During the four years of war, France has proven that she knew how to
suffer and was able to suffer a quarter of an hour longer than her
enemies.

They knew how to suffer, those soldiers of General Maunoury's army in
the Battle of the Marne. And they turned the tide of battle in favor
of French arms. They marched, fought and died for five days and five
nights, in the passing of which some battalions marched forty-two
kilometers and did not sleep for more than two hours at a time. The
mobility of the fighting units was such that the commissary department
was absolutely unable to supply them with rations. For three days many
of them had no bread, no meat, nothing at all! They subsisted on
crusts they had with them, or on the food they were able, by the
fortunes of battle, to pick up in the villages where they happened to
be. In spite of all this, whenever the order was given to charge, they
charged the enemy with a sort of inspired madness.

"The fight has been a hard one," Marshall Joffre wrote in an order of
the day that will be famous throughout eternity. "The casualties, the
number of men worn out by the exhaustion due to lack of sleep--and
sometimes of food--passed all imagining.... Comrades, the commander in
chief has asked you to do more than your duty, and you have responded
to this request by accomplishing the impossible." That is the finest
word of praise that has been given fighting men since the world began.

* * * * *

They knew how to suffer, those other soldiers of the Battle of the
Marne who were a part of General Foch's army at Fère-Champenoise. Five
times they attacked the Château de Mondement, and five times they were