On the morning of October 8 two troop trains passed each other in the
station of Thourout. One contained Belgian Carabiniers; the other,
French Marines. They exchanged greetings from their respective lines.
The Carabiniers waved their little yellow-bound caps and cried: "Long
live France!" The sailors replied by hurrahs in honour of Belgium.
"Where are you going?" asked a Belgian officer.
"To Antwerp. And you?"
"To France."
He explained that the Carabiniers were recruits from La Campine, who
were being sent to our lines to finish their training.
"You'll soon get them into shape, won't you?" said a sailor to the
officer. And shaking his fist at the horizon, he added:
"Don't you worry, Lieutenant! We shall get at the scum some day, never
fear."
The Belgian officer who describes the scene, M. Edouard de Kayser,[3]
had left Antwerp during the night. He did not know that the defence was
at its last gasp, and that the evacuation had begun. Our sailors were no
better informed. Rear-Admiral Ronarc'h, who was in command, thought that
he was taking his brigade to Dunkirk; he had been given a week to form
it and organise it on the footing of two regiments (six battalions and a
machine-gun company). Everything had to be evolved: the complement of
officers, the men, the auxiliary services. This arduous task was
complicated by the lack of cohesion among the elements of the brigade
and perpetual changes of quarters (Creil, Stains, Pierrefitte, etc.).
But the idea of forming infantry brigades with sailors was an
after-thought. Article 11 of the Law of August 8, 1913, certainly
permitted any surplus men in the navy to be used for service in the
field, but the manner in which these contingents were to be employed had
never been clearly defined. Would they be linked to existing bodies, or
would they be formed into separate units? The latter alternative, by far
the most reasonable, which effected a gradual transition, and, while
connecting the naval combatant with the land forces, preserved his
somewhat jealous but very stimulating _esprit de corps_, was by no means
unanimously approved. The Minister overruled objections, and he was well
advised. The glorious lessons of 1870, of Le Bourget and Le Mans, had
taught him what to expect from the co-operation of navy and army. Some
preparation was of course necessary. Strictly speaking, a navy is made
to navigate, and this explains a certain neglect of drill; these men in
new clothes, "_capeles_" (cloaked), as they say, in the new fashion,
their caps bereft of pompons,[4] their collarless tunics buttoned up to
the throat, had be transformed into soldiers. Handy as sailors
proverbially are, a certain stiffness of movement in the early days
betrayed the inexperience of these sea-birds, whose wings had been
clipped; they were further hampered by heavy infantry overcoats. The
brigade was sent almost immediately to the entrenched camp of Paris.[5]
Scarcely had it settled into its quarters when its commander received
orders to be ready to start for Dunkirk, where a new army was being
formed. Dunkirk was not yet threatened; the brigade would be able to
complete its organisation there. The order was dated October 4. On the
morning of the 7th the brigade entrained at Saint Denis and at
Villetaneuse with its convoys.
[Illustration: Phot. _Excelsior_