Vive la France!

Description

"Fatal Fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. It is likely a brisk espionage-and-crime thriller of secret plots and shadowy adversaries, with a cool-headed protagonist drawn into perilous intrigue across European settings. The opening of the provided text follows a war correspondent embedded with the French and British on the Western Front, describing rigorous access to the lines, a presidential review by Poincaré, and the decorated resilience of French troops. He witnesses precision artillery directed from hidden observatories, narrowly escapes a retaliatory shelling, and tours shattered Soissons—its cathedral tended by an unflinching curé amid nightly bombardments. The narrative explains trench warfare and the decisive role of shrapnel versus high-explosive shells, then evokes the terror of long‑range bombardments in Dunkirk and Bergues. Shifting to the British sector, it highlights the disciplined build‑up of Kitchener’s new army, immense logistics (from London buses to base camps and postal services), strict medical and veterinary care, and sober training—symbolized by the Prince of Wales running at dawn. It closes on the British line’s harsh realities and the first use of poison gas at Ypres, as a deadly green cloud breaks a sector held by French colonial troops. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
• World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- France
• D501