At the end of about three weeks the Colonel decided to form the
_Volontaires_ into a separate _peloton_, as, according to the usual
custom, they had to follow a special course of instruction besides
learning the ordinary regimental duties of a trooper. A Sergeant,
assisted by a Corporal, was put in charge of us under a Captain
selected to supervise our instruction. Sergeant Legros, who was placed
in command of the _Volontaires_, was well known as one of the sulkiest
brutes in the whole regiment. Our Captain, whose name was Hermann, was
the Colonel's nephew. When this "_décision_" appeared in the regimental
orders, read after "Stables," all the troopers had a good laugh at us.
"Well, old chaps," they said, "now you're going to have a grand time of
it. By Jove, won't you!"
I went to De Lanoy's room and asked him what sort of a fellow Legros
was. De Lanoy told me that he was the son of a small farmer, and was
a stubborn, vindictive man, who positively enjoyed punishing his men
and doing a bad turn to his fellow Sergeants whenever he got a chance.
This picture, indeed, was but too accurately drawn. Our Captain was in
command of my own squadron, and I had already had a specimen of his
manners when I went before him to try on my clothes. Notwithstanding
his rough and abrupt manners, I must concede that he was a gentleman;
but, unfortunately, for the future he scarcely ever came to see us,
and left to the Sergeant the entire control of the _Volontaires_,
merely signing the daily reports drawn up by Legros. The following day
the Colonel paid one of his rare visits to the barracks, and had the
_Volontaires_ mustered in the riding-school. We waited there for him
more than an hour. When he appeared he walked past us, surveying each
one of us with a disgusted look on his face. He was a harsh, stout,
sulky looking officer. For a few minutes he walked up and down in
front of us, talking with our Captain and striking his boot with his
riding-stick. Then, suddenly turning towards us with one hand in his
pocket and the other on the handle of his riding-whip, which was stuck
under his arm, he addressed us.
"So," he said, "you're the _Volontaires_ who have been sent to
demoralise my regiment. Well, there are a few things I want you to
remember; you are serving five times less than other troopers; you
will therefore have five times more work, five times more punishments,
and five times less leave than the rest." Then turning towards the
non-commissioned officer: "Dismiss your men," he said, and at the same
time he walked away with our Captain. Before dismissing us our Sergeant
also thought fit to address us: "You are now going to be under my
orders," he began, "and you may have been told that the _Volontaires_
who served last year had a good time of it, but if you think that you
are going to be treated as they were, you are jolly well mistaken. I
mean to make you work, and to make you work hard too. There are a few
hard-mouthed ones among you. I will use the curb with them so as to
soon break them in." With these words he dismissed us.
As we were running off to the canteen he recalled us.
"At eleven o'clock," he said, "you will have to be at the gymnasium
without arms." So saying, he dismissed us once more. It was then a
quarter to eleven, so that we hardly had any time for our food. At
eleven o'clock sharp we were all standing where he had ordered us,
and the Corporal, having dressed us in a single file, stood grumbling
at not having had time for his meal. It was raining hard, and as the
Sergeant had not appeared at the end of a quarter of an hour, the
Corporal took us inside one of the stables. Nearly three-quarters
of an hour elapsed before Legros turned up. He marched us to a room
specially reserved as a schoolroom for _Volontaires_, and also used as
a lecture-room for those troopers who aspired to pass the examination
necessary for obtaining the rank of Corporal.
At the end of the room stood a raised platform with a desk for the
Sergeant, while we sat at tables, twelve to fourteen of which stood
in pairs facing the Sergeant's desk. Having been ordered to take our
seats, we placed ourselves as we liked, all those belonging to my set
selecting a table far away from the Sergeant's desk. He began by giving
us a list of books we were to purchase--viz.:
1. "General Instructions as to the Service in Barracks" (_Service
Intérieur des Troupes de Cavalerie_).
2. "Cavalry Drill Regulations" (_Réglement sur les Exercices de la
Cavalerie_).
3. "The Duties of Cavalry in the Field" (_Service de la Cavalerie en
Campagne_).
4. "Moral Duties of the Soldier."
5. "Dismounted Cavalry Drill Regulations" (_Réglement sur les Exercices
de la Cavalerie à pied_).
Besides these there was another book, the title of which I cannot
remember, and which is now out of print. This book contained most
interesting information as to the composition of the French army, the
details of the rations allowed to troopers, as well as the principles
of topography, and many other matters of use to soldiers. The Sergeant
then explained to us what our daily work would consist in. We should no
longer have to groom our horses, except on Saturdays[17] and Sundays.
But this was to be our time-table:
From 6.30 A.M. to 8 A.M. school.
From 8 to 10 A.M. drill on foot.
From 10 to 11 A.M. breakfast.
From 11 to 12 school.
From 12 to 1 P.M. gymnastics.
From 1 to 2 P.M. _voltige_ (circus-riding).
From 2.30 to 5 P.M. school.
From 5 to 6 P.M. dinner.
From 6 to 8 P.M. mounted drill.
