack Janz, of Boston; Lawrence Scanlan, of Cedarhurst, L. I., John Smith, of Los Angeles; Neamorin, of Calcutta, a graduate of Oxford and a frequent visitor to America, and Madji Zennis, of Constantinople, formerly an interpreter for a New York importing house.

The squad was led by Corporal Didier, a gigantic Moor. All were volunteers for the war except Janz. Janz was the only American in the entire Legion that had seen African service, having been seven years in Morocco.

He was shot through the forehead while looking out of a trench toward the German lines shortly after the arrival of the regiment in the north.

During the fighting around La Targette and Neuville-St. Vaast on May 9th Janz was shot through the chest with a rifle ball. While he lay on the battlefield a shell exploded near him and badly lacerated his hips. Later he was carried off the field to a hospital.

ONLY 700 OF 4,000 LEFT

After the fighting on May 9th, 10th and 11th the Legion was sent to the rear for re-organization. Only 700 of the 4,000 who had gone into action answered the roll call.

In the attack of June 16th, which preceded by a terrific thirty-six-hour bombardment of the German lines, the legion occupied a position near Souchez and Cabaret Rouge.

The first line of German trenches was literally knocked to pieces by shell fire and easily taken. The advance on the second line was met by a stream of lead from rifles and machine guns. Whole sections of the attacking party were mowed down. Corporal Didier fell, his left arm literally shot off. Zennis’s lower jaw was torn away. Neamorin fell with a ball through his abdomen.

Pavelka was the first of the American squad to reach the second line. He just got to the edge of a trench held by Bavarians when he was stabbed in the leg with a bayonet.

GERMANS THROW DOWN ARMS

By then the German trenches were filled with a yelling mass of Légionnaires, zouaves and tirailleurs. Such of the Germans as could climbed out of the trenches and threw down their arms. They ran for the rear, the French in hot pursuit.

Pavelka took shelter in a German trench to bandage his wound. He was joined there by Kelly, who had been hit in the shoulder, and Smith with a ball through his leg.

After a rest Pavelka suggested to his comrades that they crawl to the rear. Kelly and Smith were too weak. Pavelka made his way alone to a first aid ambulance.

The only American positively known to have been killed June 16th was Edwin Hall, of Chicago, who arrived at the front a few days before the battle and was placed in the machine gun section. It was his first time under fire and he exhibited great coolness and bravery. Hall’s squad rushed up the machine guns to hold a captured position. The Germans counter attacked and killed the entire squad.

IX
EPILOGUE

It may interest the reader to know how the six Americans in the 15th _escouade_ or squad have since fared, so the following brief statement is given.

Lawrence Scanlan, called Larney in the narrative, was severely wounded in his leg and foot June 16th. It was not until the following December that the last of the pieces of bullets were extracted from his leg. They were forwarded to his family near New York.

The wounds were so deep that in November, 1916, he was still an invalid, being in a hospital established by an American, Mrs. Fitzgerald, at Passy-par-Véron, France. In the summer of 1916 he was awarded the _Croix de Guerre_ or Military Cross, the citation stating that it was awarded because he was a good and brave soldier and had been badly wounded. It was attached while he stood, aided by crutches. In writing of the ceremony he stated, “I could not help thinking as I stood there that Russell should be standing beside me, and that we should be receiving our decorations together.”

Paul Pavelka referred to in the letters as the “skipper,” recovered from the bayonet wound he received June 16th, and returned to the front. He was in many severe engagements, and early in the year 1916 was transferred to the All-American aviation section. He rendered such brave service in this branch of the army around Verdun that he was made sergeant in September, 1916, and the following month was awarded the _Croix de Guerre_ with its green and red ribbon.

Kniffin Yates Rockwell, who was in a hospital June 16th, suffering from the wound received May 9th, recovered and rejoined the Legion at the front. He was transferred to the All-American aviation section, and was so daring and successful that he became known as the Ace. General Joffre, in person, pinned upon him the _Médaille Militaire_ with its yellow ribbon, for bringing down a Prussian two-seat aeroplane near Hartmannsweillerkopf, in May, 1916. On September 9th, 1916, he was officially credited with having brought down four Prussian aeroplanes. He was promoted to a lieutenancy. He was also awarded the _Croix de Guerre_.

