The Armenians, besides battling on the Caucasian front, where they have
been fighting in their own native land, have co-operated unreservedly
with the Allies on far distant fronts, as for example on the French
front. At the beginning of the war the young Armenian students living in
France--about 900 in number--volunteered to serve in the French army for
the defence of civilization and freedom. Today, scarcely 50 of them are
alive; the majority of the 850 others gave their lives in 1916 in the
immortal defence of Verdun. This small episode in this universal drama
will not be forgotten by either France or the Free Armenia of the
future. Glory to the memory of those immortal heroes! Beyond, on another
front of the war, by an extraordinary coincidence of fate, in the deadly
blow which fell on the head of the criminal Ottoman Empire in the Holy
Land, the sons of the sorrowful people whom it had ruthlessly
slaughtered had their just share of active participation. And indeed, in
General Allenby's victorious army, which saved Palestine and Syria from
Turkish tyranny in September, 1918, by General Allenby's own testimony,
the eight battalions of the Armenian volunteers (who took part in those
battles under the French flag) were conspicuous for their bravery. In
response to a congratulatory telegram from the chairman of the Armenian
National Union of Egypt for the victories on the Palestine front,
General Allenby said: "I thank you warmly for your congratulations, and
am proud of the fact that your Armenian compatriots in the Oriental
Legion took an active part in the fighting and shared in our victory."