The brush with the British Administration/Red Cross consortium came at a time when the FANY Corps' standing with the French was at its highest yet. The enormous contribution they were making in Calais dealing with the wounded was seen, recognized and appreciated. Night after night they were out during air raids – 193 unleashed on the Port – in addition to their daytime chores, making them something of a legend. Even the rather dour and suspicious French civilians stood slightly in awe of these English demoiselles, watching, and exclaiming among themselves "le bon DIEU protégé les FANYs"!

The hospital at Binson, under the energetic direction of Cole-Hamilton, was also earning passionate plaudits from all the French Top Brass who were constantly coming to inspect it.

Grace realized it was an ideal time to widen the scope of the FANY working for the French. Although they were running the hospital at Binson, there was not yet a Motor Convoy serving the French directly. All the work for them in Calais was carried out by FANY Unit 5, her own Belgian convoy.

Still deeply involved in overseeing the work being done in Calais and Binson, she nevertheless made time to draw up plans of a new convoy for the French. Mid-June 1917 she travelled to Paris. After a meeting with her old sparring partner, M. Boutiron, at the HQ of the French Red Cross, it was on to French Army HQ at rue Pinet, where she met a Captain Anjay. A long discussion about the employment of FANY drivers followed. The talks went well. Later Grace wrote down, in French, details of the plan, and the terms she envisaged in the contract.

The following day she was back again at rue Pinet, and gave Capt. Anjay the draft contract to read. He "was fearfully keen, was all over it – asked me to rewrite it all in English, which I did in his office."

Leaving Paris on the night train to Calais, she arrived on the English convoy's doorstep at Gare Centrale early in the morning. She writes: "Surprised them all at the Gare! Saw cars etc. Franklin turned up in morning. Very much taken aback at seeing me – says she has at last got St. Omer. [New convoy for the British they had both been working towards] That was great news after the long and protracted negotiations they had endured. In spite of everything, the British Administration was still allergic to women drivers.

On making her way up to her own HQ at the Belgian Convoy, there was more good news waiting her - "splendid report on Unit 5 from the Minister for War at Le Havre." At the time, Unit 5 was dealing with over 4000 casualties a month.

While there, she confirmed with the French, that Unit 5 would do "all the French work in future" adding that "arrangements have been made for petrol, and for a wonder everyone is satisfied."

This was so typical of Grace, always several balls in the air at once, as she juggled her way along the path to FANY 'progression'. The Belgians were very happy to 'lend' their much enlarged convoy to the French. They were also, now, to provide transport for all the French Military Hospitals in the Calais area, as well as continuing to make their vehicles available to both French and Belgian civil authorities during air raids.

Grace was delighted at the progress. A new English convoy at St. Omer, and much wider responsibilities accorded to the Belgian convoy. The growing confidence being shown in the FANY began to produce more practical results, reflected by new equipment and better accommodation. Grace tells us in Five Years with the Allies : "6 new GMC ambulances arrived from Le Havre, & a new barrack was erected for the new drivers, and I had a telephone put in my office." This last was something of a personal triumph, as telephones were in great demand and short supply. Everything seemed to be going well, and once more Grace, though anxiously awaiting news of her plan for the French convoy, was riding high.

Towards the end of July the news came through. Captain Anjay telephoned her inviting her to a further meeting in Paris. There she was told that, with minor adjustments, her plan for the first French convoy had been approved. It would be known as FANY Unit 6. Better than that, though, was the surprise location picked for them to operate in, Amiens. Grace wrote: " an unexpected stroke of luck. Amiens is the largest French Hospital Centre, and this was a great honour."

Under this Agreement the French Army supplied the FANY with vehicles, board and lodging, free rail travel, and later on, a Messing allowance, and even sheepskin coats to protect them against the freezing winter cold.

As usual wasting no time, Grace travelled down to Amiens that same evening. There she inspected the cars provided, - Peugeots, Renaults and Panhards, - and was not very impressed by their condition. Her contact was a Capt. Taffourman, and through him she arranged board and accommodation for the girls when they arrived. This really was an important breakthrough, and Taffourman turned out to be very helpful at all times.

Rushing back to her office in Calais, she got down to informing people of the development, deciding on commanders, arranging drivers. Binson itself was a major French enterprise, and now this convoy which was to work for them added a new dimension.

In the midst of all this activity, Grace became a fascinated spectator in a bizarre incident. A German submarine had come in too close to the shore at Wissant, near Calais, and was stranded on the beach when the tide went out.

A sentry at the camp of a Belgian cavalry regiment spotted it and raised the alarm. A troop of Lancers galloped out, surrounded the U-boat, calling on the crew to surrender. Which they did, after destroying all the ship's papers, and blowing a hole in the hull. The Commandant of the Guides Cavalry, a crack Belgian Regiment, knew Grace would relish the opportunity. She wrote later; "Col. De Donne dashed in with his big Hispano-Suiza car, and took me out to see the Germans. We met the officer and his men being marched into Calais". Apparently one of the prisoners made some remark about the Allies starving, and they were all marched to the nearest butcher's shop, and shown the array of meats and other foods on display!

