【百科事典】ウィキぺディア第2096刷【Wikipedia】
■ このスレッドは過去ログ倉庫に格納されています
ｒu‐┐__ ｒu‐┐ '''ウィキペディア''' (Wikipedia) は、
.} Ω_{' ⌒´ヾｰ､.{ みんなで作るフリー[[百科事典]]です。
´ｒｰﾞｆ（ﾉﾉ）)））!i.｢
ﾉ乂k(lﾟ ヮﾟﾉ'ﾉ乂 このスレの住人には
´ ' と}i凹{っ ' '''スルー力'''が必要です。
ｆく/{__}〉
´ し'ﾉ fromウィキペたん
== 注意 ==
* ウィキペディアと関係のある話題のみ推奨。
* ユーザー叩き、依頼は他所でどうぞ。
* >>950付近になったら次スレ作成を依頼してください。
* 事情により次スレを作成できない場合はその旨お知らせください。または誰かが代理で立てても構いません。
== 関連リンク ==
* [https://ja.wikipedia.org/ 日本語版ウィキペディア]
* [https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikija-l Mailing List]
* [http://ja.wikichecker.com/ WikiChecker]
* [https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/?project=ja.wikipedia.org Pageviews Analysis]
== 前スレ ==
【百科事典】ウィキぺディア第2095刷【Wikipedia】
http://lavender.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/hobby/1552722359/l50
http://lavender.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/hobby/1552725444/l50 [[Wikipedia:削除依頼/タケエイ]]
管理者候補狂々亭駄楽様の記事に削除依頼出すとか、IPの分際でいい度胸だな。
ブロックされとけ。 say truth, then, he frightened us.
When we were dismissed from parade, we indulged in many gloomy
speculations as to the extra punishment awaiting us. We knew, or rather
guessed, two things at once--first, that the extra fatigues and guards
would soon be discontinued, for our officers were not likely to make
us disgusted with our duties, because we should then become careless,
and who could foretell what danger might arise from the inattention
of a sentry or the unwilling response to orders on the part of an
advance-guard? Secondly, we quite understood that very soon we should
turn our backs on Three Fountains, where everything kept us from
forgetting the dispute and the fight, especially the little mound at
the eastern side of the camp, that marked the last resting-place of the
Greek and the Portuguese and our other comrades who had fallen--an ugly
reminder of an ugly fray. As soon, therefore, as other white troops
could be sent to our camp we should pack and march--the question was,
whither? Now, there are many bad stations in the south of Algeria.
There are places where one may often not wash his face and hands for
a week, so scarce is water there. To do the French Government justice,
these places are usually held by native troops who do not mind thirst
and dirt so much as Europeans, but it was well known that white men
had on more than one occasion been sent to such stations and kept
there until they almost despaired of ever becoming civilised again.
Moreover, in these spots there is a great lack of other things besides
water; there is no wine save that which comes to the officers; there >>478
フセインがいなくなった後のイラクみたいですね >>478
池田もバカに不寛容だったが
ブロックされた時の行いみると彼もあまり頭良いとは言えないよね >>476
うん。だから管理者増やそうね
ちょうど今、一人立候補してるでしょ >>482
彼の場合、頭良くないというよりか、馬鹿の相手ばっかして
毒が回ったのと、恐らくwikipedia外で問題があって、
自己を痛めつけるような行動しかとれなくなってたように見えたな ブロックや逃亡に追い込まれたのに#jawpにいる連中は、救い様が無いよ is only the tobacco sold to one by the Government. Worst of all, a
woman must be very much in love or very ugly before she will consent
to follow a man thither. These are the suicide stations, if I may call
them so--the stations where a shot rings out in the night and all rush
to arms, fearing an attack of Touareks or Kabyles, but when dawn comes
there is only a dead sentry making black the yellow sand at a post.
When one man shoots himself an epidemic seems to set in; men hear every
day in hut or tent or guard room the ill-omened report; soon they go
about looking fearfully at one another, for no one knows but that he is
looking into the eyes of a comrade who has made up his mind to die. The
corporal counts his squad, "fourteen, fifteen--ah! there were sixteen
yesterday," so he says; he thinks: How long until I have only fourteen,
and who will be the next man to quit _la gamelle_?
We thought of all these things during the day, and we noted, more with
anxiety than relief, that for us there were no drills or fatigues. My
company was, indeed, warned to be ready to relieve the Turcos on guard
at eight o'clock in the evening, but we were allowed to lounge about
our quarters and talk with one another all the day. The different
squads kept to themselves; a grave crisis either dispels all squad
distinctions or accentuates them, and it was the latter that took
place on this occasion. We ate our meals in gloomy silence, but in
the intervals between them we speculated incessantly on what the
colonel meant by saying that when the commandant had punished us he
would take care to punish us too. Though we thought of everything that >>465
そのIPは完全に暴言だと思うんだが、スルーされてるのは対象がバカブラだから？ >>484
結果救いようのないクズに成り下がったな >>465
こんなIP目的外利用者として即刻ブロックすべきだな might occur, yet we were not satisfied; the indefiniteness of the
threat was its chief terror. If one knows with certainty the worst,
why, one can prepare to meet it, but when some fate, terrible but not
tangible, certain but not understood, hangs over a man or a number of
men courage is apt to ooze out at the finger ends. Talk of the sword of
Damocles, that was nothing;--it simply meant death at some uncertain
time--why, we all have such swords over our heads, and yet we eat and
drink and sleep, we pray and curse, we laugh and weep, we hurt or help
our neighbour, we gain or spend, as if life were the one thing safe and
sure, safe and sure for ever. No one thinks much of his future beyond
the grave; it is the future on this side of the Styx that we most
earnestly dwell on. Why, even the man condemned to death thinks far
less of what may happen to his soul, if he believes that he has a soul,
when it leaves the body, than of the years of gladness and fellowship
with men that the law is about to take from him. The uncertainty and
the suspense united made us discontented and gloomy; we spoke to one
another, it is true, but not in the old and pleasant way. There was not
much cursing or swearing--we had gone beyond such solace or relief--but
there was plenty of morose ill-humour, and as for _bonne camaraderie_,
there was less of it in a company than there had been the day before in
a single squad.
After the evening soup Nicholas nodded to me to come over to him. I was
not sorry to go across the little space between us; he was the first
who had even been commonly polite to me that day. When we were together >>382
ヤシーって記事中にそんなに国旗入れてるか？ he spoke in a low tone and in English--I may remark here that Nicholas
was very well educated and spoke at least half-a-dozen languages with
purity and ease--asking me what I intended to do.
"Nothing," I replied. "I see nothing that I can do."
"Nothing?" he queried.
"Nothing. And you?"
"Oh! I," said he, "do not intend to stay in Algeria any longer; my
physician orders me to a warmer climate somewhere in the East."
"Yes," he went on; "I fancy that Tonquin will suit my present ailment;
anyway, better see life along with the others who are now campaigning
there than stagnate in a desert hole."
"You do not mean----" I began, but he interrupted me.
"Yes, I do mean it; and I know that they will be only too glad to get
such volunteers as we are."
