However, the Senegalese
Tirailleurs, faithful to that tradition which has already
proved its value in our colonial epic by such famous
exploits, refused to abandon the body of the unknown leader
their captain had given them and continued to hold their
position. When the fight was over and the enemy was in
flight, the bodies of the sergeant, the two corporals, and
of nine dead and four wounded Tirailleurs were found
stretched out alongside the English officer and an under
officer who was also English. In the very spot where they
were found, their tomb surrounds that of Lieutenant Thomson.
United in death, they still seem to watch over the strange
officer--unknown to them--for whom they sacrificed their
lives because their leader had given them orders to do so.
Of the German colonial empire, four times as big as the fatherland,
not a spot exists that is not in the hands of the Allies today.
England holds the greater part; Japan has Tsing-Tao; France a
considerable part of the African possessions.
Now let us look at the picture the French colonial empire offers.
In 1914 France ruled, in the north of Africa, over five and a half
millions of natives in Algiers, two millions in Tunis and four
millions in Morocco.
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