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.
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
follow up a retreating enemy in the heat of the noonday sun. We lay
down and rested, happy in the thought that our first fight in Tonquin
was over and won. We were not allowed to remain long at our ease after
the fight. First two companies, and afterwards the other two, were
sent back to get the knapsacks and other impedimenta left behind by
the general's order before the advance. About half-past four in the
afternoon we got some bread and soup, and a little after five, when
the great heat of the day was over, we set forward on our march in the
track of the retreating enemy and the pursuing tirailleurs. We kept on
until nearly nine o'clock at night, occasionally halting for a rest.
In spite of the Annamite levies being in front of us on this march we
took all possible precautions against a surprise; we had a section
of a company in front, and, in advance of that again, one of its
squads. Other squads were out far to the right and to the left. These
precautions may seem unnecessary, as our own friends were in front,
but, indeed, they were very useful for several reasons. In the first
place we saw that, no matter how triumphant our arms might be, there
was to be no relaxation of precaution or of discipline; in the second,
it was possible that our irregulars might have allowed a large body of
the enemy to slip in behind them, and these might ambush us; again, all
the men of the main body felt a sense of security, and consequently
their nerves were not kept constantly strained--a material advantage in
warfare. It is a good maxim to put all the watchfulness on a few and to
allow the main body to rest or march in security; so an officer will
have better soldiers in action. The best men in the world can't help
feeling worried and depressed by constant expectation of an attack.
A battle is nothing--very often it is, indeed, a relief--but always
waiting and always speculating on an attack, and always wondering
from what side it will come, will wear out the strongest nerves. Then
come dogged sullenness, loss of interest in one's work, carelessness
in duty, and slovenliness in the little things that all soldiers take
pride in, and in the end disaster.
That night we lay about fifteen or sixteen kilometres from the place
where we had rested the previous night. It was lucky that it was not
my turn for guard; I felt so sleepy after the morning fight and the
evening march. I had scarcely rolled myself up snugly in my greatcoat
and blanket when I fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep, and I could
almost swear that I had not had two minutes' rest when the reveille
went in the morning. I felt very hungry, and that made me get up
quickly from the spot of hard ground on which I had been sleeping,
to help the others to light the fire for the squad's morning coffee.
Nicholas the Russian asked me how I felt.
"Hungry, my comrade, hungry," I replied. And everyone, even the
captain, who was passing at the time, laughed as if I had said a good
thing. Soldiers are very like schoolboys; the simplest thing said
or done by one they know far surpasses anything said, no matter how
brilliant, anything done, no matter how renowned, by those they do not
know. On active service they are even more easily amused. We often
laughed heartily at sayings that, considered calmly by me now, show not
the slightest trace of humour.
When the tale of dead and wounded was made up it was seen that our
battalion had suffered more than any other corps in the fight, and that
of the four companies constituting it mine had the greatest number of
losses. This was not bad for me. For some reason or other the captain
made me a soldier of the first class, and I was very glad indeed that
Nicholas the Russian and Le Grand were also promoted to wear the single
red stripe on their right sleeves. We laughed heartily as we thought of
our advance in rank and of what we should have got instead of promotion
if all were known about the quarrel at Three Fountains. Well, what
people don't know won't trouble them.
For some time after this our battalion was always on hard duty. We
on some days marched only ten or twelve kilometres; on others, in
pursuit of a band of marauders, we covered as much as twenty-five or
thirty. Remember, we had to do all this in a country where roads are
bad and travelling over fields almost impossible, with heavy packs
on our backs, and never less than a hundred rounds of ball cartridge
in our pouches. Then no matter how pleasant the greatcoat and the
blanket might be at night, they were no light load during the day, and
especially between the hours of eleven in the forenoon and four in
the afternoon, when we had to go forward if there was the slightest
chance of catching up with some or other band of scoundrels. Moreover,
when soldiers are on flying duty, they seldom get enough to eat, and
what they do get is not the very best or nicest food in the world. One
day we came in at the hour of evening soup to a little camp where some
zouaves and marine fusiliers were. They were very good to us indeed;
the soup they had just prepared for themselves they gave to us, and
they took, good fellows that they were, the dry bread and unboiled
rice that we had in our haversacks. They were decent men, these French
soldiers; they saw that we had been on tramp for some time, and they
hesitated not a moment to give us the savoury soup when they saw the
hungry longing in our eyes and the convulsive twitch of nostrils, as
the grateful odour was perceived. They did more; they gave us some wine
and native spirit, and I do not know whether we were more pleased with
the gifts or with the free, generous dispositions of the givers. Well,
we did as much afterwards for Frenchmen.
This victory at Noui-Bop gave the French control over a large strip of
country. Moreover, many new recruits joined the Annamite tirailleurs,
for the Asiatic, like all others, wants to be on the winning side.
There were promotions, of course, but the only ones I was at all
interested in were those that gave the single red chevrons to Nicholas,
Le Grand, and myself. We had got to like one another very much, and I
believe that the promotion of one gave more pleasure to his comrades
than to himself. I may say here that Nicholas and Le Grand afterwards
refused further promotion; I, a boy and fool, took it when offered, but
I must tell how that came about in another chapter.