"They" (by "they" he meant the military authorities) "know very well
that we shall be trying to escape from the fire to the frying-pan,
and that we shall have only two things to depend upon to get us out >>495
Twitterのアイコンで旗振ってるからだろ >>484
ミイラ取りがミイラになったか
ミイラは不要、池脱兎は不要 of the latter--valour and good conduct. So we shall be the very best
of soldiers, because, while others have merely to keep their good
reputation, we shall have to earn ours over again. Trust me, they will
be glad to accept us as volunteers for the war, and, listen, I know
these French, when we volunteer they will almost altogether forgive
us. They are very hard and strict, especially with us, and they are
too nice about their honour, and they stand overmuch on ceremony and
punctilio, but they are really generous, often more generous than just.
When they find us trying to retrieve our good name they will give us
every opportunity to do so. We shall have many vacancies in the ranks,
it is true, and many a good comrade will not answer at the evening
roll call, but it will be well with the survivors. In any case, I am
tired of soldiering here. Why should I not see the world, not as I saw
it before," he smiled sadly, as I thought, when he said this, "but as
millions of men have seen it--a nameless unit in a crowd? After all,
many of Cﾃｦsar's legionaries had happier lives than Cﾃｦsar." When he
ceased speaking there was silence between us for some moments. Then he
asked:
"And you, young one, what will you do?"
"I will volunteer," I answered; "there surely cannot be worse fighting
in Tonquin than there was here at Three Fountains a short while ago."
He smiled, and said: "Was it not good practice for war? Was it not >>498
そのミイラ取りになったミイラを葬ったMiraburuがミイラに(ry >>497
ikedat76はTwitterのアイコンで刃物振ってるぜ >>479
[[Wikipedia:削除依頼/吉田正樹事務所]]
[[Wikipedia:削除依頼/アート金属工業]]
[[Wikipedia:削除依頼/楽天少額短期保険]]
[[Wikipedia:削除依頼/楽天インシュアランスホールディングス]]
[[Wikipedia:削除依頼/トラさん]]
[[Wikipedia:削除依頼/ほまれ酒造]]
完全に狙い撃ちww better than all the drill in the world?"
"Yes," I replied; "if someone got a thousand francs every week, we
should be the finest fighting men on the earth. I mean those of us who
did not go out there," and I nodded towards the mound on the eastern
side of the camp. He shook his head. "Say nothing about that; it is all
over now. I do not mind your saying what you think to me alone, but do
not, I ask you, speak too freely to our comrades. They will soon forget
everything, if they are not constantly reminded of things."
After some further conversation we separated.
I said nothing to the others about our resolve, as I wished that the
Russian should be the first to explain matters to our comrades. I had
more than one reason for doing this. In the first place, Nicholas, as
he was known in the corps--what his real name and rank were we never
learned--was my senior in age and experience; in the second, he was a
man of infinitely greater influence than I or any other in the company,
partly on account of his money and generosity, but still more because
of his manner, bearing, and unconscious air of authority; moreover,
he was the clearest and most convincing speaker I have ever heard.
Again, he had brought us into trouble and had done a good deal to get
us out of it; to him, therefore, all looked for further deliverance. I
felt sure that, when he told the rest of his intention, all of ours,
and probably all of No. 4 Company, would volunteer along with him. 旗アイコンといえばMiraburu
だがなぜブラジルではなくポルトガルなのか 俺が何年か前に嘘出典で適当に創作起源を書いたものが
テレビで当たり前のように起源として紹介されて震える [[Wikipedia:投稿ブロック依頼/Sakurapop7]] あと半日で一次質問期間も終わるし
いつもの圧迫面接もされないし
こりゃ堕落は無風当選だな >>503
振ってるのが日の丸もしくは旭日旗ならな コジドイはパヨクだからアメリカもアメリカかぶれのヤシーも大嫌いだろうな It would be much better for us if companies volunteered instead of
merely men or squads or sections. The greater the number going of their
own accord to the war, the more lenient would our officers be; and,
furthermore, no man would be likely to be sent amongst strangers--we
should probably all soldier together. Should Nicholas and I go out by
ourselves, we should be transferred with bad reputations to a company
already in Tonquin, and for that neither he nor I had any liking. If
all volunteered, we might still remain an unchanged unit, even though
in a new battalion, and one must never forget that when a man has been
for some time living and working and fighting, yes, and looting, and
perhaps doing worse, along with certain companions, he has a feeling of
_camaraderie_, of yearning for their society, which makes it very hard
for him to leave them, though it must be acknowledged that a soldier
easily makes new friends and new attachments wherever he goes.
Nicholas did not ponder long before he announced his intention of
volunteering for Tonquin. I don't think it took the others much by
surprise, perhaps because recent events had prepared them for anything,
perhaps because the Russian's acts, no matter how strange they might
appear in another man, were only ordinary, natural, and to be expected
in him. Any way they merely nodded or smiled, and at first no one asked
for an explanation. This, however, the Russian gave of his own accord.
"You know, _mes camarades_," he began, "that the colonel is very
angry with us and that he has it in his power to make things very 世の中に 絶えてSakurapopの なかりせば
春の心は のどけからまし >>502
嫌がらせか
でもこれじゃ荒らし扱いされて即時存続だろ・・・ 記事の増加は尽きるとも
粋にサクラのポップは尽きまじ Sakurapop7っていい名前だな、Sakurapop7に使われるのが惜しいぐらい ポップ「このままでは済まさん…お前も消滅せよ、メドローア！ >>522
それはあるな
自分で考えたか知らないがセンスはいい ブロック依頼提出、26分後にコメント
何回も釘を刺されてるのにほんと人の話聞いてねえな uncomfortable for those who have displeased him. Now I do not care to
stay under his command if I can get away from it, and there is but one
course, as far as I know, by which I can avoid his anger and perhaps
regain the reputation of being a good soldier and one not likely to
disgrace the flag. There is, as we all are aware, a war against savages
going on at this moment in Tonquin. I mean to volunteer to go thither;
it will be easier to campaign against Black Flags, who will kill me
if they can and whom I will kill if I am able, than to suffer in a
camp of hell in the desert, where one cannot resist nor even complain.
Better, far better, will it be to march and fight, even to starve and
die, like a soldier in an enemy's country than to live a life worse
than a convict's in some one of those awful cantonments where even the
native soldiers are discontented and restless. You all have heard,
as I have, of the woes of poor soldiers in such places. The officers
and sub-officers are hard enough here--I mean no offence to our own
corporal, he has always been good comrade to his squad--but there they
are veritable demons, there they carry revolvers by day and by night,
and, if a sergeant should lose his temper and shoot a simple soldier,
there is no redress, there is no punishment, unless the dead man's
comrades themselves take a just vengeance on the murderer. And then
there will be executions and deprivation of pay, and the last state of
the company will be worse than the first. Again, in those places, where
not even our poor amusements and relaxations are possible, where one
can enjoy neither wine nor the society of women, men go mad and men
commit suicide, and men deliberately break the laws in sheer despair, Sumaru「いいか、慌ててコメントすると立場を悪くするぞ。絶対に慎重にな」
〜30分後〜
さくポ「1年は言い忘れ！ノートで話し合ったから削除依頼提出も問題なかった！」
全員「（アカンわこの人……）」 この脊髄反射コメントが命取りになる気がする
あほすぎるわ ふと思ったけどくさかがほぼ失踪してるせいでコーディネーター不足になってるのかな and, worst of all, men die lingering deaths from settled melancholy,
thinking always, as they cannot help thinking, of home and former
friends and the pleasant, happy days of youth. But I, for my part, will
not, if I can avoid those places, go thither to starve, to mope, to rot
alive, and to die--hopeless, friendless--for there men are not friends
but only associates--with a curse upon my lips and heavy anger with God
and man in my heart. No; rather will I volunteer for Tonquin. There I
shall be, if no better, at least no worse than thousands of others who
are fighting bravely, and are ready, if need be, to bravely die."
