Mr. Poilu; Notes And Sketches With The Fighting French [Illustrated Edition]

By Herbert Ward

Illustrated with 45 pictures and vignettes many in colour.
Herbert Ward was a patriotic and passionate Englishman at an unfortunate juncture in his life during the First World War, he was over 40 and would not be allowed to enlist in the British Army for service in the fields of Flanders under ordinary circumstances. However this was a minor issue when the Kaiser’s German hordes advanced to within artillery range of his home in France; he at once gave over his large estate to the Red Cross and argued and created so much fuss that he was finally allowed to join the famous No. 3 Convoy of the British Ambulance Committee. He worked with at a furious rate and his work with the units, which was attached to the French army at the time, surely saved many lives of the “Poilus” that he so admired. Despite the huge burdens that work placed him under he set about recording the admirable bravery and courage of the Allied French soldiers fighting the common German foe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lucknow Books
• Release date: Aug 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781782893332

Herbert Ward

See Book Description

Book preview

 This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books –

Or on Facebook

Text originally published in 1916 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2013, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

MR. POILU

NOTES AND SKETCHES WITH

THE FIGHTING FRENCH

BY

HERBERT WARD

CHEVALIER DE LA LÉGION D’HONNEUR CROIX DE GUERRE

‘Le Poilu, c’est toi, c’est nous, ce sont tous les gars aux rudes cœurs et aux vaillants visages qui se hérissent des Vosges à la Mer du Nord et tiennent tête aux Barbares, en attendant le succès final.’

(LE POILU, Journal des tranchées de Champagne.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

PREFACE 5

INTRODUCTION 6

MENTION IN DESPATCHES OF THE 27TH ARMY OCTOBER 22ND, 1915. 9

CHAPTER I — MR. POILU 10

CHAPTER II — WITH THE BLUE DEVILS (CHASSEURS ALPINS) 14

CHAPTER III — S. S. A.—CONVOY NO. 3 (SECTION SANITAIRE ANGLAISE) 26

CHAPTER IV — BEHIND THE CURTAIN 32

CHAPTER V — THE WOMEN OF FRANCE 35

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 39

ILLUSTRATIONS 40

PREFACE

TO LORD NORTHCLIFFE

LONDON, October 1916.

My dear Alfred,—I ask you to accept the dedication of this little volume of notes and sketches, not only as a happy remembrance of our lifelong friendship, but also in recognition of your eminently successful efforts, during many years, to cement the friendly understanding of our country with the great nation of France.

As you know, it has been my privilege to reside and to work in France during the last fifteen years—to have lived with the French in peace time and to have served them in war time. With such opportunity as a basis for my impressions, I welcome this occasion to record my whole-hearted tribute to the sterling character of the men and women of France. It is not alone an appreciation of their spirit, their courage and loyal devotion, for these qualities have been so abundantly confirmed in this war, and are well recognised traditions of their race; I would go further than this—I venture to express my respect and admiration for the French people of all classes.

Knowing how keenly you feel the great advantages of increasing the understanding of the two great nations, I am both proud and grateful to have this opportunity of telling you of my admiration for all you have done and are doing, to bring about a closer union between the French and English nations for the betterment of the human race.

Yours always,

HERBERT

INTRODUCTION

THE Publishers have given me the opportunity of reading, before publication, the text of this volume, and of seeing both the originals and the reproductions of the illustrations. This with the request that I provide an Introduction. At the outset it seems fair to state that the book as written and pictured is entirely the work of an old and dear friend —my schoolfellow of forty years ago. Obviously, in anything I say, such fact has its advantages and disadvantages. Certainly there are difficulties, for I write as a friend, not as an expert either in art or letters, and claim due indulgence for my inexperience. But to me the skill and beauty of this record seem insistent and undeniable. The notes and sketches may be called fragments, but they are more real, more instinct with life, than highly finished and elaborated efforts. It is true, however, that only the two last years of the author’s work and life come within the scope of the following pages, and it is for this reason that I am urged to give some sketch of earlier years—years full of purpose, of high adventure and valued achievement.

Herbert Ward was born in London on the 11th of January 1863. In the year 1876 he came to Mill Hill, where I had been for two years at school. I am writing therefore after that period of Forty Years On, made classic by the Harrow School song. Remembrance, sharing with one’s later knowledge after so many years, may well play tricks with exactitude, but some scanty impressions remain... vivid and clear.

In my mind’s eye I recall a well-knit figure, with unusually deep chest and broad shoulders, deep-set blue eyes wide apart, and a remoteness, almost shyness, of manner bespeaking a reticence not perhaps in accord with the accepted convention of public school life. Anyhow, he was individual, and so to a few of us interesting. A rebel, and I now realise, against the accepted and rigid mould of the day, with visions of a wider world of travel and adventure, than the study of maps in stuffy classrooms