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THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FRENCH ARMY 7
CHAPTER II
THE FRENCH SOLDIER AT HOME 18
CHAPTER III
THE HIGHER RANKS 27
CHAPTER IV
INFANTRY 44
CHAPTER V
OFF DUTY 51
CHAPTER VI
CAVALRY 60
CHAPTER VII
ARTILLERY 74
CHAPTER VIII
IN CAMP AND ON THE MARCH 85
CHAPTER IX
MANOEUVRES 104
CHAPTER X
WITH THE CAVALRY SCOUTS 119
CHAPTER XI
INTERNAL ECONOMY 133
CHAPTER XII
SOME INCIDENTALS 144
CHAPTER XIII
THE GREAT GARRISON TOWNS OF FRANCE 156
CHAPTER XIV
SOME EFFECTS. ACTIVE SERVICE 171
CHAPTER I
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FRENCH ARMY
Before proceeding to the consideration of life as lived in the
French Army, it would be well to have a clear understanding of the
constitution of the Army of France, the parts of which it is composed,
and the conditions under which it is organised and controlled. The
British Army is a growth of years, and even of centuries, but with
the changes of government that France has undergone since 1815 the
constitution of the Army has undergone radical changes, and the French
Army of to-day dates back only to 1871--that is, as far as form and
composition are in question.
One of the principles under which the present Republic of France is
constituted is that "every citizen is a soldier." This principle has
been more and more enforced with the growth and consolidation of the
Republic since 1870, and successive laws passed with reference to the
Army have been framed with ever-increasing recognition of the need for
military efficiency. By the first law with regard to the constitution
of the Army, that of July 27th, 1872, every young man, at the age of
twenty, so long as he was physically fit, owed to his country five
years of active service, five years in the Territorial Army of France,
and six years in what was known as the Territorial reserve. On this law
the constitution and organisation of the Army were first based.
The law of July 15th, 1889, reduced the period of service to three
years in the active Army, but the principle remained the same. A
further modification in the length of service was brought about by
the law of 1905, which reduced the period of service with the active
Army to two years, and abolished certain classes of citizens who were
excused from military service for various reasons. Up to the passing
of this law, bread-winners of a family had been exempt, but by it they
were called on to serve, while the state pensioned their dependents
during their period of service; the "voluntariat," consisting of men
who paid a certain amount to the state in order to serve for a period
of one year only, was abolished--"every citizen a soldier" was made
more of a reality than ever, for the nation realised that it must keep
pace with the neighbour on the east, who was steadily increasing its
military resources.
From the age of twenty to that of forty-five, every Frenchman
physically capable of military service is a soldier. Each commune
complies yearly a list of its young men who have attained the age of
twenty during the preceding twelve months. All these young men are
examined by the _conseil de révision cantonale_, a revising body of
military and civilian officials, by whom the men not physically fit
are at once rejected, and men who may possibly attain to the standard
of fitness required are put back for examination after a sufficient
interval has elapsed to admit of their development in height, weight,
or other requirement in which they are deficient. Five feet and half
an inch is the minimum standard of height, though men of exceptional
physical quality are passed into the infantry below this height.
The _loi des cadres_ of 1907 supplemented the law of 1905 without
materially changing it. At the present time about 200,000 men are
enrolled every year, this number including the men who have been put
back from previous examination by the revising council. The active
Army of France thus consists of about 535,000 men, together with an
approximate total of 55,000 men serving in Algeria and 20,000 men
serving in Tunis. The gendarmerie and Republican guard add on another
25,000, and the colonial troops serving in the French colonies amount
to a total of about 60,000. This last number is steadily increasing by
means of the enrolment of natives of the French colonies in Africa.
These numbers concern the Army on a peace footing. In case of a
national emergency the total war strength of the French Army is
calculated at 4,800,000. Of these 1,350,000 comprise the first line
troops made up of the active Army and younger classes of the reserve,
who would constitute the first field armies to engage the enemy on an
outbreak of war. The remainder of the total of nearly 5 millions would
be called up as required for garrison purposes and to strengthen the
ranks of the field army.
The citizen is still expected to give twenty-five years of service to
his country; of these, two--or rather three, under the law passed by
the action of the war ministry of M. Viviani just before the outbreak
of the present continental war--years are expected to be spent in the
active Army, and another eleven in the reserve of the active Army.
During this second period of eleven years men are recalled to the
colours--that is, to service with the active Army--for periods of a
month at a time. At the conclusion of this first thirteen years of
service, men pass automatically to the Territorial Army, which is
supposed to serve for the purposes of home defence only. Service in the
Territorial Army lasts six years, after which the soldier passes to six
years in the reserve of the Territorial Army. After this the French
citizen is exempt from any further military obligation.
Registered at the age of twenty, the French citizen is called to the
colours on the first of October following his registration, and passes
from the active Army two years later on September 30th. In old days,
when the period of service in the active Army was for five years, the
French Army was an unpopular institution, but the shortening of service
together with the knowledge, possessed by the nation as a whole, that
the need for every citizen soldier would eventually rise through
the action of Germany, have combined to render the Army not only an
important item in national life, but a popular one. There used to be
grousers and bad characters by the score, but now they are rarely found.
In time of peace the active Army of France is so organised as to form
the skeleton on which to build the war forces of the Republic. The
system is one of twenty permanent Army Corps based as follows: the
first at Lille, the second at Amiens, the third at Rouen, the fourth
at Le Mans, the fifth at Orleans, the sixth at Châlons-sur-Marne, the
seventh at Besançon, the eighth at Bourges, the ninth at Tours, the
tenth at Rennes, the eleventh at Nantes, the twelfth at Limoges, the
thirteenth at Clermont-Ferrand, the fourteenth at Lyons, the fifteenth
at Marseilles, the sixteenth at Montpellier, the seventeenth at
Toulouse, the eighteenth at Bordeaux, the nineteenth at Algiers, and
the twentieth at Nancy.