When Nicholas stopped speaking an Alsatian said: "I too will
volunteer." That was all; Alsatians are not inclined to talk much,
but they are good, hardworking, steadfast men in action. If you are
fighting and an Alsatian is your comrade, your rear-rank man let us
say, don't be a bit afraid to go forward, the Alsatian will be always
there, backing you up. They are not men who are anxious to lead a
bayonet charge, but they won't refuse to follow, and where they go they
generally stay, for just as they don't begin an advance they won't,
on the other hand, begin a retreat. Put a Parisian, a Gascon, or a
Breton at the head of a company of Alsatians and you have practically
resurrected a company of the Old Guard.
There was some confused talking after this. Nicholas, the Alsatian,
and I kept out of the conversation, smoking our pipes in quiet
contemplation of the rest; the corporal of the squad was seated on his >>530
言うのを忘れてたｗｗｗｗ
「今後一切（今後一切とは言ってない）」みたいなノリそのまんまだな >>520
これがヤシーの書いた記事相手なら「馬鹿久または模倣」で即時存続
下手すりゃ依頼ページのほうが即時削除ものだよなｗ camp-cot, a cigarette between his lips, looking with a cynical smile at
the Russian. At last it was decided--all the squad would volunteer. As
soon as the corporal found that we were unanimous he seized his kepi
and ran out of the hut without uttering a word save: _Bons soldats,
bons camarades_. We learned afterwards that he rushed straight off to
the captain and told him of our decision. This was welcome news, as
all the officers were chafing and fuming because they had not been
selected for the front. I may here mention that our corporal was the
first to gladden the captain's heart and bring him some hope of gaining
glory and promotion, and, when the captain got the chance of giving
promotion, our corporal exchanged the two red chevrons on his sleeve
for the single gold one of a sergeant.
Well, when the others heard of this, there was much earnest
conversation and still more earnest gesticulation in the little camp.
All were excited; the desire to get away from the punishment stations,
the eager wish for change, the natural impulse of soldiers to put
into practice the teaching of the drill-ground and the manoeuvres,
all combined to render the men anxious to follow the example of our
squad. Before we went on duty that night my company had volunteered
to a man, and, when we dismounted guard in the morning, we were not a
whit surprised to find ourselves relieved by native troops, for that
told us that we had guessed aright and that No. 4 Company, our friends
and erstwhile foes, had thrown in their lot with us and would be our
_compagnons d'armes et de voyage_. We were very glad of that. Together >>536
目的が同じとはいえ奴と違って一応まともな依頼文考えてるんだから同列にしちゃいけない we were a half battalion, a weak one, it is true--the mound on the east
and the hospital held so many of our comrades--but still strong enough
to demand and command respect.
While we were enjoying our morning soup the officers of the company
came round. How different everything was then compared with the day
before! The captain, a bronzed, heavy-moustached man, whose military
career had not been very successful--he was a good soldier and a good
officer, but he had made the great mistake of falling in love, as a
_sous-lieutenant_, with his colonel's wife, and the colonel, now a
general, had not forgotten--was in great good humour. He remembered
our crime, only to laugh at it, and said that the men who could give
so good an account of themselves against the heroes of No. 4 were
just the soldiers he wished to lead into action. He told us to be
very careful. If we misconducted ourselves again the company might be
distributed amongst the four battalions of the other regiment of the
Legion, and that would be bad for us and bad for him as well. "Let us
only be allowed to remain together," he said. "We shall all go out to
Tonquin, and then there will be plenty of excitement, and promotion
must come." He was thinking, I suppose, of his own disappointments. It
must be very hard on a man to be passed in the race by others who were
boys at school when he was wearing a sword; why, the commandant of the
battalion was younger than he. The other officers were also pleased;
the lieutenant a handsome fellow of twenty-five or so, was anxious to
get his company; the sub-lieutenant, a stern, hard-featured man of forty, who had risen from the ranks, was quite satisfied to go to a
place where he might have a chance of picking up unconsidered trifles.
Ah! _ces vieux militaires_ are the quietest and most thorough-going
pillagers in the world. Nothing comes amiss to them--they could teach
even Cossacks how to loot--and how they manage to keep this loot and
get it safely home to wife or mistress--for they have always a woman
on their private pay-sheet--I cannot for the life of me imagine. They
do it, however, and they are not only in the Foreign Legion or in the
French army--you will find them in every army, nay, in every regiment
in the world.
Well, the sergeants and corporals were well pleased too. They kept us
for all that under strict discipline until the day we found ourselves
aboard the transport at Marseilles. But I am anticipating.
At about five o'clock in the evening both companies were paraded and
inspected just as on the day before, but there was a great change in
the colonel's manner. He was not over friendly with us, but he did not
abuse or threaten. He called us sharply to attention, and then said:
"Every man in the front rank who wishes to volunteer for Tonquin will
march one pace to the front; every man in the rear rank who wishes to
volunteer for Tonquin will march one pace to the rear. Volunteers,
march!" At once the ranks separated. All in front stepped one pace
forward; all in the rear took one pace backward. He walked down between
the ranks, saw that all had volunteered, took up his former position 堕落の初版記事に対する削除依頼、死ぬほど陰湿だけどネガキャンとしてはかなり効果的ですね in front of us, and ordered us back to our original formation. "All
have volunteered. I am well satisfied. Dismiss the parade, monsieur le
commandant."
For some time after we were busy getting ready to leave Three
Fountains, and no one was sorry when we presented arms to a detachment
of zephyrs that came to take our place. As soon as they had returned
the compliment we fell into marching array in columns of fours, wheeled
to the left, passed by the flank of the zephyrs, saluted the Turcos
of the main guard at the gate, and stepped out on our first march
northward. Truly, we were glad to leave behind the cantonment of Three
Fountains and its associations. Always fond of change, we dropped our
sadness, the sadness which one cannot choose but feel when leaving
behind for ever even one's temporary home. Before we had finished the
first league spirits were as high, laughter as gay, jests as plentiful
as on my very first march, when with the other two hundred recruits I
went from the depot to the battalion. Normally the two companies should
be about five hundred strong, but death and the doctor detained so many
that I do not believe we were quite four hundred all told. However,
at the depot, which we reached in good time, doing a fair day's
march every day, we received additions to our numbers--self-styled
recruits, really men who had learned more than a little of soldiering
in other armies, and whom ill-luck or bad character or desire of French
citizenship had driven or induced into the Foreign Legion. At the depot we received our outfit for the East. The kepi was
exchanged for the white helmet, lighter underclothing was served out
to us, all clothing and footwear was renewed, and I may say without
boasting that when, fully five hundred strong, we paraded for the
last time before entraining for Oran, in order to hear the farewell
address of the depot commandant, we presented as smart and soldier-like
an appearance as any commanding officer could wish to see. The depot
commandant made a short speech, shook hands with our commanding
officer, wished him and us _bon voyage et prompt retour_, and then,
with the band at the head of the column, we marched out of the gate,
saluting the guard as we passed, amidst the ringing cheers of the
veterans and recruits left behind. When we were safely in the train
all discipline was at an end: we shouted, cheered, laughed and sang,
and so began our journey to the land where more than half my comrades
lie--as quiet as the Greek and the Portuguese under the little mound on
the eastern side of the mud huts of _Trois Fontaines_.