On September 24th, 1916, he was shot down while defending a flotilla of bomb-dropping aeroplanes returning to the Verdun lines from an expedition into territories held by the Prussians. He suffered his fatal wound while above the town of Thann, and dropped into Alsatian territory, retaken from the Prussians. This was near the spot where he shot down his first adversary about April, 1916. He was on his way back to the air squadron’s base where he would have been informed that he had been promoted from first sergeant to lieutenant. He was buried with full military honors, a regiment of French territorials and a battalion of Alpine chasseurs were the guard of honor.

Lieutenant Rockwell was from Atlanta, Georgia. He had been a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute, two classes ahead of Russell Kelly. Both were members of the Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Kenneth Weeks was reported as missing until November 25th, 1915, when his body was found between the lines of battle. It was learned that he had been killed June 16th, or 17th, and that his body had lain there for five months. He was buried in the military cemetery at Pylones near Mont St. Eloi.

He was from Boston, and had attended Harvard. He was an author of several books and possessed unusual literary ability.

The first reference to him in the above letters is in one from Verzenay in March, 1915, it states:

“Another American was put in our squad; he is from Boston, has been
in France five years, in the Legion five months and in the trenches
three months. He is a fine fellow.”

John Earl Fike of Wooster, Ohio, enlisted under the name of his grandfather, Captain John Smith, who had rendered distinguished services in our civil war. He and Russell Kelly disappeared during the battle, and have not been since heard from.

Many notices have been in the newspapers, tending to explain their absence, all of which on investigation proved incorrect.

The only authoritative information regarding either of them was that “Russell Kelly was seen in the second line of German trenches with a clean wound in his left shoulder that did not seem serious.”

After some time the names of these two were placed on the official list of “missing” and the French Minister of War notified their families that their names would be carried on that list until a search could be made in the internment camps of Germany.

The State Department at Washington had special inquiries made by the American ambassador at Berlin, and on January 3d, 1916, Ambassador Gerard sent word from Berlin that their names were not reported among the prisoners of war in Germany.

The German War Office, the Imperial Foreign Office, the German Red Cross, as well as the International Red Cross at Geneva, Switzerland, reported that their names were not registered on any list in their possession.

On January 16th the _New York Sun_ contained the following cable:

“Paris, January 15th. Official news reached the Lyon depot to-day
that Kenneth Weeks of Boston was killed on June 17th last year near
Givenchy.

“Official announcement also is made that John Earl Fike of Wooster,
Ohio, was killed the same day. The death of Henry Farnsworth,
another American in the Foreign Legion, reported on October 16th
last, is officially confirmed.”

On January 17th all the New York dailies contained the following cable:

“Paris, January 16th. Five Americans attached to the Foreign Legion,
whose names were included in the list of casualties at Givenchy on
June 17th, are now officially reported as having been killed in
action. They were Russell Kelly of New York, Harman Edwin Hall of
Chicago, John Earl Fike of Wooster, Ohio, and Kenneth Weeks and
Henry Farnsworth both of Boston.”

In view of the discrepancy between these despatches, as well as the fact that seven months elapsed between the disappearance of Kelly and Fike and the publication of these so-called official notices, doubt was raised as to their authenticity, and the death of these two will not be conceded until the facts are disclosed upon which the conclusion of death is based. Besides, it is now known that the French War Office has not transferred the two names to the official list of dead.

The uncertainty of his death has been increased in the case of Russell Kelly, by information given by an English lady. She communicated with his family, and stated that in September of 1915 she received a letter from a relative in which he said he and two other English soldiers together with a French soldier, had been in hiding since the middle of the previous June, within the German lines, east of Souchez; and that French peasants had supplied them with clothing and food. It stated that the French soldier was an American named Kelly, and that he was badly wounded in the head. The letter had been surreptitiously passed through the lines.

The high character of the English lady, as well as many corroborating circumstances, have convinced the family of Russell Kelly of the truth of the statements; and there being no other American in the Foreign Legion named Kelly, they believe it refers to him, and that he is still alive.