The strength of an Army Corps is made up of two divisions of infantry,
a brigade of cavalry, a brigade of horse and field artillery, and one
"squadron of train," the last named including the non-combatants of
the Army Corps. Exceptions are the Sixth Army Corps with head-quarters
at Châlons, the seventh at Besançon, and the nineteenth at Algiers;
of these the first mentioned two contain three divisions of infantry
instead of two, while the Algerian Corps has four divisions, one of
which is detached for duty in Tunis.
In addition to the twenty stations of the Army Corps, eight independent
cavalry divisions have head-quarters respectively at Paris, Luneville,
Meaux, Sedan, Melun, Lyons, Rheims, and Dôle. There is also the
military government of Paris, which, acting independently of the rest,
contains detachments from four Army Corps and two cavalry divisions.
A cavalry division is made up of two brigades, each consisting of two
regiments which in turn contain four squadrons and a reserve squadron
of peace.
The infantry of the French Army consists of 163 regiments of infantry
of the line, 31 battalions of Chasseurs à Pied, mainly stationed in
mountain districts, 4 regiments of Zouaves, 4 regiments of Turcos or
native Algerian tirailleurs, 2 regiments of the Foreign Legion, 5
disciplinary battalions known as African Light Infantry.
The cavalry organisation is 12 regiments of Cuirassiers, 32 regiments
of Dragoons, 21 regiments of Chasseurs--corresponding to the British
Lancers--14 regiments of Hussars, 6 regiments of Chasseurs d'Afrique,
and 4 regiments of native Algerian Cavalry known as Spahis.
The French Army is rather weak in artillery, its total strength
consisting of 445 field batteries organised into 40 regiments of field
artillery; 52 batteries of horse artillery, the greater part of which,
however, have been transformed or are in process of transformation
to field batteries; 14 mountain batteries; 18 battalions of garrison
artillery, together with artificers to a total of 13 companies. Six
regiments of engineers are divided into 22 battalions, and there is
also a department of engineers known as the railway regiment. The
non-combatant branches of the Army are formed into 20 squadrons of
train, which contain the equivalents to the British Army Service Corps,
Army Ordnance Corps, and the _personnel_ of units connected with the
upkeep and maintenance of the Army in the field. In addition, there is
an Army Corps of colonial infantry, service in which is a voluntary
matter. Its strength is about 30,000 troops in France and over 60,000
distributed throughout the various colonies.
The officers of the French Army receive their training at military
schools established in various parts of the Republic, or else are
recruited from among non-commissioned officers. Not less than
one-third of the total number of French officers rise to commissions
by the latter method--Napoleon's remark about the marshal's bâton in
the private soldier's knapsack still holds good in the French Army.
The principal training schools are those of St. Cyr for infantry
and cavalry officers, the École Polytechnique for artillery and
engineer officers, and the musketry school at Châlons. The schools
of St. Maixent, Saumur, Versailles, and the gymnastic school at
Joinville-le-Pont are intended for the training of non-commissioned
officers selected for commissions.
The rate of pay for men in the first period of service is very low,
ranging from the equivalent of a halfpenny a day upwards; but the law
under which the Army is constituted provides for the re-enlistment of
such men as wish to make a career of the Army, and on re-enlistment
the rate of pay is materially increased, while a bounty is given on
re-engagement, and at the conclusion of a certain amount of service
re-engaged men are granted pensions. It is only reasonable that, with
the adoption of the principle of universal service, the rate of pay
should be low; voluntary re-enlistment, however, is a different matter,
so the Republic rewards the men who re-engage at the conclusion of
their first term. From among them are selected practically all the
non-commissioned officers, while, considering that all necessaries of
life are provided for them in addition to their pay, even the rank and
file are not badly off.
The armament of the French infantry is the Lebel rifle with bayonet,
this pattern of rifle having been adopted in 1886. It is understood
that an automatic rifle is under consideration, but a serious drawback
to the use of such a weapon is the fact that, with a rate of fire
three or four times as great as that of the ordinary magazine rifle
with bolt action, the automatic rifle would require more ammunition
than its user could carry. The weapon of the Field Artillery is a
shielded quick-firing gun of Creusot pattern, with a bore of 75
millimetres. On this gun the field-guns of all nations have been
modelled, but, although it was the first of its kind to be put into
use, it still gives the artillery of the French Army a decided
advantage over that of other Continental nations, when reckoned gun for
gun. The French cavalry is armed with a straight sword, in place of the
old-fashioned curved blade which the French discarded some time ago,
but which remained in use in the British Army up to the end of 1907. A
carbine and bamboo lance are also carried.
In all matters of military equipment and armament the French Republic
has led the world since its reconstitution after 1870. The Lebel rifle
and its adoption inaugurated a new era in the armament of infantry;
the 75-millimetre gun, as already noted, was the first of its kind
to come into use. The Lebel carbine which the cavalry carry is still
unsurpassed as a cavalry weapon. Further, France led the world in the
development of air craft; the lighter-than-air machine, certainly,
has developed into a German specialty, but the heavier-than-air
machine, or aeroplane, owes its development to French enterprise, and
very largely to French military enterprise. In all branches of the
service, and in all matters affecting the service, the French Army is
the home of experiment, and to this fact is due the greater part of
French military efficiency to-day. The bravery of French troops is
unquestioned, and, in addition to this, the French Army has nothing
to learn from the armies of other nations as regards _matériel_ and
equipment.