CHAPTER X
On a beautiful summer morning we marched down to the quay to join the
transport that was to carry us and five or six hundred others to our destination in the East. All was bustle, excitement, and confusion
for some time, but matters quickly arranged themselves, and, when the
last of the stores had been safely stowed away, we marched in single
file up the gangway and stood to attention by squads on the deck. Each
squad was led off by its corporal to the place assigned to it, and in
a short time our quarters looked for all the world like a barrack on
shore, save that one saw no bed-cots there. Our rifles and equipments
were put in their proper places, the roll was called below for the last
time, we were reported "all present and all correct," and then we were
allowed to troop up on deck, to get our last glimpse of the land that
many of us would never see again. As the ship cast off, we raised a
cheer which was responded to by the people on the quay, a band ashore
struck up the Marseillaise, the Frenchmen first, and then we others
of the Legion took up the refrain, and thus amid cheering, singing,
and waving of helmets and handkerchiefs we started on our voyage to
Tonquin. There were not many friends of those aboard weeping on the
quay; we legionaries had none, and the Frenchmen were zephyrs--that is,
men of bad character who had been assigned to convict battalions, and
their friends, no doubt, were not over sad about their departure. There
were some ladies and children who were affected, but they belonged
to the officers--the sub-officers and the men had no friends, no
relations, no home, one might say, save the barrack, the cantonment
hut, the tent, or, as at the time, the troopship. Well, so much the
better: having nothing to lose but life, and that as a rule a wretched
one, we should be the more reckless when recklessness was needed, and the French generals took care that we, the zephyrs and the legionaries,
were put in the fighting line as much as possible and that the good
men, the respectable soldiers, should only come into the fray when the
burden of the fight was over and when we others were so spent with
toil that reliefs were absolutely necessary. Let no one misunderstand
me. I do not wish to convey that the French soldier or officer shirks
danger; on the contrary, I believe Frenchmen to be amongst the most
daring soldiers in the world and the most cheerful under hardships, but
the generals did not see any good in putting worthy citizens, future
fathers of respectable families, into the most dangerous positions
when they had ready to their hands men who bore so bad a reputation
as the zephyrs and the legionaries gathered from every country under
the sun. They were quite right in this, but all the same we might
sometimes, just once in a while, have been allowed to dawdle along with
the reserve instead of being continually on the jump where the bullets
were. Of course, though we grumbled, we were proud too that the most
difficult and most dangerous work fell to our share.
For the first couple of days out I was very sea-sick, but the horrible
_mal-de-mer_ in the end passed off, and I was able to take an interest
in things around me as before. I don't mean to say much of the life
aboard. Such a tale would be only a recital of troubles and grievances,
but troops on a transport cannot expect a very pleasant time. One thing
we were glad of--there were no women and children aboard. The veterans
told us why we should rejoice at this, and any man who has travelled on a troopship with women and their babies will easily guess the reason.
The worst part of the voyage was while we were going through the Red
Sea. There one loathed his morning coffee and growled at his evening
soup. The dull, deadly, oppressive heat in that region almost killed
us. We lay around, unable almost to curse, and the soldier who finds
himself too weak to do that, must be in a very bad way indeed. Only
once in the Red Sea did we show signs of life. It was when a French
troopship passed us on her way home with sick and wounded from the
war. The convalescents crowded on her deck and raised a feeble shout.
We cheered heartily in reply, and we kept up the cheering until it was
impossible for them any longer to hear. We pitied them, poor devils.
How they must have in turn pitied us, going as we were to the wretched
land where they had left behind health and many good comrades, and
where we too should pay our quota of dead and receive our quota of
wounds and illness. Anyway the sight of them roused us for a time, but
we quickly fell back into the languor induced by the excessive heat.
Here let me make a remark which may be of interest to many. We
legionaries had men, as I have already said more than once, from
every country in Europe, and from some outside of it, and one might
imagine that men of different nations would be differently affected
by the heat, aggravated, as it was, by cramped quarters and wretched
food. Well, I cannot single out any country whose natives endured the
discomfort better or worse than the others, but there were undoubtedly
two classes of men aboard, one of which was far more lively, far less given to grumbling, and altogether possessed of more buoyancy and
resilience of temperament than the other. These were the men of fair
complexion. All the fair-haired, blue-eyed soldiers seemed to be able
to withstand bad conditions of living more easily and better than their
dark-complexioned comrades. I offer no explanation of the fact, but I
noted during the voyage for the first time, and afterwards I had many
opportunities of confirming my original impression, that fair men are
superior to dark ones in endurance and in everything connected with
war except the actual fighting; with regard to that, complexion does
not count. I have noticed in fever hospitals that the black moustaches
far outnumbered the reddish ones; in a field hospital there was never
such a disparity. I cannot say that other observers agree with me. I
merely put on record a thing that I noticed and that produced a deep
impression on me, but I never mentioned it to my comrades, nor shall I
now write down the various speculations with regard to men and nations
that I was led by it to indulge in. All I say is: I thank my stars that
my moustache is rather red--that seems to me a token of endurance, if
not of strength.
In due time we arrived off Singapore, and put in there. I must now
mention a few incidents of our stay in that harbour; they were, indeed,
the chief events of the voyage.
The reason why we put into Singapore was that coal had run short, and
the captain of the troopship did not like to go on to Saigon with the small supply left. Those of us who did not know that Singapore
belonged to Great Britain soon learned the fact, and more than one
eagerly desired to get clear of the ship to land, and thus regain his
freedom. Now, I am no apologist for desertion. I think it a mean and
cowardly crime, but, if there be any excuse for it, surely many of
ours must be held excused. Remember that we were foreigners in the
French service, that many of ours had had good reason to flee from
justice in their own countries, that we all had a bad reputation with
our officers and our French comrades, and, above all, that recent
events--the fight at Three Fountains and the morbidly suggestive mound
at the east side of the camp there; the ugly fear of a horrible desert
station and the intolerable heat of the Red Sea--had made many men
think anxiously, constantly, longingly of getting away, at a stroke as
it were, from ugly memories and gloomy forebodings begotten of them.
Men don't desert from their colours without grave reason. Even the
most flighty man will think twice and thrice before taking the risk of
the court-martial that awaits detection or recapture. Moreover, in our
case sentries with loaded rifles were on duty at all points; one would
imagine that not even a rat could leave the ship unnoticed.