An adjutant of the regiment sent word, in January, 1916, to Lyon, that he had seen Russell Kelly and two other prisoners in Belgium. He reported that Kelly had lost one of his legs and that he was careful not to disclose his American citizenship. The circumstances connected with this information show it to be consistent with the story of his being in hiding the previous September.

These rumors appear to be true but they cannot be satisfactorily verified.

It is known that the French prisoners in Belgium and northern France are not allowed to communicate in any way with the outside world, although prisoners in Germany are allowed to send and receive communications from relatives and friends.

It has been learned that these six Americans after receiving the warning of the opposition of Germany to Foreign Légionnaires who were not citizens of a country at war with Germany, discussed plans to be followed in the event of being taken prisoners.

They determined, if captured, to destroy all regimental marks on their uniforms, to throw away their army-books, and to assume fictitious names.

CHRONOLOGICAL MILITARY RECORD OF RUSSELL A. KELLY

1914

November 3, left New York on steamship _Orcadian_.

November 19, reached Pauillac, France.

November 21, Saturday, docked at Bordeaux.

November 23, applied at recruiting station.

November 24, enlisted in the Foreign Legion.

November 26, began military training at Dépôt de Lyon.

1915

February 6, left barracks for the front.

February 8, arrived at Bouzy, near the front.

March 8, left Bouzy and same day arrived at Verzenay and entered first line trenches.

April 24, left Verzenay for region north of Arras.

April 28, reached Aubigny; again entered first line trenches.

May 9, Sunday, in the attack on La Targette and Neuville St. Vaast.

May 10, battle continued.

May 11, relieved from the captured position and returned with regiment to rear for reorganization.

May 29, reëntered first line trenches.

June 16, in the attack on Cabaret Rouge near Souchez and at the taking of Hill No. 119.

June 18, reported as missing.

1917

May Still missing.

Is this military record, like the record of many another Legionary, forever closed; and does that youthful

“Heart that once beat high for praise
Now feel that pulse no more?”

X
LA LÉGION ÉTRANGÈRE

All the countries of the old world have “crack” military organizations famous for deeds of valor, many of which came into existence long before the time of our revolutionary war. In the United States, most large cities have at least one regiment with a record of which the civilians as well as the soldiers are justly proud. But all their histories and achievements pale before the extraordinary record, ancient formation and remarkable membership of France’s famous corps, _la Légion étrangère_. That body is easily the most ancient, unique and widest known military organization in the world.

Here is a Legion numbering, before this war, eight thousand men, all of whom, except the officers, being aliens of the country for which they give up their lives. Very few of them are able to understand the language of the country, and very few become citizens of the country even after enlistment in its army.

They are not requested to enlist and when they do apply for admission they are told of the hardships to be encountered. If the applicant still insists he must wait until the following day before his application is considered.

Since the beginning of the present war many enlisted, no doubt, from love of France; but it is difficult to understand how this large membership was maintained prior to the war.

None enlisted for protection of their homes or families. Nor for glory as scarcely any Legionary has even become a general. Not for money; the pay is one cent a day, a wage the meanest outcast in the street would spurn with scorn. Not for comradeship; the ranks being recruited from the whole world are too cosmopolitan for lasting friendships.

Not for an easy life; for they were assigned, before this war, to duty in the unhealthy waste places of Africa and Asia.

Answers to this riddle would be almost as diversified as the volunteers are numerous.

No weakling can be accepted, for it takes a good physique to stand the training necessary to develop a man to fight for his life and the country. For example it is part of the routine of the Legion for each company to march once a week, in full marching equipment, twenty-eight miles within ten hours.

Historians cannot agree as to when this Legion was first organized, but it is conceded that it was in existence in the time of Clovis who stands out in history as the founder of a new France, and with whose rule French history begins. He employed this very organization in the year 486 when he defeated the last of the Roman power in northern Gaul, at Soissons, which city is still in existence and stands less than ten miles from the place where their equally courageous successors gave up their lives for that same France, but now a glorious republic, fourteen hundred and twenty-nine years later.

In our country we consider an institution that is one hundred years old as ancient, our government itself being in existence less than a century and a half, yet here is an organization that when Columbus discovered America, was a thousand years old.

