FORCED MARCHES
The French Army is an interesting institution at this moment, when it
is known that the Navy of France ranks only as that of a second-class
Power and it is thought her military organisation is little better.
I am not in a position to make comparisons, knowing little of the
great armies of Europe, nor is the detachment of troops in Morocco,
numbering at this writing hardly 8,000 men, a sufficient proportion of
the army of France to allow one to form much of an opinion. But some
observations that were of interest to me may also interest others.
The French forces in Morocco represent the best that the colonies
of France produce in the way of fighting men. European as well as
African troops are from the stations of Algeria, a colony near enough
to France to partake of her civilisation yet sufficiently far away to
escape conservatism and the so-called modern movements with which the
home country is afflicted. If there are weaklings, socialists, and
anarchists among the troops they are in the Foreign Legion, absorbed
and suppressed by the ‘gentlemen rankers.’ The Army is made up of
many elements. Besides ordinary Algerians, it includes Arabs from the
Sahara and negroes who came originally perhaps as slaves from the
Soudan; besides Frenchmen, there are in the famous Foreign Legion--that
corps that asks no questions--Germans, Bulgarians, Italians, Russians,
and even a few Englishmen. The main body of the Army is composed of
Algerians proper, Mohammedans, who speak, or at least understand,
French. They are officered by Frenchmen, who wear the same uniforms
as their men: the red fezzes and the baggy white bloomers in the case
of infantry, the red Zouave uniform and boots in the cavalry. These
Algerians, of course, are regular soldiers, subjected to ordinary
military discipline, but there are too the _Goumiers_, or _Goums_,
of the desert, employed in irregular corps for scout duty and as
cavalry, and they, I understand, are exempt from camp regulations and
restrictions except such as are imposed by their own leaders. And in
the last month similar troops have been organised from the tribesmen of
the conquered Shawia districts near to Casablanca.
Algerians and Goumiers, Europeans and Africans, camp all together in
the same ground, their respective cantonments separated only by company
‘streets.’ The various commands march side by side and co-operate as if
they were all of one nationality, a thing which to me, as an American,
knowing that such conditions could not obtain in an American army,
speaks wonders for the French democracy.
A good deal of small gambling goes on in the French camps, or rather
just outside them; but this seems to be the army’s only considerable
vice. Drunkenness and disorder seem to be exceedingly rare. I cannot
imagine a more abstemious body of men. Of course conditions in the
campaign in which the French are now engaged are all favourable to
discipline; there is the stimulus of an active enemy, and yet the men
are never overworked, except on occasional long marches, when they are
inspired and encouraged to test their endurance.
The marching power of the French infantryman is extraordinary. Carrying
two days’ rations and a portion of a ‘dog tent’ (which fits to a
companion’s portion), he will ‘slog’ nearly fifty miles in a day and a
night. I remember one tremendous march. The army left camp one morning
at three o’clock, cavalry, artillery, a hospital staff, _Tirailleurs_
and _Légionnaires_, about 3,000 men, and marched out fifteen miles to
a _m’halla_, or Moorish camp, beyond Mediuna. For more than two hours
they fought the Arabs, finally destroying the camp; and then returned,
reaching Casablanca shortly before five o’clock in the afternoon. I did
not accompany the army on this occasion, but went out to meet it coming
back, curious to see how the men would appear. The Algerians showed
distress the least, hardly a dozen of them taking the assistance of
their comrades, and many, though covered with dust, so little affected
by fatigue that they could jest with me about my fresh appearance. When
their officers, about a mile out, gave orders to halt, then to form in
fours to march into camp in order, they were equal to the part. But
the Foreign Legion obeyed only the first command, that to halt, and it
was a significant look they returned for the command of the youthful
officer who passed down the line on a strong horse.
A still longer march was made by a larger force of this same army in
January, after General d’Amade had taken command. Pushing into the
interior from Casablanca to Settat, they covered forty-eight miles
in twenty-five hours, marching almost entirely through rough country
without roads, or at best by roads that were little more than camel
tracks. Proceeding at three miles an hour, the infantry must have done
sixteen hours’ actual walking. Moreover, on arriving at Settat the army
immediately engaged the _m’halla_ of Mulai Rachid. Good marching is a
prized tradition with the French, and in this one thing, if in nothing
else, the army of France excels.
It has been stated by men who have some knowledge of Moslems, that the
French in Morocco are liable to start that long-threatened avalanche,
the general rising of Pan-Islam. The first Mohammedans to join the
Moors in the Holy War, it is said, will be the Algerians. But my own
knowledge of Moslem countries leads me to argue otherwise. Since the
French have been in Morocco, now more than six months, there have been
less than a hundred desertions from the ranks of the Algerians; while
a significant fact on the other side is the enlistment in the French
ranks, in the manner of Goumiers, of Shawia tribesmen who have been
defeated by them.
It has been from the Foreign Legion that desertions are frequent.
Taking their leave overnight, the deserters, generally three or four
together, make their way straight into the Arab country, usually to
the north, with a view to reaching Rabat. In almost every case the
deserters are Germans, and the Moors permit them to pass, for they
understand that German _Nasrani_ and French _Nasrani_ hate each other
as cordially as do Arab Moslems and Berber Moslems. Nevertheless, even
though the deserters are Germans, it is asking too much of the Moor to
spare them their packs as well as their lives. I have seen one man
come into Rabat dressed only in a shirt, another, followed by many Arab
boys, wearing a loin-cloth and a helmet.
The French consul at Rabat makes no effort to apprehend these men; but
they are usually taken into custody by the German consul and sent back
to their own country in German ships, to serve unexpired terms in the
army they deserted in the first place.