Though enjoying her brief involvement in an event which must be unique in the annals of any navy or army, Grace had to get on. She desperately needed drivers for the new unit, with little time to spend recruiting them. London HQ apparently accepted the commitment without demur, as it involved no capital expenditure, vehicles and accommodation being supplied by the French.

Time was of the essence. There was less than a month to get it on the road. Drivers were the problem. The brief was for 20 drivers to be based at Amiens. The new Secretary in London, Irene Cowan, was desperately trying to speed the despatch of drivers to France, but encountered what was becoming, for some reason, standard stone-walling and delaying tactics by the London Committee of the French Red Cross. (LCFRC) It was on this occasion that Cowan described Mrs Watson - a senior member of that organization, whom Grace admired – as thoroughly disagreeable, someone who did all she could to delay the process.

This all took much longer than anticipated, even after Grace's entry into the fray. FANY drivers already on active service were transferred into the new Unit 6. Doris Allen was put in overall command of French operations, while Joan Bowles took command of the Amiens Unit itself.

The convoy started work towards the end of August. Very short staffed they may have been, but being FANYs, they coped! Long hours, short breaks, single-mindedness and always cheerful, they won admiration and respect from all sides. Bowles was able to report that "we never failed to send a car the moment a call came in."

The French doctors apparently laid bets on when the girls would give in, and no doubt that was partly responsible for their dogged determination to carry on.

There was another major difficulty. The male drivers and mechanics who were being replaced by the FANYs were angry. They simmered with resentment at their jobs being taken by women. Their vehicles were in pretty poor shape as it was, well below the standard accepted by the FANYs themselves. But the French drivers went further, and deliberately sabotaged the cars, in various ways. They would then stand back, smirking, with a 'now fix that' look on their faces.

However, the girls did fix that, usually making a better job of it than the former operators. This tended to make the French angrier still, especially when an officer rebuked one of them, suggesting he took lessons from the women.

Eventually the skill, ability, and constant cheerfulness of the FANYs won the day. Vastly impressed with the way the girls maintained the decrepit and worn out vehicles the French authorities were shamed into replacing them.

At last it all came together. The men's attitude changed; there was admiration for the work 'les FANYs' were doing in difficult and dangerous circumstances; new FANY drivers began to arrive from England. The girls were doing an extraordinary amount of vital work for the large and scattered French hospital complex in and around Amiens.

It was too good to last.

It didn't.

Back in the rear echelons of the British Administration and Red Cross ranks, there were those who sulked and smarted. There was a perceived humiliation in the defeat they had suffered attempting to eliminate Grace and the FANY Belgian convoy. They began searching for loopholes - and found one.

With large organizations from three nations operating in a comparatively small area, there had to be clearly defined sectors of sovereignty. Amiens, close to the Front Line and in a restricted area, was located in the British sector, which housed one of the largest French Hospital Centres. British women drivers were not allowed to work for the British authorities there, it being so close to the Front Line, yet here were British FANYs driving for the French within that prohibited area. Outrageous. More heinous still was the fact that the French had not asked permission of the British before employing them.

This was just the loophole they had been seeking. It could not be tolerated. Those looking for vengeance had found a great pretext for indignation. The NIMBY factor! They couldn't stop the French employing British women, but could – and did – cry - 'not in my backyard'.

The first intimation of trouble was a message from Joan Bowles in mid-September informing Grace that the French had not applied for authority for the FANYs to work in the British sector.

Grace went straight off to the Base Headquarters in Calais, even though it was a Sunday. There she eventually saw the Chief Intelligence Officer, with no result. Despite her follow-up efforts, a few days later she was to record "Gt. flap at Amiens. Letter from Bowles they are leaving for Villers Cotteret. She is delighted."

Next morning Grace headed for Amiens, noting laconically 'Good run, barring 3 burst tyres!"

There, getting no satisfactory answers to what was going on, and after two days of fruitless enquiries, she headed for Paris, and spent the whole day at the Ministry of War arguing her case. The French were sympathetic, but it was all in vain. The British were apparently quite adamant. The FANY must move out of Amiens.

Leaving Paris at 10 p.m. she headed back to Amiens. She was not in a happy frame of mind. The high hopes she had had for this first major French motor convoy appeared to have gone up in smoke. The time Unit 6 spent at Amiens was a mere six weeks, but once again the girls had displayed those most valued and enduring attributes – courage, competence and good humour. They would be remembered for that.

The establishment blimps at the British H.Q. had had their revenge, but in reality had won nothing. Only contempt. At least, the convoy lived on, at Villers Cotteret in the Marne Valley. Her lips tightened as she determined it would not just stop there. She would make sure it expanded again into a major force.

Arriving at the house that had so recently been their quarters, she found it locked and deserted. Unit 6 had finally departed.

By now it was well past midnight. Angry, frustrated and weary, she broke in and spent the rest of the night there.