Word: verdun
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Auguste Champetier de Ribes, French Minister of Pensions, spent an exciting hour at Verdun last week. Charges had been made that although millions of francs are being spent on the new monument at Fort Douaumont heroic Verdun dead are not yet properly buried. Pausing only to invite reporters to accompany him, M. Champetier de Ribes took train from Paris to quash this rumor. At Verdun he discovered that not only are thousands "improperly buried," but at least 12,500 are not buried...
...bones. A rusty airplane hangar contained 9,800 more, piled in dusty, loose-covered boxes, jumbled together under tattered sheets. Reporters ferreting for themselves discovered that thousands of other bodies lie buried so shallowly that each Spring thaw brings many to the surface. The Minister of Pensions stayed in Verdun only an hour, returned thoughtfully to Paris. On the train he brightened somewhat...
...later followed by the French-namely, turbo-electric drive. "Steam from her 30 boilers will drive turbines directly coupled to electric generators. Electric motors supplied with current from the generators will drive her four propeller shafts. . . . Similar equipment is used on the French Navy's flotilla leader Verdun, the first warship ever to attain a speed of 40 knots. . . ." Contract speed of the new French liner is 30 knots, but contract speeds are always exceeded by two or three knots. Cost: $27,500,000 to $30,000,000 depending on the final scheme of decoration which will be decided...
With Paris safe, Generals Gallieni and Sarrail began a campaign to undermine Joffre's prestige which lasted some two years. As time passed and Joffre did not win the War, as rumors flew that he had not properly laid out the defenses of Verdun, and as the Allied offensive on the Somme failed at frightful cost, Joffre was "promoted" (retired) from the post of Commander-in-Chief to something created on the spot called "Adviser to the Government in Matters Concerning the Direction of the War." Finally this sop was replaced by the baton of Marshal. To "Papa" Joffre...
Comfortably aware of the bulging conditions of France's treasury, France's six- foot, sabre-rattling? Minister of War Andre Maginot stumped about on his two canes last week (he lost a leg at the Battle of Verdun) thinking up new ways of spending France's money for the benefit of France's army. To the casual observer, France with 467.986 men under arms has the best army in the world today. It is not good enough for Minister Maginot. Frightened by the bellicose posturings of Mussolini, the blunt pre-election speeches of Germany's bad boy, Cabinet Minister Gottfried...