Well, the vessel was brought near the wharf and two gangways were run
out, one for the coolies carrying in the full baskets, the other for
the coolies going out with the empty ones. These coolies carried their
baskets on their heads, as you often see women carrying loads in other
countries. As each one passed the bunker he tipped the contents of his basket in, and then went under a little archway, and crossed out by the
second gangway for a new load. Now there was one man of my company--a
Bulgarian--who was under confinement for some slight offence against
discipline, and, as the heat was almost unbearable, he had been brought
up by the guard--acting with the commandant's permission, be it well
understood--and allowed to sit under this archway during the heat of
the day. I was the nearest sentry to him, being placed at the outgoing
gangway, and one of my orders was to watch this man. Like many other
orders I remembered this one only in order to be able to repeat it to
the officer of the day, and never imagined that there was any necessity
of caring more about it. I was mistaken.
As the coolies passed under the archway, a good deal of coal dust
accumulated there. This dropped from the baskets, which they often
carried mouth downward in their hands, when empty. The prisoner had a
vessel of water, and this he carefully mixed with coal dust until he
had enough to stain all his body black. I must mention that part of
his little apartment was screened off from view by a half-partition,
and while in this recess he could be seen only by the coolies as they
passed through. Here he undressed and carefully blackened his person,
and then, watching a favourable opportunity when my attention was
completely taken up by a dispute on the quay, he throttled a coolie
passing through, forcibly seized his basket, gave him--as payment, I
suppose--a knock-down blow on the point of the jaw, and started for the
gangway. This he gained unperceived by me. Half-a-dozen steps carried him ashore, and once on British soil he was safe from all arrest. He
flung the basket on the ground, and at once ran at his utmost speed
towards the town. A cry from those on shore called my notice to the
running man, and I knew at once, by his size and carriage, that the
Bulgarian had escaped. The moaning of the coolie, who was rapidly
coming to after the sudden and savage assault on him, was another
intimation that I had of the escape. I was put under arrest at once,
and kept in close confinement until we reached Saigon, but the officer
in command did not punish me further. The ingenuity displayed by
the deserter was so evident, that no one blamed me very much for
being taken off my guard and allowing a wrong man to go ashore, and,
moreover, as we neared Tonquin, all thought more and more of the
fighting and less and less of punishing a man who was not flagrantly in
the wrong. Of course, there was no chance of recapturing the Bulgarian;
he had reached foreign soil, and there is no act of extradition
affecting men guilty of merely military offences. It was well for him,
however, that my eyes were turned towards the dispute on the quay; all
the blackening would scarcely have deceived me, and I should have shot
him dead on the gangway before he could have time to reach the land.
For all that I was glad that he got safely away, for, though a man will
do his duty no matter how disagreeable it may be, yet he is not at
all sorry when he misses the chance of doing such duty as mine would
have been, had I noticed the runaway in time. Further on I shall have
occasion to mention the case of another deserter, a man who deserted
from a certain European army to French soil, and it was strange--oh, very strange--that neither the French nor the other sentries could
hit him at less than a hundred yards' range, while he was making a
desperate rush across the strip of undefined territory that marked the
frontier.
Some other incidents occurred at Singapore, but, as I was under arrest,
I can only speak of them as I heard about them from my comrades. After
the Bulgarian's escape a far stricter watch was kept--double sentries
were posted--but to a determined man nothing is impossible. More than
one was found absent at morning roll call, and at last it became
evident that, in some cases at least, connivance on the part of a pair
of sentries had permitted the escape. If a man once got down into the
water, he was practically free. Certainly a shark--and sharks do abound
in these waters, and especially in the harbours, where they pick up all
sorts of garbage--might cross his path, but there was not much danger,
as the distance to the land was so small. No one of ours, as far as
we could know, was caught in such a way. One, however, was caught by
something almost as bad, but I must give a new paragraph to describing
the hero of the tale before I begin the story about him.
The man I refer to I have already mentioned in connection with the
negotiations between the companies after the fight at Three Fountains.
He was the Italian that held the same leading place in the deputation
from No. 4 Company as Nicholas the Russian did in ours. Without
education--I don't believe that he could write his name--he possessed a fund of shrewdness and a faculty of quick observation that made him
more than the equal of scholars--and many men of good education were
in our ranks. Not at all desirous of a quarrel, he was pre-eminently
one to avoid fighting with, for in a row he forgot all about his own
safety and seemed not to care what hurt he received so long as he
hurt his enemy, and any weapon that lay at hand would be used by him
without hesitation at the time or remorse or shame afterwards. A smart,
clean, active soldier; yet he was always getting into trouble and
disgrace, now with his corporal, at another time with the sergeant of
the section, but never with the officers. Fellows said that he belonged
either to the Mafia or the Camorra, but opinions were divided as to
whether he came to the Legion to avoid arrest by the Italian Government
for crimes committed in the course of business or punishment from his
association for treachery or some other offence against their laws.
Anyway he was with us, and though not liked, still respected; though
we did not fear him, yet we took good care to let him alone. He was
not a man--to his credit be it said--who interfered with others. Why,
then, should others interfere with him? About five feet five in height,
of carriage alert rather than steady, with quick, black eyes, dark
complexion, small, black moustache, regular features and even, white
teeth, he was certainly one to attract anyone's attention, especially
a woman's. He was very cynical with regard to the sex, not valuing
woman's fondness much, but, all the same, so long as he was a girl's
lover he allowed no poaching on his preserves. He sang well--French
songs as well as Italian--and played on more than one musical instrument, his favourite one being a small flageolet, and with this
he lightened more than one weary hour for us on shipboard. He never
told anyone, I believe, of his intention to desert. I fancy he was too
cautious for that. When he did go, no sentry connived at the business,
for, even had our men been doing duty, not one of us cared so much for
the Italian as to risk a court-martial for his sake.
I must here remark that the legionaries had been relieved of sentry
duty, as so many of them had gone away without even bidding good-bye
to anyone. The French soldiers, the zephyrs, were now doing all this
duty; and they did it so well, I must admit, that no man got clear
away while they were on the watch--at least until the Italian left
the ship--but his absence was not a long one. All our coal had been
taken in, and the vessel had moved away from the wharf out into the
harbour, so that it lay about 200 yards from shore. The sentries must
have thought that no man would be so mad as to attempt to swim such a
distance, since the water was full of sharks, and in all probability
their vigilance had decreased. The morning after the ship had moved out
the Italian did not answer at roll call, and it was at once assumed,
and truly, that he had escaped, and, as no cry from the water had
been heard by the men on duty, that he had got safely to land. Before
the hour of departure the French consul came off in his own boat, to
see the officers of the ship and of the troops. This, of course, was
natural, but everyone was surprised to see him, as soon as he gained
the deck, rush forward with malicious joy in his eyes to greet the commandant.
"Ah, mon commandant, I have a present for you."
"Thanks, thanks, my friend; how you are good!"
"A most charming present. I bring you a friend whom you most earnestly
desire to see."
Leaning over the side he shouted out some orders to his sailors, and
they, going under an awning at the stern, carried out the Italian
bound hand and foot. How the commandant cursed him; how the Frenchmen
smiled and jeered; how we, his comrades, felt sad that our worthy
comrade should have been caught almost on the threshold of liberty!
