Her brave initiative allowed
several French soldiers to escape from captivity.
The modest postmistress and telegraph operator was a Frenchwoman and a
fighter, who, in the little village of Houpelines, in the north of the
country, deserved this citation in the orders of the day, of which
thousands of soldiers would be proud:
Refusing to obey the order that was given her to leave her
post, she remained in spite of the danger. On the first of
October the Germans entered her office, smashed her
apparatus and threatened her with death. Mlle. Deletete, who
had put her valuables and accounts in safe-keeping, gave
evidence of the greatest calmness. From the seventeenth on
she endured the bombardment. Her office having been damaged
severely by the enemy's fire, she took refuge in the civil
hospice, where four persons were killed at her side. She
resumed her duties on the twenty-third, since which date she
has continued to perform them in the face of frequent
bombardments which have found many victims.
The women behind the lines have been worthy of their sisters at the
front.
In the forges, the foundries, the factories and the munition plants
they have not feared to don the blouse of the workingman, and on this
blouse they wear as insignia a large grenade like that on the brassard
of the mobilized men.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71