"Courage! We'll never allow the Boches to get through. Cheer up! They
shall never get your town. _Vive Verdun et les Verdunois!_"
Thus, in a hundred and one different ways, did the brave _poilus_,
marching with admirable _entrain_ towards Verdun, instil hope into our
downcast hearts.
We were on our way, the civilians of Verdun, to Paris and elsewhere, in
cattle-trucks and military wagons--a painful journey, in bitter cold
and snow, which would have been almost unbearable but for the sight of
those merry-hearted troops, swinging along in the daytime on the road
bordering the railway, and at night sweeping past us in trainload after
trainload in the direction of the town which, shattered by shot and
shell though it was, we still pictured in our hearts as home. There
were long waits in the darkness at wayside stations or on sidings,
whilst the saviours of France went forth to battle, but wherever
possible we found help and encouragement. At the larger _gares_ warmth
and creature-comforts were in readiness to cheer us on our way. The
waiting and refreshment rooms were crowded with railway officials,
charitably-disposed ladies, and military officers, all of them eager to
do something to ameliorate our lot, and at the same time to hear the
latest news from the Front.
I was fortunate in making the acquaintance at Chalons of a young
officer, Lieutenant Marcel R----, who was able to tell me a good deal
about the Battle of Verdun, or, more strictly speaking, a singular
episode in it. Vague rumours of the "_Coup_ of the Caures Wood" had
already reached my ears, but it was not until I met Lieutenant R----
that I heard all the dramatic details, in the planning and execution of
which he himself had played a part, though a minor one.
"_Eh bien!_ How have you been getting on at Verdun lately?" he began
by asking me. "I was quite sorry to have to leave the battlefield and
go, _en mission_, to Paris. But I shall be back there to-morrow. Shall
I find a soul left?"
"Only Père François, the _marchand de vin_ of the Rue Nationale," I
replied. "He alone remains of the three thousand inhabitants. We left
him standing at the door of his wine-shop, which he said he would not
abandon for all the Boches in creation."
"He plays his part, without a doubt," replied Lieutenant R----, with a
laugh. "It was at Père François's that we celebrated the _coup_ of the
Caures Wood, and I shall never forget his enthusiasm when we told him
the story."
"I envy him the privilege," said I. "Might I hope to hear you repeat
it, if there is time before the train starts?"
"_Mais certainement!_ This is what happened. But I must begin at the
very beginning. The setting for the episode I have to describe is
indispensable."