_Camaraderie_ overcame all other feelings, and we pitied the poor
wretch, for we guessed that a court-martial would have little mercy
on a soldier, especially a soldier of the Legion, captured in the act
of deserting from his company while on the way to the seat of war. As
for the Italian, he was calm and collected, but, if he were free and
had a knife and were within striking distance of the commandant, that
officer would surely have had an end put to his cursing on the spot. In
a moment the Italian was brought aboard and at once sent down to the
prisoners' quarters, where he found several comrades, myself among the
number, eagerly speculating on the noise and confusion above. As soon as the guard had gone away someone asked the Italian what the
noise on deck was about. He answered sharply:
"About a better man than you--about me."
None of us cared to put any further questions; Cecco was in very bad
humour indeed. However, in about ten minutes he told us all, saying he
had slipped over the side of the vessel when four sentries had come
close enough to chat--this, you must remember, meant only the approach
to one another of two posts, as all sentries had been doubled--that he
had been in the water for about three minutes when he came close to
a boat, which he boarded; that, like a fool, he made himself and his
intention known before he found out the character of his hosts; that he
was at once seized, and was told, when bound, that the boat belonged
to the French consul and therefore he was still on French territory.
"The rest you know," said he, "or can guess." We were sorry, and told
him so. He thanked us graciously enough, and hoped we might have
better luck in our enterprises than he had had in his, and, in reply
to a question as to what he thought would happen, he said at first
that he did not know and he did not care, but he would dearly like to
have the commandant at his mercy just long enough to kill him. "Listen
carefully," he went on. "I shall be shot in all probability, but they
will give me a chance of saying a prayer and making my confession
before I die. The commandant will also be shot, but he will get no
notice, and, unless he be very lucky indeed, no priest will be present to send him absolved from sin into the presence of God." For the rest
of the voyage the Italian and we got on well together. He got the best
of the dinner, not that he thanked us or that we wanted thanks; he knew
why we did it, and we should have been very bad soldiers indeed if we
did not do a little to keep up the spirits of a man doomed, as we knew
him to be, to a sudden and early death.
Let me anticipate once more. After our arrival at Saigon, Cecco was
court-martialled, openly insulted the officers composing the court, was
sentenced to death, and shot the following morning. And the commandant
was shot in the back in a little skirmish in Tonquin--a brilliant
little affair that would have brought him promotion had he lived. It
may have been an accident, but there was at least a dozen Italians in
the company immediately behind him, and in the heat of action bullets
do occasionally go astray. How do I know that he was shot in the back?
Well, I don't _know_, but I suspect for two reasons: first, there was a
sort of investigation, which naturally led to nothing; and, secondly,
the Italian's words came back to my mind directly I heard of the
commandant's death. After all, is it not bad enough for an officer to
punish a man or to get him punishment? Why should he swear at the poor
devil and abuse him as if he had no spirit, no sense of shame, no soul?
Any man will take his punishment fairly and honestly, if he believes
that he has deserved it; no man will stand abuse without paying in full
for it when he gets his chance, for abuse is not fair to the man who
is waiting for his court-martial. But all, or nearly all, officers are either fools or brutes.
Another thing that happened at Singapore Le Grand told me afterwards.
In the early days of desertion a fellow--I think he was a Belgian--came
to Le Grand and proposed that they should go away together.
"I am," said the Belgian, "a baker by trade; you speak English well and
can teach me. Let us go together. You will interpret for me and I will
work for both. We shall get enough of money in six months to carry us
to the United States, and there we shall separate as soon as I know
enough of the language to make myself understood."
"No," replied Le Grand; "I volunteered for the war, and I mean to see
what fighting means in Tonquin. Moreover, if I went away now, no one I
care about would ever have any respect for me again. It is bad enough
with me as it is; I will do nothing to make it worse. The most people
can allege against me now is folly; no one shall ever be able to charge
me with cowardice as well."
Many times the baker renewed his entreaties to Le Grand to go away. Le
Grand would not: he knew that hardships--perhaps sickness or wounds or
death--lay before him, but better anything than self-reproach and loss
of self-respect. Le Grand was right in his own way, because he was, and
is (for he is still alive and in a good position), a gentleman; the
Belgian baker was wise too in his generation and according to his own lights. He slipped off before the Frenchmen were ordered to supply all
the guards. No one knows whether he fell a prey to the sharks or not,
and, I may add, no one--not even Le Grand--cares.
The only other important thing that was told to me was that our fellows
and the zephyrs became rather dangerous to one another. From the
beginning we were not too amiable, but when the commandant put us--at
least the other legionaries, for I was at the time in the prisoners'
quarters on account of the Bulgarian's escape--to do most of the
duties about the ship and put Frenchmen only on sentry, so that no
more men of the Legion might desert, things rapidly came to a head.
The commandant was lucky in two respects--the voyage to Saigon was
short, and a French war vessel accompanied the transport. Had there
been a twenty days' voyage without an escort the decks would have been
washed red with blood, for, be it remembered, though the average
French soldier can conduct himself with propriety in almost any place,
the zephyr is a military convict pure and simple. No matter how bad we
were, the zephyrs were worse. Well, let me put it in another way: the
zephyrs aboard were the bad characters of the French army; we others,
the legionaries, were the bad characters of all the other armies of
Europe. They, the zephyrs, had no chance of regaining their characters
in their own country, where their misdeeds were known; our fellows
had started, each with a clean sheet, on joining an alien army. Thus
our reputation as a body was bad, but no man had any very ugly charge
against his name; the zephyrs were bad by man, by squad, by company, and by battalion. However, they are really amongst the finest fighting
men in the world; some people, indeed, say that the zephyrs are second
only to the legionaries.
There was no fight. The big war-vessel lay not so far away, and
all knew what its shells could do. Strange that we met these very
zephyrs afterwards, and our companies and theirs, certainly aided by
others, did a hard afternoon's bayonet-work together. We were friends
after that, so much so that I believe that one battalion, and that a
battalion of zephyrs, is the only one of the French army to speak with
liking--all, of course, speak with respect, unless at a distance--of
the Foreign Legion. But everything to its own place.
At last we reached Pingeh--a fine harbour. I was set free, as well as
all other prisoners save the Italian, and we disembarked, happy again
at the change, to take our share in the war against the Black Flags,
thinking more of the relief from the cramped quarters than of any
dangers that lay before us.
CHAPTER XI When we arrived at Pingeh, the port of Saigon, the zephyrs disembarked
first, and we followed. Straightway most of us were marched off to
a camping-field where tents and other impedimenta were awaiting us,
and in a short time we had formed a fairly creditable camp. Those of
ours who were kept behind on the quay were employed in sorting out our
baggage as the coolies carried the troopship's load ashore. Considering
that all except the officers carried their belongings on their backs,
this was not hard work, and most of them were satisfied, but the dozen
or so left on guard over the ammunition cases brought out by the
transport were not at all lucky, as they got no meal, not even a cup of
coffee, for fully twelve hours. That's always the way. Your ordinary
officer can't understand why everybody is not satisfied when he is. If
the captain has a good lunch and a better dinner, the simple soldier
may tighten his belt and put a bit of tobacco between his teeth--that
is good enough for him. Well, there are officers who care for their
men, but they are so few that, if you know a hundred captains, you
may easily reckon the good ones on the fingers of a hand. Some are
inclined to be good, but though physically brave they are morally
cowards; they cannot stand the sneering of those who look upon the men
as mere instruments for gaining decorations and promotion, and it is
so very easy to acquire the habit of doing as most of your equals do.