Mercenaries, or troops who serve alien countries for pay, were used from the very earliest times. Thirteen thousand Greeks fought in the year 401 B. C. under Cyrus, the Persian, against his brother Artaxerxes; and even the all powerful Romans often availed themselves of the services of foreign soldiers.

The French always employed large numbers of mercenaries, and in the year 886 their King, Charles le Gros had a bodyguard of foreigners: an example followed by St. Louis in the year 1226. In the protracted wars between France and England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries these mercenaries formed the major part of both armies.

The last mercenaries used by England were twenty-two thousand Hessians hired from the landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Casse, Prussia, and for whom they paid about £3,191,000, or $16,000,000, to assist in the war against the American colonies. These were the troops that Washington so decisively defeated at Trenton on Christmas night, 1776.

The Foreign Legion continued under all the French rulers, and Napoleon frequently acknowledged their great worth to him.

After the Napoleonic wars the Legion was known as The Royal Foreign Legion. In 1831 a new law was enacted reorganizing the Legion and establishing its headquarters in Algeria. In 1835 the Legion was the subject of one of the most remarkable transactions in history; it was sold by King Louis Philippe to Queen Maria Christina of Spain for a sum equal to about one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars, being the estimated value of its arms, uniforms and equipment.

The Legion proceeded to Spain landing at Tarragona, four thousand strong; it fought valiantly for four years in the first Carlist war, and when that war ended in the early part of 1839 only five hundred Légionnaires survived.

Within a few weeks after the old Legion landed in Spain, a new Legion was organized by France and sent to Algeria, where it did most effective work.

In the Crimea war the Legion was part of Canrobert’s division at the battle of the Alma; and during the siege of Sevastopol it was repeatedly mentioned in reports for its brave and successful efforts. In this campaign the Legion lost eighteen hundred officers and men, and as a reward for their gallantry the Emperor gave the Légionnaires the right to become French citizens should they desire to.

The Legion was part of Maximilian’s forces in Mexico and on April 30th, 1863, near the village of Camaron, a detachment of three officers and sixty-five Légionnaires held at bay two thousand Mexican cavalry for ten hours, when the survivors numbering only twenty were captured. As a reward the word “Camaron” is inscribed on the colors of the First Regiment.

Four thousand two hundred and thirty-seven officers and men of the Legion died in Mexico.

In the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 the Legion performed remarkable services as a rear guard, to cover the retreat of the French army.

The Legion in time of peace consists of two regiments, the _Premier_ or First, and _Deuxième_ or Second, they being kept separate and distinct. The headquarters of the First Regiment is at Sidi-Bel-Abbés which is in the northwestern part of Algeria, forty-eight miles inland by rail from Oran, a port on the Mediterranean. The headquarters of the Second Regiment is at Saida, also in Algeria.

The First Regiment has the great distinction of having had its flag decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor, only ten regiments of the three hundred and odd composing all branches of the French army having this great honor. It is the boast of its soldiers that “the Legion of Honor dwells with us.”

This regiment’s flag carries the motto

“Honneur et Discipline”;

the flags in the other regiments of the French army hear the motto

“Honneur et Patrie.”

So these wanderers from all countries, after enlistment are without a country.

At the beginning of the present war these two regiments were mobilized, and there being a large number of volunteers, each regiment was divided into four regiments and designated as _régiments de Marche_, or marching regiments. Each _régiment de Marche_ was divided into four battalions, being known as A, B, C and D; a battalion consisted of four companies; each company of four sections; each section of four squads, and there were sixteen men to a squad. This arrangement accounts for four thousand and ninety-six men, and as there were additional officers and attachés, a full _Régiment de Marche_ was frequently composed of as many as four thousand four hundred men.

The four _régiments de Marche_ of the First _Régiment étrangère_ were, therefore, about seventeen thousand strong.

The Second _Régiment étrangère_ was, in the same way, divided into four _régiments de Marche_, and was of the same numerical strength as the First _Régiment étrangère_. Hence, the Foreign Legion in April and May, 1915, when its ranks were full, consisted of about thirty-four thousand troops.

The First _Régiment de Marche_ of the First _Régiment étrangère_ was composed mostly of Garibaldians, the second of Swedes, Spaniards, Russians, Canadians, English, Americans, and others, while the third and fourth were mostly Greeks.

