British/French

[staffsreg]

what would the attitude of the men who held the right flank of the British Army,

with the French who held the left flank of their army..would it have been stand-offish

or would there have been friendly banter?

It must have been strange to be the Tommy at the far right of the whole British army,

talking'pigeon French with the Poilu on his immediate right!!

[belgotim]

With a bit of luck the officers would have had access to some nice French wines.

I reckon there would have been a healthy rivalry...and mutual respect.

[IanA]

I'm not sure that there is one answer which fits all cases. The first thing that springs to mind is that the British generally had a very poor view of French trench building and hygene. Whenever the line was extended or a French section was taken over there were numerous grouses relating to lack of maintainance and latrine discipline!

There are some accounts of how the two nations viewed each other when living side by side in Neil Fraser-Tytler's book 'Field Guns in France' (1922). He and his guns were located on the right of the line in the Vaux valley. He visits the French artillery HQ and is pleased to be given a five course lunch before inspecting a 75mm battery. Next time he visits there are 36 oysters waiting for him, followed by "pate de fois gras, veal and chicken mousse, a young roast pig, and Rumpelmayer's chocolate cake, washed down with Graves, some excellent Pontet Canet and champagne, then eau de vie, a very good cigar and perfect coffee." After which he felt like "an inflated frog". Believe it or not, Fraser-Tytler was also an efficient and very bloodthirsty fighter who rejoiced in Germans killed. Strangely enough, I have also seen accounts of French Poilus rejoicing over tins of bully beef!

Ian

[Old Tom]

Hello,

Leaving the 'haut cuisine' to one side I suppose the attitudes changed as the war progressed. I expect we have all read of the 1st day of the Somme when the COs of the British and French units at the boundary advanced 'arm-in arm'. A more telling point would seem to be that at the right of the line the BEF benefited from the French artillery which at that stage was more effective. Moving on to 1918 when the commander of a French formation, moving to support the 5th Army, arrived saying 'Je n'ai que ma fannion' (hope that right)( I have only the pennant on my car), the 5th Army reaction does not appear to be recorded. Now a little trivia. In the area of Arras and St Omer these days bistros still offer 'Un welsh' a version of cheese on toast. Actually bread in a cheese sauce. Some of our cuisine must have stuck.

Old Tom