A THOUSAND SHALL FALL

One of the most revealing, dramatic and in many ways astounding accounts to come out of the war -- and all absorbing reading. Habe, a German, joined up with the Foreign Volunteer army in France and records the tragic, deliberate defeat of the French by the French. Lacking arms, lacking equipment, lacking leadership, and stymied by orders from the High Command forbidding resistance all along the line, the army shambled through retreat after retreat. The protesting foreign volunteers saw half their men lost. Habe refused to desert, though his superiors advised it, and fell into the hands of the Germans and was sent to the concentration camp outside of Nancy, where he used the name and papers of Napier. Revelation of his identity as number four on the German ""wanted"" list, meant instant death. He brazened out the only position offering him a chance, that of interpreter and French camp commandant, a precarious gamble. After months of insinuating his way into German graces, he escaped through the efforts of a kindly ""Madam"" who hid him, secured new papers and smuggled him across to Free France. A fighter's account of the French army in action or inaction -- enlightening and tragic. A story of adventure and courage against insuperable hazards. Grand reading, and worthwhile as well.