Photograph by Ame 

 WEARING GAS MASKS AT THE BENCHES 



:an Press Association 



It is not alone in the trench that the soldier must guard against poisonous gas and dust. 

 These women soldiers of the munitions plants must be similarly protected. 



in the officer's calendar is wantonly to 

 waste the life of a subordinate. Circum- 

 stances may call for the last sacrifice at 

 times, but short of this condition the 

 French commander husbands the lives of 

 his men as a miser his pieces of gold. In 

 an attack he will plan how they must 

 creep from shell-hole to shell-hole, keep- 

 ing as safe as possible from the enemy's 

 artillery fire. He will study the ground 

 in front of his trench for every available 

 bit of cover, and so maneuver his men 

 that they will gain its every advantage. 

 He will elaborate trench and sap until his 

 men are as safe as the battle front per- 

 mits, feeling his duty to his country de- 



mands not only that he defeat the enemy, 

 but that he defeat him with the minimum 

 expenditure of the lives under his com- 

 mand. 



Men learn quickly to appreciate this 

 quality in their officers, and this appre- 

 ciation brings about a sense of loyalty 

 which closely knits an army into an un- 

 beatable whole. 



THE TEST OF THE TRENCHES 



The test of the trenches also brings out 

 the indomitable spirit of France as could 

 no other circumstance. I saw this spirit 

 in its concrete cheerfulness during a visit 

 to the battle line beyond the Somme. 



325 



