ASSISTANT SURGEON.--IMPRESSIONS OF THE GERMAN CHARACTER.--THE ARMY AND
ITS DISCIPLINE.--STATE OF SIEGE.--VON DER TANN'S PROCLAMATION.--LEOPOLD
SCHRENK.
I was now promoted to be Assistant Surgeon by our chief, and was given
charge of seventeen patients, under Dr. Mackellar. As much of the
doctor's time was employed in registering and taking notes of the cases
in Hospital, except when he performed operations, I was virtually in
sole charge of my section, though under his supervision.
We breakfasted at 7·30, dined at 12·30, and supped at 6·30; all our
meals were abundantly furnished at our quarters in the Quai du Châtelet.
With such hard work in hand, there was certainly need of substantial
food, or we could never have got through it. Every day brought us fresh
batches of wounded, and with them news of fresh encounters, and
skirmishes in the field.
On 23rd October, I had to perform my first amputation. It was the
removal of a portion of a foot, which had been crushed by a waggon
wheel. The patient, I should explain, lay in a private house, at the
rear of the Quai du Châtelet. Dr. Mackellar, who had kindly given me the
operation, and Jean the Turco, assisted me. But when I had made the
first incision, Jean bolted out of the room, and then tumbled downstairs
in a faint.
I went on with my task; but no sooner was it completed, than we were
both taken aback on finding that my subject had been given an overdose
of chloroform: his face was livid; and it seemed that he had already
ceased to breathe. In a moment, we flung the windows and door open, and
were slapping him with cold wet towels, and using artificial
respiration.
To my great relief, in a few seconds the poor man breathed freely again,
and before long came back to himself. He made a very prompt recovery;
was convalescent, and able to hobble about on crutches in a fortnight,
and had still a useful limb.
My patients increased daily, until from seventeen they became double
that number. And at this time it was my duty to stay up every fifth
night.
Three or four days now passed away in constant hard work, part of which
consisted in rearranging and cleaning up the whole Hospital, which our
predecessors had left in anything but an orderly state.
Later on, when I had time to go out, I saw numbers of the Bavarian
troops returning from the recent fighting,--dirty, foot-sore, and jaded;
they reminded me, in fact, more of French than of German soldiers. The
campaign seemed to be taking an unfavourable turn for them.
Occasionally, in the evening, the bands played in the Place Martroi,
where the German officers and men were wont to assemble to smoke and
chat. This was one of their customs at home which they had imported into
France; and by no means a disagreeable one. I heartily enjoyed the
musical treat which they gave; but I liked still better to listen while
whole companies were singing glees in perfect harmony, during their
bivouac under the trees on the Boulevards. There we saw them awaiting
the assignment of their quarters with stolid patience, and cooking their
food in cauldrons over wood fires, all to this delightful accompaniment,
which showed them at their best.
All the German soldiers had a knowledge of music, and more than half
were fairly well trained to sing. Nearly all the Infantry regiments in
Orleans at this time were Bavarians; but several detachments of the
Prussian Cavalry regiments were likewise quartered in the town. I could
never have imagined such a variety of uniforms and colours as I have
seen among the hosts of the Emperor William. Let me recall a few of
them.
There were Bismarck's Cuirassiers, in scarlet and gold; a gorgeous
uniform, the undress of which (pure white) is, I think, no less
becoming. Then there were the Black Brunswickers, whose uniform is like
that worn by the Royal Irish Constabulary, but who wear on their shakos
an emblem representing a death's head and cross bones. Again, besides
the dark blue with red facings of the Prussian Infantry, and the
Bavarian light blue with green facings, I could count up Hussars of all
colours, red, black, and white, light blue, dark blue and gold, and the
Würtemburg green. The German soldiers are certainly a magnificent body
of men; and, although at the bottom of my heart my sympathies and
affections are altogether with the French, despite their shortcomings, I
am bound to declare the superiority of their adversaries, as men of fine
physique and manly bearing, and of cool undaunted courage; and I need
not repeat how admirable is the discipline under which they have been
brought to such perfection.
In 1870, the French did not realise that they had to deal with an army
the rank and file of which not only was composed of the muscle and sinew
of the German people, but included their best brains also. Perhaps the
more observant of the French writers, such as the late M. Renan, or
George Sand, might have summed up the war as a contest of science
against civilisation. Certain it is, that the highly wrought
intelligence of the invaders was a force against which the Republic and
the Empire alike contended in vain. The general run of soldiers from
beyond the Rhine were well educated, and few, indeed, were unable to
read and write. Those few might be found among the Bavarians--in my
judgment, a slow, dull race, yet accustomed to fight in a dogged
fashion, who neither went into action with the dash and ardour, nor ran
away with the alacrity, of Frenchmen. Their movements were on system,
and according to rule: they fought because they were bidden to fight,
and mowed down the enemy, not from hatred of them, but because such were
their orders; and, if they did not take to flight, it was in the same
spirit of passive obedience.
