Civilian relief work in France has embraced a campaign against
tuberculosis, care of refugees and repatriés, care of children,
reconstruction and repair work in devastated areas and home service
among the families of French soldiers. While much of the work in behalf
of refugees has been done in the zones of comparative safety to which
people have fled from the war areas, the German offensive launched in
March found American Red Cross men in large numbers performing actual
rescue work in villages that were under fire of the enemy. With the aid
of the motor transport service, hundreds of noncombatants were removed
to places of safety.
At Evian, on the Swiss border, a corps of workers has been maintained
for several months, together with a children's hospital, disinfecting
plant, &c., for the care and relief of the children and aged and infirm
persons who have been sent back by the Germans from the occupied
portions of France and Belgium at the rate of 1,000 or more a day.
Relief for the families of French soldiers has had for its object the
double purpose of providing for the wants of the sick and destitute, and
strengthening the morale of men at the front. In respect to the latter
objective a success has been achieved which has called forth many
expressions of praise from the highest French military and civil
authorities. A gift of a lump sum of $1,000,000 for distribution among
50,000 needy families was one of the initial acts in this particular
line of relief.