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  HENRY RUFFIN AND ANDRÉ TUDESQ

  THE
  SQUARE JAW

  [Illustration]

  THOMAS NELSON & SONS, LTD
  35 & 36 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
  EDINBURGH      NEW YORK      PARIS

  Price One Shilling




  THE SQUARE JAW

  BY
  HENRY RUFFIN AND ANDRÉ TUDESQ.

  _Translated from the French._

  THOMAS NELSON & SONS,
  35 AND 36, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C.
  EDINBURGH.      NEW YORK.      PARIS.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


  PART I.--BATTLE OF THE ANCRE.

  CHAPTER                                     PAGE

  I.--THE IMPROMPTU VICTORY                      7

  II.--IN FRONT OF THE MUNICH TRENCH            11

  III.--THE REAL SUPERMEN                       14

  IV.--SURPRISES OF A MOONLIT FROSTY NIGHT      17

  V.--THE BATTLE REOPENS                        20

  VI.--ON THE EDGE OF THE FRAY                  23

  EPILOGUE                                      24


  PART II.--THE SQUARE JAWS.

  I.--THE WELDING OF FRENCH AND BRITISH         31

  II.--HOW THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENT VOTED IN
  FRANCE IN FACE OF THE ENEMY                   35

  III.--BOELCKE'S LAND OF PROMISE               40

  IV.--THE SQUARE JAW                           45

  V.--THE RELIEF                                49


  PART III.--THE ARMIES OF THE NORTH.

  I.--THE PREPARATION OF THE CANADIANS          56

  II.--ARRAS, THE WOUNDED TOWN                  60

  III.--THE GROUND OF HEROIC DEEDS              63

  IV.--A DINNER OF GENERALS                     66

  V.--WAR IN THE BLACK COUNTRY                  68

  VI.--THE ART OF SAVING                        71

  VII.--"BROTHERS IN ARMS"                      73


  PART IV.--IMPRESSIONS OF "NO MAN'S LAND."

  I.--AS IN A PICTURE OF EPINAL                 79

  II.--A HERO AFTER THE MANNER OF ROLAND        81

  III.--MIDNIGHT IN THE FRONT LINE              84

  IV.--THROUGH THE MINE AREA                    87

  V.--THE MENACE OF THE GOLDEN VIRGIN           91

  VI.--"RONNY"                                  94

  VII.--PIPING OUT THE DAY                      96

  VIII.--Y GULLY                                98

  IX.--CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN "NO MAN'S LAND"      100




PART I.

THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE.




CHAPTER I.

THE IMPROMPTU VICTORY.


                                   The Ancre Front, 13th November.

You read the reports. The names of the places that have been taken,
the calculations of the gains, the numbers of the prisoners, leave you
cold. Words! words! It is on the field of battle, amidst the thunder
of the guns and the magic glow of fires, that one should read the
bulletins of victory.

This evening a heady, irresistible joy took possession of the Army. The
prisoners were pouring in. The men were singing in their quarters. Upon
a front 3-1/2 miles wide and nearly 1-1/2 deep our Allies had broken
the German lines on both sides of the Ancre.

They have been giving me details of the battle. From hour to hour,
here, in the midst of the troops, I am being told the incidents of the
fighting. A risky privilege!

The despatches which come to us; the despatch riders who, at the utmost
speed of their motor-cycles, bring us reports through the ruts and mud
of the roads; the messages of the telegraph--everything has assumed a
heroic quality. A feverish joy quivers in every face. Even the bell of
the telephone follows, strangely, the measure of our heart-beats.

"We owe this victory to our quickness," a Colonel tells me. "This
battle was an _impromptu_." The word is a picture. It is absolutely
right.

At six o'clock--that is to say, in the grey light of the
morning--after a short but annihilating artillery preparation, the
divisions posted in the first line dashed forward through the fog and
drizzle. The objective was three villages--Beaumont-Hamel and Beaucourt
on the North bank of the river, and, on the South, Saint Pierre-Divion.

Let me tell you something of the country and its difficulties.

Swamps, soggy undulations formed by