True Stories of the Great War, Volume 4 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 4 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
"On Sept. 25, 1915, when British troops entered the village of Loos,
she organized a first-aid station in her house and worked day and
night to bring in the wounded, to whom she gave all assistance, while
refusing to accept any reward. Armed with a revolver she went out and
succeeded in overcoming two German soldiers who, hidden in a nearby
house, were firing at the first-aid station."
No mention is made in the official record of the fact that she shot
down the two Germans when their bayonets were within a few inches of
her body; and that later on she destroyed, with hand bombs snatched
from a British grenadier's stock, three more foemen engaged in the same
despicable work.
Nor is it set forth how, when the British line was wavering under the
most terrible cyclone of shells ever let loose upon earth, Emilienne
Moreau sprang forward with a bit of tri-colored bunting in her hand
and the glorious words of the "Marseillaise" upon her lips, and by
her fearless example averted a retreat that might have meant disaster
along the whole front. Only the men who were in that fight can fully
understand why Sir Douglas Haig was right in christening Emilienne
Moreau the Joan of Arc of Loos.
All this happened during the last great offensive of the allies
in Artois, between Arras and La Bassee. For almost a year before
Emilienne Moreau, who is now just seventeen, had lived in Loos under
the rule of the invader. During almost all of that time the village had
been under the allies' artillery fire. Yet neither she nor her parents
made any attempt to move to a safer place.
Their home was in Loos, and some day, they felt sure, the Germans would
be driven back. They were always short of food. Sometimes they faced
death by starvation, as well as by bombardment.
But they remained, and Emilienne even contrived to continue the studies
by which she hoped to become a school teacher.
Like the historic Maid of Orleans, the maid of Loos has not only the
warlike but the diplomatic genius. Despite the dangers she faced
because she was both young and comely, she succeeded in gaining the
Germans' confidence to such an extent they entrusted to her much of the
administration of what remained of the village.
Children whose parents had been killed or taken away as prisoners
were put in her care, and she was permitted to give them what little
schooling was possible under the conditions. She was at the same time
the guardian angel of her entire family; for her father, a hot-blooded
old veteran of 1870, frequently put them in danger of drastic
punishment by his furious denunciations of the enemy.
His chagrin so embittered him that, what with that and scanty
nourishment, he died. Then Emilienne became the protectress and sole
support of her mother and her ten-year-old brother.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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