A Journey Through France in War TimeButler, Joseph G. (Joseph Green)
History
A Journey Through France in War Time
Butler, Joseph G. (Joseph Green)
France -- Description and travel; World War, 1914-1918
close hand-to-hand encounters, as there is not usually room enough to
manipulate a gun and bayonet. (This agrees with what was told us by our
Negro friend, Bob Scanlon, whom we met at Clermond, and who said all he
wanted and carried in an assault or a fight were grenades, a knife and a
good club, preferably of iron.)
The doctor said that for the warfare of today reliance is mainly upon
the mitrailleuse, which fires 300 shots a minute. He says that nothing
living within the range of these guns, and exposed to them, can possibly
stand. This is the small arm which had such great effect for the French
in the first days of the war. The Germans had very few guns of this kind
in the beginning, but they have since provided themselves with them. He
said that outside of these guns the most effective are the famous 75 mm.
and the 155 mm. rifles. He asked us to recall the fact that both of
these guns were fired for our benefit at St. Charmond, under the
direction of Col. Rimailho, whom we had the pleasure of meeting there,
and who was one of the important men co-operating in building the "75",
and who was, himself, the inventor and author of the "155". These are
the guns of lighter caliber which do such effective work in the field.
Of course, in addition, the French are also using guns of very large
caliber, for instance the 350 mm. These, of course, are for the
reduction of forts, and the enemy's line prior to assault.
[Illustration: Women Employed in Munitions Factories.]
Dr. Courmont wanted to know whether we had seen the new armored
caterpillar cars which they were preparing, and we told him we had seen
them at St. Charmond. He said they were to be equipped with one "75" gun
and with two or three mitrailleuses (the rapid fire gun), and that an
equipment like this, armored against the shrapnel of the enemy, would
doubtless be most effective for the French, as a similar caterpillar had
been for the English.
VII.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF ARLES
We left Lyons for Arles, in the military automobiles, passing through
and stopping for a brief time at Tarascon, made famous by Daude in his
novel, "Tartarin of Tarascon". Here we were given the usual reception
and pretty much the entire population of the town turned out to greet
us. The following leaflet by the Arles Chamber of Commerce outlines the
program:
* * *
Reception of the Economical Commission of the United States
Friday, September 22nd
5 o'clock 25' P.M. Reception of the Commission at the station
by the Chamber of Commerce and
the officials of the City of Arles.
7 o'clock 45' P.M. Dinner given by the Chamber of Commerce
(Hotel Du Nord).
Saturday, September 23rd
8 o'clock 30' A.M. Leave the Forum Square for the visit
of the monuments and museums of Arles.
11 o'clock 25' Luncheon given by the Chamber of Commerce
(Forum hotel).
1 o'clock 10" P.M. Leave Forum Square for the station.
* * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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