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.