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Appendix B to CLC in France
I am indebted to Claudine, my wife, for translating a booklet I received from Noyelles-sur-Mer, in which there are some personal reminiscences and a few facts, these from a French point of view, concerning life at that time and the CLC.
I quote:
Work conditions were sometimes extremely dangerous. Deaths also occurred from epidemics such as "Spanish flu" at the end of the war and poor hygienic living conditions, with many dying at Camp No. 3 at Noyelles-sur-Mer.
Uniform of the CLC appeared [to the French] bizarre in being blue padded jacket, with funny hats, but not as funny as the kepi.
The Chinese adored to eat apples and so the French locals, as usual, exploited this in charging high prices.
The hospital in the Camp appeared to resemble a park for madmen. On the night of 23 May 1918, when the munitions dump at Saigneville was bombed, this unsettled some members of the CLC who destroyed the barbed wire surrounding their camp and escaped, being found after a few days.
Mme Nataly Salle [born 1900] remembers the Chinese and said that, due to bad treatment meted out to them, no one wished to speak.
The grandparents of Mme Félicienne Bruvy, stated that they were savages, mad and dangerous. They were lazy, greasy, stupid and ugly. They also apparently murdered her grandparents.
Mme Salle said that many Chinese died from bad treatment. 'The Gestapo never invented anything like this 25 years later'. But Mme Salle, whose husband, Valery, worked in the cemetery for 15 years said “It was the war”. 'They would be beaten like dogs by the guards and the English police. They removed their shoes, undressed them and told them to lie on tables where they were whipped until they bled. And then they would be scrubbed with a brush and hot water to cover...