It is wrong--oh! I who have felt it know how wrong it is!--for a man
who has rank and a better lot than others to forget the responsibility
attached to his position, to let the men under him understand hour
by hour and day by day and week by week how little he cares for their comfort, to swear at the sick, to sneer at the wounded, to order the
dead to be thrown any way into a trench, and to abuse the burial party
because they did not cover the carcasses quickly enough. War is war, as
an Alsatian in my company used to say; but why should a man, or rather
men, come into camp for the night after a long march, and perhaps a
sharp fight, to be sworn at and abused by the officers who, for their
own sakes even, should try to make things cheerful for all? But again I
am digressing.
We spent about a week at Saigon, under canvas all the time. Of course,
we got our share of inspection; first the chief officer--I forget
now who he was, not that he was at all worth remembering--then the
medical officer, then a quartermaster--the best of all, for he supplied
deficiencies in clothing. I must say this: when a French soldier goes
on campaign he is well fitted out--they took from us every article that
showed any signs of wear, and a new one was at once issued. At first
we thought that we should have to pay out of our scanty means for the
new supplies. We were only too glad to find that, instead of taking our
money under false pretences, as they do in other armies, our pay was
increased, and we were told, and truly told, that the increase would
last while we were on active service. Take my word for it, no matter
how bad the officers may be, the French Government is the best in the
world to its troops on active service. If men suffer, it is not the
fault of those in Paris; put the blame rather on the underlings--I mean
the commandants and the captains. But, remember, what I have just said I have said only of the Republic--of the monarchy and the empire I know
nothing.
Another reason for this delay was that the French, if they can by any
chance do it, keep men quiet on land for some days after a voyage. This
is very sensible. No man gets what I may call his land legs until some
time after he has come ashore from a transport, where space is small
and men are many, where food is wretched, and water mawkishly warm and
suspiciously sweet. The rest did us good; the new clothing and the
extra pay put us in good humour. When at last we put on our knapsacks
for the march into the interior, we were altogether different from the
500 semi-mutinous scarecrows who had landed from the troopship only six
or seven days before.
Every man had 150 rounds of ball cartridge in his pouch; all rifles
were loaded; we were evidently to be kept on the _qui vive_ from the
earliest possible moment; talking in the ranks was often stopped
without any visible cause; the sentries were visited half-a-dozen times
a night; discipline was in all respects as strict as it could be; and
we were made to understand, as if we had learned nothing in Algeria,
that we were in front of a cautious, skilful, and sometimes daring,
enemy, and that every man was responsible for his own and his comrades'
lives.
Now I have no intention of writing a history of the war in Tonquin. I shall merely give details of the most important events of my life
there, and of these the first in order was the battle of Noui-Bop.
We had not been long in the East, and were by no means acclimatised,
when the battalion to which our two companies had been sent was ordered
to join a mixed force of French soldiers and natives under the command
of a distinguished French general, whose name is of no importance to my
narrative. This general was operating against a large force of Black
Flags, and, as a result of his operations, there was every prospect
of a hot engagement, and this was exactly to our taste. Ever since we
had joined the battalion we had been looked upon with suspicion by the
officers, for the news of the fight between the companies at Three
Fountains had travelled to Tonquin, and many believed that it was a
foolish thing to allow both companies to soldier together, as there
might be at any moment a renewal of the fray. Even our comrades of the
two other companies in the battalion at first thought that we might
again fall out, but very soon they saw what the officers could not, or
would not, see--that No. 4 and ours were as friendly as possible to
each other and that there was not the slightest chance of ill-feeling
showing itself between us. Thus we were anxious to be in a big battle;
we trusted in ourselves, and every man was determined, by showing
reckless bravery in the field, to wipe away the disgrace which we
knew attached to us, partly for our little fight and partly for the
desertions at Singapore. After a good deal of manoeuvring, of which we bore our share, at last
it was evident that the eventful day had come. Some chasseurs d'Afrique
who were with us had located the Black Flags and their allies, many of
whom were regular soldiers of the Chinese army, in a strong position
at a place called Noui-Bop. Our native scouts confirmed this, and also
reported that there were several white officers amongst them--these
we guessed to be English or Prussians, or a mixture of both. We knew
that the enemy had good rifles and plenty of ammunition, that they held
favourable ground, that there was no chance of outflanking them owing
to their superiority in numbers and the nature of the country, and that
the frontal attack should be pushed well home if it were to succeed.
Well, so much the better, we said to ourselves.
On the morning of the battle we were aroused a little after sunrise.
This was because, in the East, it is best for European soldiers to
get the work of the day done before the sun becomes too hot. After
breakfast my battalion was ordered to leave knapsacks, greatcoats,
blankets--everything, indeed, save our arms and the clothing we stood
up in--in the quarters which we had occupied during the night, and
about fifty men were told off to see that there was no looting of
their comrades' belongings while the fight was going on. Then we went
forward, and took up our position in the centre of the fighting line.
On our right there were Annamite tirailleurs, backed up by some French
soldiers, I think zouaves; on our left a half-battalion of a French
regiment of the line--if I do not mistake, the 143rd. We waited and smoked awhile, some laughed and joked, others puffed at their pipes in
silence, the officers were talking and looking always to the rear. At
last a dull booming was heard--the guns were beginning behind us--we
could see the shells passing over our heads and bursting more than a
thousand yards away in our front. Pipes were put up, but still we sat
quietly on the ground, listening to the roar of the guns and watching
the shells as they searched the line where our enemies lay. A staff
officer galloped up to our commandant, and we all got up without
waiting for the word of command. After a short colloquy the staff
officer galloped back to the general, the orders came clear and abrupt
from commandant and captains, and before we could well understand what
we were doing No. 4 Company and mine were extended in skirmishing
order, with the other two companies of the battalion behind us in
support.
We had not advanced very far in this formation when a man, five or six
files on my right, flung up his arms and came to the ground with a
groan. Just then we began to fire, our firing being kept strictly under
control by the officers and sub-officers, who saw no use in allowing
us, as soldiers naturally do, to blaze away all our ammunition at too
long a range against a well-protected enemy. We went along almost too
well; not alone had the officers to control our fire, they had also to
work hard to keep us in hand as we went forward in the attack. All was
well. A man fell here and another there, but the losses were not enough
to speak about until we came to the dangerous zone. Now let me explain what is meant by the dangerous zone. I did not
understand it at the time, but I afterwards learned all about it, and
many a time I thanked my stars when the order came to fix bayonets,
for then I knew that I was safely through the ugly place and that most,
if not all, of the chances were in my favour.
The Chinese--at least those of them whom we were fighting--never put
the rifle to the shoulder as Europeans do when about to fire. Instead,
they tuck the rifle-butt into the armpit and try to drop the bullet,
as it were, on the attacking party. They cannot well do this until the
attack comes within five hundred yards of the defence, nor can they do
it when the enemy is within two hundred yards of their line, but they
succeed fairly well--that is, well for such clumsy shooters--while
the fighting line of the advance is between five hundred and two
hundred yards of their position. This was pointed out to us by our
officers, and we could easily see for ourselves that what they said was
true. Looking back--of course, when the battle was over--we saw only
scattered bodies lying for the first three or four hundred yards of our
advance, then a comparatively large number in the dangerous zone, after
that few, for, as we closed with the bayonet and were practically at
point-blank range, the Black Flags wavered and fired at the sky rather
than at us.