I should give the result of my impressions, therefore, somewhat as
follows: Take no notice of a German soldier, and do not molest or
interfere with him, especially when he is carrying out the orders of his
superiors, and he will be as harmless as a child, and as easily pleased.
But if, on the other hand, you do meddle with him, and stir up his rage
on any pretext, his revenge will be no less prompt than terrible. In the
battlefield, when once he is excited, he will use his bayonet and musket
as a Zulu his assegai, or an Indian his tomahawk.
As for his manners, they are, at the best of times, uncouth, not to say
detestable, and when at meals, disgusting. He is an enormous eater,
caring not so much about the quality of what he devours, so long as
quantity is provided; and though he drinks an amount of beer that would
make any other European helplessly intoxicated, he is seldom drunk.
Nothing irritates him like hunger and thirst; in which circumstance he
furnishes the most unpleasing contrast to a French soldier,--always
patient, and commonly cheerful under such privations. When suffering in
this way, physically (which seldom occurred under the admirable
organisation of the German commissariat), he would pillage and plunder
all before him to get food or beer. For such depredations, when caught,
he was mercilessly punished. And the German soldier submits impassively
to this treatment at the hands of his officer, as if he were a dog,
without seeming to resent it. I have seen officers and their subalterns
on the quays of Orleans strike their men repeatedly, and on parade drill
make their recruits dress in line, with the flat of their
broad-swords,--a disgraceful procedure, to which neither an English nor
a French lad would submit. All these features of the German system, as
brutal as it has proved effective, I observed, long after I had seen
them at Orleans, in the vivacious and sparkling pages of _Barry Lyndon_.
So little does the world change in a hundred and thirty years!
For some days no one but the military had appeared in the streets. All
the shop windows in the town were closed, all business suspended; and
the place, in these circumstances, had anything but a lively aspect. The
Commandant, however, issued an order to all shopkeepers, obliging them,
under pain of severe punishment, to take down their shutters, and open
their establishments. In accordance with this regulation, on a certain
day, before the appointed hour, down came all the shutters; but the
display of goods in the windows amused me very much. In one, exhibiting
a frontage of perhaps twenty feet or more, where silks, satins, and the
most costly stuffs were usually spread out, now appeared in a tasteful
arrangement several pieces of glazed calico, which were, it seemed, the
only goods one could purchase in that establishment. Another equally
large shop in the Rue Royale, a hardware house, exhibited as its stock
in trade some dozen or so of rusty kettles, saucepans, and gridirons. In
like manner did nearly all the other shopkeepers.
The pastrycooks, however, drove a roaring trade; their counters were
crowded at all hours of the day with the conquering heroes, for Germans
eat sweetmeats and confectionery as a cow munches young clover in the
month of May. But the owners of these establishments were not at all
particular as to the quality of the articles they provided. I once
walked into such a place, and was about to eat of some tempting-looking
things in the way of tarts, when the man behind the counter recognised
me, for we were acquaintances, and whispered that he would give me in a
moment something more agreeable, instead of those greasy things,
pointing to what was before him, which were made only for Prussians. I
ought to remark on the characteristic way in which Frenchmen, who are
the most ignorant people in the world with regard to foreigners and
their languages, called every stranger a Prussian, no matter of what
nation he might be.
Meanwhile Orleans continued in a state of siege, and strict watch was
kept on every one who moved about during the daytime. After dark no one
could walk abroad without being liable to be shot down by the sentries,
who were placed at every hundred yards along the streets, unless he
carried a lighted lantern. I took great pleasure in listening to the
bugles sounding the order for citizens to retire indoors at nine
o'clock. Standing four abreast at the top of each street, the musicians
sounded their call, which was a most plaintive and melodious strain.
Before going on with my narrative, I ought not to omit the curious
proclamation, still on the walls of Orleans, which the Bavarian General,
Von der Tann, had put forth after his capture of the city, October 13.
It ran as follows:--
"FRENCH CITIZENS!
