We lunched with General Petain and his Etat Major. A charming
and most interesting addition to the party was M. Forain, the
famous French caricaturist, and now one of the Chief Instructors of
the French Army in the art of camouflage--the art of making a thing
look like anything in the world except what it is! He has established
a series of schools all along the French Front, where the Poilus
learn to bedeck their guns and thoroughly disguise them under
delicate shades of green and yellow, with odd pink spots, in order
to relieve the monotony. Certainly the appearance of the guns of
the present time would rejoice the heart and soul of the "Futurists."
It was most interesting to hear him describe the work in detail and
the rapidity with which his pupils learned the new art. For one real
battery there are probably three or four false ones, beautiful
wooden guns, etc., etc., and he told us of the Poilus' new version
of the song "Rien n'est plus beau que notre Patrie" ("Nothing is
more beautiful than our country"). They now sing "Rien n'est plus
faux que notre batterie" ("Nothing is more false than our battery").
It was M. Forain who coined the famous phrase "that there was no
fear for the ultimate success of the Allies, if only the civilians held
out!"
I was much amused at M. Forain's statement that he had already
heard that a company had been formed for erecting, after the War,
wooden hotels on the battlefields of France for the accommodation
of sightseers. Not only was it certain that these hotels were to be
built, but the rooms were already booked in advance.