Well, we had got along fairly until we came to within about five hundred yards of the enemy's trenches. Then the men went down fast,
and the officers, sergeants, corporals, and veterans shouted out to
us neophytes to run. And we did run; we covered about three hundred
yards of heavy ground--we were attacking through rice fields, you must
know--as quickly as men ever did before or since. I was pretty blown
when I heard the order given to lie down, and down we lay, with bullets
flying overhead, until we regained our breath. Above us the shells
from our guns were shrieking, in front they were exploding; it gave us
all--at least it gave me--a feeling of heartfelt gratitude that the big
guns were on our side. After some time we were ordered forward again.
We ran a bit, fired a round, ran again a little way and fired another
cartridge, not at the foe, for as yet we could see no men in our front,
but at the long line of smoke that overhung the trenches where the
Black Flags and their allies, the Chinese regulars, were waiting for
our charge.
In this fashion we managed to get to within about eighty yards of the
enemy's trenches, and were then ordered to halt, lie down, and fire as
often as possible at the heads and figures that we were now beginning
to distinguish where the little puffs of smoke arose. A light breeze
was sweeping down the battlefield, and this lifted the blue-white
clouds, so that men on both sides could easily make out their enemies.
An officer sprang up about twenty yards away from me, waved his sword,
and shouted out something which I could not hear, so incessant was
the rattle of musketry. I saw the others fixing their bayonets, and I reached round to my left side to pluck out mine. As I did so, I saw the
supporting companies of ours running up to join us. Very soon they were
at our side, and the four companies, nearly a thousand strong, poured
in a hot fire for a minute or two. Then we heard the clear notes of the
charge. In a second, commandant, officers, sub-officers, and simple
soldiers were all racing for the trenches like madmen, shouting: "Kill,
kill!" How I got there I do not know. I was in, anyway, if not amongst
the first, certainly not amongst the last, and when there a horrible
scene lay before my eyes. On all sides were dead and dying men, some of
the dead quiet and calm in appearance, as if only sleeping, with just a
little spot of red on the forehead or staining the breast; others torn
to pieces by the deadly shells. Some of the wounded were quite passive
and resigned; others were crying out, I suppose for mercy. But it was
not of them we thought, our business lay with a large body of men,
led by a big chief in yellow tunic and wide yellow trousers, who met
us with bayonet, sword, and spear and tried to retrieve the fortunes
of the day. Our officers--bad as they were, they were brave--rushed
straight at this band. We followed like wolf-hounds rushing at wolves.
Their hoarse cries and imprecations soon died away as with bloody
bayonets we thrust and dug our way through them from front to rear.
Once more the Asiatic went down before the European, and in five
minutes from the time our foremost entered the trenches we had left
not a single Black Flag or Chinese regular standing on his feet. Some
of the wounded fired at us as they lay upon the ground; that work,
however, was very soon stopped. 真珠王子は善玉アカウント[[利用者:あるふぁるふぁ]]のブロック解除をもう諦めたのですか？ Meanwhile the half-battalion of French troops of the line had gallantly
carried their part of the entrenchments, but on the right the native
troops, the Annamite tirailleurs, were in trouble. Some Frenchmen were
with them, but these were too few of themselves to make head against
the enemy, who thronged like bees to flowers where they saw a good
chance of throwing back the attack. My captain, a good soldier and a
bad man, hastily collected about a hundred of his men, and getting
us into some sort of order gave us the word--and the example too,
indeed--to charge. We fell upon the exposed flank of the barbarians. In
a couple of minutes we drove it in upon the main left of the enemy, and
very soon the Annamites, taking their courage in both hands, returned
to the attack. Some of ours again went round and charged the enemy
in the rear, and then the game was up--the battle was over. I wish I
need say no more about the fighting, but many would not surrender, and
these, of course, were promptly shot or bayoneted where they stood.
Some wounded also suffered, but I must say that when a white man,
zouave or legionary, put a wounded enemy out of pain it was only after
the savage had tried to shoot or stab a passing soldier. Well, if a
wounded man will try to kill there is only one thing to do--put it as
soon as possible out of his power to do serious damage. I don't blame
the savages much for firing or cutting at our fellows; as they never
gave quarter to whites, they naturally believed, I suppose, that
whites would give no quarter to them. Some of the Annamite tirailleurs did, I am afraid, a little
unjustifiable killing. Well, it's the way with these people; they
think as little of killing a wounded man as a hungry legionary would
of killing a providentially sent chicken. We must make allowances; but
I am very doubtful about the wisdom of European nations in supplying
arms and teaching modern drill to the yellows, the blacks, and the
browns. You may make any of these very good imitations of white
soldiers, but the leopard cannot change his spots, and the effects of
centuries of cruelty cannot be eradicated in a day. The Annamites had
one excuse--they were merely doing to the Black Flags what the Black
Flags would have done to them and to us had the issue of the fight
been different. This is a poor excuse, I admit, but then any excuse
is better than none at all. The white officers attached to our native
levies did their best to keep their men in hand, but orders are not
always minded, even by the very best soldiers, in the heat of action or
the flush of victory.
No one must assume that what I have written is a full account of the
battle of Noui-Bop. I merely tell what happened under my own eyes. I
know nothing whatever of the events that occurred in other parts of the
battlefield, nor must it be considered that the troops I have mentioned
were the only attacking ones. There were others advancing far away to
the right and to the left--we were only the centre of the advance--and
when I speak of right and left, I mean right and left of the central
attack, not extreme right and left of the firing line. When we had cleared the Black Flags and their comrades out of the
entrenchments, we had a short rest under arms. Very soon, however, we
received orders to advance, but cautiously, so as not to get too far in
front of the rest. In our rear we could see the artillerymen bringing
up their guns to new positions. Occasionally a gun would be unlimbered
and a shell or two thrown into a part of the enemy trying to re-form.
These shells did not do much damage to the enemy, but they did a great
deal of good to us; it was so pleasant to watch the projectiles hissing
through the air and to know that our friends the Black Flags were also
watching them, but with very different feelings. One of our fellows, a
happy-go-lucky Andalusian, called the shells _lettres d'avis_--warning
notices that we were coming and that it would be best for the
barbarians to be "not at home." Only twice in this advance had we to
make a regular attack, and in each case the men who opposed us did not
wait to allow us to get to close quarters; they fled with a hail of
bullets about their ears before we got within two hundred yards. The
French advance on the extreme right seemed to have more difficulty. I
fancy an attempt was made to take them in flank. Anyway, we heard a
continuous roll of musketry, with the heavy booming of guns, for about
ten or fifteen minutes, and then only a dropping fire, when the attack
had evidently been repulsed. On the left no trouble was experienced;
our comrades there swept forward, driving the men opposed to them like
sheep. About eleven o'clock we were halted. The native levies were
sent on in pursuit, as they were better able than European soldiers to どっちつかずの票を入れる
ザパニらしいな。
保留なら投票すんなし ■ このスレッドは過去ログ倉庫に格納されています
