A Blue Devil of France [Illustration: Persevering Energetic Triumphant Ardent Intrepid _Nil ... melior!_ ] A BLUE DEVIL _of_ FRANCE _Epic figures and stories of the Great War, 1914-1918_ BY CAPTAIN G. P. CAPART LATE OF GENERAL PÉTAIN'S STAFF TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY J. C. DROUILLARD [Illustration] NEW YORK W. J. WATT & COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. TO M. PAUL BIZET M. DESIRÉ MARBAIS MY FRIENDS AUTHOR'S PREFACE This volume contains an ensemble of true episodes about the French _poilu_ taken from my diary. The reader will regret, perhaps, the absence of continuity in the following chapters; that will rapidly disappear, however, when he sees the characteristic figures he should better know and love for a long time to come. A scruple has always guided me: to write the truth. I have been strict in writing nothing but what I have seen or heard. In giving these souvenirs to the American public, I have had but one object: to mold in relief the warlike virtues of the admirable soldiers of France with whom I have fought for more than three years. Mothers, wives, sweethearts and children of the heroes fallen in defense of their country, will find in these pages a precious consolation: they will see that with just reason they can be proud of their cherished dead. I ask indulgence, much indulgence of the public. I have written these lines simply and faithfully during a long and painful convalescence; many times I have felt that my physical forces would abandon me before I could arrive at the end of my task. I shall be fully recompensed for these efforts if I know I have brought to my readers the emotion and feeling, which I still experience, of those epic hours. CAP. G. P. CAPART. THE LAWRENCE HOSPITAL Bronxville, New York June 2, 1918 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION To have known the author intimately is a rare privilege which has materially aided me in retaining, if I have been successful in so doing, the spirit and atmosphere of the original pages of "A Blue Devil of France." In every sense of the word I am a literalist. Barring a very few instances I have been particularly rigid in my efforts to render a literal translation. Where it has been impossible to do this, the reader will find the original French to enhance the charm and simplicity of the stories. Simultaneously this striking story of the great war is published in Paris under the title of _Comme Ils Vivent et Comme Ils Meurent_ (How They Live and Die).