The designation of Russell A. Kelly was as follows:

Soldat KELLY, Russell. No. 24641
1 Régiment étrangère
2 Régiment de Marche
Battalion B
2 Compagnie
4 Section
15 Escouade

The Légionnaires who survived the battle of June 16th, 1915, being very few in number, were assigned some weeks later to the Second foreign regiment, then located in the Champagne district, to the east of Rheims.

On September 25th, that regiment took part in a very severe attack on the German lines between Souain and Perthes-le-Hurlus, about twenty-seven miles from Rheims. This attack continued on the 26th, 27th and 28th and was entirely successful, for they finally captured the redoubt of Bois Sabot, but at the cost of more than half of the regiment. This engagement is now designated as the battle of Champagne, and is considered one of the most important battles of the war.

The Legion, after being recruited and generally strengthened, next took part in the very severe fighting in December at Hartmannsweilerkopf in the Vosges.

It did exceptional work in the severe battles around Verdun in February and March. The following despatch was sent from Paris March 7th, 1916:

“The unanimous French military opinion is that the recapture of
Douaumont by the French infantry line, the Foreign Legion and
chasseurs, on Feb. 26th, was one of the finest feats in military
annals and equal to Gen. Galliéni’s famous charge at Sedan in 1870.”

In the summer of 1916 the French government revived the ancient Fourragère decoration; this consists of a braided cord about 34 inches long, terminating in an aiguillette; one end is fastened on the soldier’s left shoulder, and then extended under his left arm and fastened on his left breast so that the aiguillette hangs below this second fastening.

It is not awarded for individual merit, but is conferred on a military unit, as a section, company, battalion, or sometimes an entire regiment; it is a reward for two distinct citations for unusual bravery or heroism.

Almost the first award made was to the entire Second _Régiment de Marche_ of the First Foreign Regiment. The two citations entitling the regiment to this revived decoration were, first, for its extraordinary work during the battle of Artois, which began May 9th and ended June 19th, 1915; and second, for equally meritorious and successful action during the battle of Champagne, which took place from September 20th to October 17th, 1915.

For several years prior to the present war, the Germans very bitterly attacked the French Foreign Legion by articles in their newspapers and magazines, as well as pictures in their moving picture shows and songs in their café concerts. One very violent attack was a play entitled, “The Hypocrite,” which was first produced February 24th, 1914, at the Künstler Theatre, Berlin.

In a ray of green light a legionary advanced toward the front of the stage with a sign inscribed “We are the légionnaires of Africa” written in French; it continued in German, “All that you behold here is strictly true; we show you what we suffer and how we die.”

The play was received with great applause, although the critic of the _Berliner Tageblatt_ had the fairness to write, “This drama of the Legion is a sluggish and untimely melody of the boulevard.”

Germany’s arguments against the Legion were summarized in the Spring of 1914 as follows, viz.:

FIRST. They deny the right of a modern state to have recourse for its defence to the services of foreign subjects and they say they have been confirmed in this by the fact that all states, except France, have successively renounced the employment of foreign soldiers.

SECOND. That the contract on enlistment is harsh as the duration of the services is too long, the pay is insufficient and the service imposed is excessive.

THIRD. That France takes advantage of the wretchedness of the applicants and secures their enlistment while they are in ignorance of the severity of the service.

FOURTH. That recruiting is carried on by crimps who abuse their victims by getting them drunk and by false promises, and it results in forming a scandalous mixture of starving men, adventurers and bandits, devoted to drunkenness and the most infamous morals.

FIFTH. That it is applicable to minors, recruits being taken at the age of eighteen years.

SIXTH. That Germany has, more than any other country, the right to occupy itself with that which is going on in the Legion, by reason of the great number of its subjects who serve there.

Mr. Gaston Moch issued a book in Paris in 1914, before the war, entitled “The Question of the Foreign Legion,” in which he fully discusses these arguments from the French side.

The Foreign Legion is, therefore, acknowledged to be the last of the mercenaries, a connecting link between the present day and the days before the beginning of the Christian era.

Transcriber's Notes:

Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.

Typographical errors were silently corrected.

Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant form was found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.

Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

End of Project Gutenberg's Kelly of the Foreign Legion, by Russell A. Kelly