"As I desire, so much as in me lies, to alleviate the burden of
the population now suffering from the evils of war, I appeal to
your good sense, and trust that the sincerity with which I
address you will open your eyes to the real state of affairs;
and will persuade you to take your stand with the party of
reason and peace.
"Your late Government declared war against Germany. Never was
there a declaration more frivolous. Nor could the German armies
do otherwise than reply by passing the frontier.
"They won victory after victory; and your own army, deluded upon
system, and demoralised, was all but annihilated.
"Another Government has arisen. We hoped that it would make
peace. It has done no such thing. And why? Because it feared for
its own existence; and, pretending that the German conditions
were impossible, it has chosen to continue a war, the outcome of
which cannot fail to be the ruin of France.
"Now, what are the conditions which they call impossible?
"They are the restoration of those provinces that belonged to
Germany, and in which the German language still prevails in town
and country; in other words, of Alsace and the German Lorraine.
"Is this proposal too much?
"What conditions would a victorious France have exacted?
"You have been told that the purpose of the German armies is to
degrade France. That is simply a falsehood, invented to stir up
and excite the masses.
"On the contrary, it is your Government which, by its conduct,
is forcibly drawing on the German battalions into the heart of
the country, and is leading up to the ruin which it will
accomplish if it persists in itself degrading that fair France,
which might have proved to be the warmest friend of the nation
it has driven into hostilities.
"Orleans, 13th Oct., 1870.
"BARON DE TANN,
"General of Infantry."
The olive-branch of this good General of Infantry, held out at the point
of the sword to a people than whom a more touchy or sensitive does not
exist, was hardly intended to produce an effect. Orleans was eagerly
waiting all through that month and down to the 10th November, in the
feverish expectation of succour from without, which would rid them of M.
de Tann and his proclamations.
But day passed after day, until the monotony of our routine was broken
by the astounding news, long foreseen, yet, when it came, overpowering,
of the capitulation of Metz, with Bazaine, 3 Marshals, 66 Generals, 3000
cannon, and 173,000 men. It was the greatest surrender in
history,--perhaps, the most flagrant act of treason.
Accounts given by the wounded stragglers, whom we daily received into
our Hospital, told us that a desultory warfare, but no regular fighting,
was going on between the opposing armies in our front. On one day, about
November 3, two Bavarians were admitted, rather severely wounded. They
related that in the direction of Blois, a party of skirmishers, with
which they were serving, came upon, and surprised, a body of French, of
whom, after a desperate fight, they captured two only, but left forty
dead on the field. This, they stated, had taken place eight hours'
distance (_i.e._, 24 miles) from Orleans. A few days later, I received
three others, who had been engaged in a similar small skirmish with the
rear guard of the enemy. All three, by an odd coincidence, were wounded
in the upper extremity. One Hussar had received a bayonet-thrust through
the upper and fleshy part of his arm; but, with a beaming smile, he
related how he had cleft the Frenchman's head in two, while his opponent
was in the act of making his thrust. The other two had bullet wounds in
their arms, evidently received at close quarters.
On another day, two men were brought in, who had been shot by a couple
of Francs-Tireurs. These latter wore no uniform, and had coolly potted
them from behind a hedge. Yet, as the following notice from General
Wittich announced,--and it was a sample of others posted up throughout
the country,--all such civilian aggressors were liable to the extreme
penalty. "I declare to the inhabitants," so ran this document, "that all
persons, not being soldiers, who shall be taken bearing arms against the
German troops, or committing other acts of hostility or treason, will be
irrevocably put to death. Only those will be considered as military who
wear uniforms, or who are recognisable at rifle distance by distinctions
not separable from the clothes which they have on."
In the general arrangement of our Hospital, and particularly in the
nursing department, we were greatly assisted by a most generous and
kind-hearted little Bavarian, named Leopold Schrenk, Captain in a
Regiment of the Line. He used to come every day when off duty, and work
in our Hospital, ready to help all round, but was of especial service in
looking after the patients' rations. I have seen him making the beds of
my wounded men, and washing their faces. This devotion to his suffering
and wounded fellow-countrymen was admirable; but he displayed a hatred
for all Frenchmen and Roman Catholics, and he detested priests, in a way
which I could never account for, as it was very unusual among South
Germans. However, he behaved like a staunch patriot, and was a favourite
with us all. When I parted from him he gave me his address and his
photograph.
Some ladies who belonged to Orleans also came and distributed soup to
the wounded; among them one who was by birth from Ireland, Madame
O'Hanlon. Actuated solely by motives of charity, they ministered alike
to Prussians and French, with equal kindness and attention.