During the First World War, the Salvation Army in France followed the example of its British and American sister organisations by offering aid and solace to refugees and the injured, and then also to soldiers, both in transit and just behind the front lines in the Foyers du soldat (lit.: ‘The Soldier’s Home’, an organisation comparable to the YMCA). Ironically, it was the war that allowed this Protestant mission of English origin to implement its project, and thereby advanced the naturalisation of the Salvation Army within French society.