22 MAY 1947, Page 5

Someone just back from studying the French Army gives me

some interesting information about the rigours of conscript training in that country. Service is for one year, beginning at twenty, and every man, even if detailed for clerical duties, is trained on commando lines. Every man learns jiu-jitsu and recruits after three months are submitted to the ordeals of live shell and mortar fire. A year

of this is calculated to produce considerable toughness. JANUS.