the days and the cold dampness of the
nights without a change, you have been under the torrential
equatorial rains, you have traversed impassable forests and
fetid marshes, you have without a rest taken the enemy's
positions one after another, leaving dead in each one a
number of your comrades. Lacking food and often without
munitions, with your clothing in tatters, you have continued
your glorious march without complaint or murmur, until you
have attained the end for which you set out.

In this conquest France played a large part, just as was the case in
the conquest of Togoland, with her Senegalese Tirailleurs, the famous
Tirailleurs, so much decried and discussed before the war, who were to
win the admiration of the English generals under whose orders they
fought.

It is appropriate to cite here the order of the day of the commanding
officer of these troops, because it shows us a side of the colonial
wars, about which little has been said:

An English detachment under the command of Lieutenant
Thomson having been strongly repulsed in an attack on the
post at Kamina, was reinforced by a group of the Senegalese
Tirailleurs made up of a sergeant, two corporals, and
fourteen Blacks. From the beginning of the encounter at
eleven o'clock, the mixed detachment found itself exposed to
a lively fire from positions that were solidly established
and supported by mitrailleuses. After the artillery had
commenced firing Lieutenant Thomson, considering that the
preparation was sufficient, bravely led his troop on to the
attack. This courageous initiative failed under a severe
fire from fifty meters of German trenches. Lieutenant
Thomson fell mortally wounded. 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 sti