As will be seen by the above, we had only two hours to ourselves
during the whole day, and we had absolutely no chance of being able
to leave barracks. We were to begin this programme at once, but as it
was necessary that we should purchase the books of which a list had
been handed over to us, the Sergeant told us that we should have no
_voltige_ that day, but that we could, instead of it, go to the town
to purchase our books. We hurried to dress, and at 2.30 every one of
us was once more in the schoolroom. The Sergeant, however, gave us
leave to smoke during our lectures, a concession which we all greatly
appreciated. We were first given to study "The Moral Duties of the
Soldier." This little book begins with an outline of the origin of
the first permanent French army created by Charles VII. in 1439. It
tells how this army was recruited at first on the principle that each
parish had to supply one man, and how this small force continuously
and rapidly grew in numbers under the following reigns: how in the
time of Louis XIV. the French army already numbered 279,000 men;
how Vauban, the greatest engineer of modern times, fortified the
frontiers of France, drew up new rules for carrying on the siege of
fortified places, and was alleged to be the inventor of bayonets;
how Louvois, when he became Minister of War, compelled the officers
to be punctual in their service, improved the armaments, erected the
first barracks, established regular pay, and devised new uniforms.
The book then went on to tell us that before the great Revolution of
last century the active army was recruited by Recruiting Sergeants;
while the provincial militia consisted of men called under the flag
by conscription, the poorer classes alone being compelled to serve.
The highest commands were granted to incapable courtiers, commissions
being exclusively granted to noblemen; corporal punishment was in
force, and the condition of soldiers was a most miserable one. Thus
desertions were of constant occurrence. With the Revolution came great
changes; the provincial militia was abolished and corporal punishment
was suppressed, bravery and military worth entitled any citizen to
reach the highest ranks; and this enabled eminent soldiers to reveal
themselves--men such as Hoche, Kléber, Desaix, Jourdan, Masséna,
Lecourbe and many others, most of whom became Field-Marshals and
Generals under Napoleon.
As will be seen, the drift of all this was to try and impress our
minds with the fact that we were entirely indebted for our present
happy (?) condition to the Republic. This sketch was read to us by
the Sergeant, who, taking no more interest in the matter than we did,
soon stopped and told us to read the remainder carefully, while he
himself proceeded to enjoy a novel. The rest of the booklet contained
a summary description of the various wars of the Republic, and of the
First Empire, special stress being laid on the persistent antagonism of
"perfidious Albion." A brief summary of the War of '70 was also given,
concluding with these words:
"Do not let us forget this terrible lesson; do not let us slumber in
apparent security, lest on our awakening we find the soil of France
invaded by the enemy. Let us therefore adopt and put in practice this
fine motto, the basis of a strong army,
"'WORK AND DISCIPLINE.'"
Then came a pompous dissertation on the duties of citizens towards
_La Patrie_, and on the duties of soldiers towards their superiors,
beginning thus:
"What is subordination and discipline?" The answer consisted of three
pages of high-sounding phrases, among which I may quote the following:
"Orders must be executed to the letter without hesitation or murmuring,
the authority from which orders come being alone responsible for them;
_the inferior has only the right to complain after he has obeyed and
carried out his orders_ ... unquestioning and blind obedience is
absolutely necessary to enable every individual effort to work towards
a common aim."
Curiously enough, duelling is officially countenanced in these
regulations, which are still in force: "If a soldier has been gravely
insulted by one of his comrades, and the insult has taken place in
public, he must not hesitate to claim reparation for it by a duel. He
should address his demand to his Captain, who should transmit it to the
Colonel; but it must not be forgotten that duels must be the exception,
and that a good soldier ought to avoid quarrels." The passage relating
to cleanliness is rather interesting: "Troopers are sent to the
swimming-baths in the summer, and are allowed to have tepid baths in
winter, in order to scrape off the deposit formed on the surface of the
body by perspiration and dirt (_sic_)." I must add that, as in many
other cases, theory and practice differ vastly, for in my time there
existed but one dilapidated bath in the whole of our barracks, where
1600 men were quartered. No appliance for admitting hot water into
the bath existed, so that, when it had to be used for a sick man, hot
water had to be carried from the nearest kitchen 300 yards away! I need
dwell no longer on this little book, evidently written with the best
intentions, but entirely ignored by every French soldier.
At the end of an hour or so the Sergeant closed his novel, and told us
to learn by heart two pages of the regulations dealing with drill on
foot. In order to show how narrow-minded Sergeant Legros was, I must
mention that he expected us to learn _verbatim_ every single sentence
of those regulations. So far as I am concerned (and I am not the only
one who suffers from this defect in memory), I am totally unable to
learn anything _verbatim_, so that, when an hour later, the Sergeant
called upon me to recite what I had learnt, instead of reciting the
following: "At the command of 'Cavalerie en Avant--Marche,' the trooper
_places_ the whole weight of his body on his right foot, _after
which he_...." &c. &c. I recited, "At the command of 'Cavalerie en
Avant--Marche,' the trooper _puts_ the whole weight of his body on
his right foot _and then_...." &c. &c. The Sergeant stopped me: "You
blockhead," he exclaimed, "what the deuce is that you are reciting?"
"What you gave us to learn, Sergeant."
"What I gave you to learn! Go and look at your regulations, and you'll
see if it's right, and as you can't learn the thing in an hour, you
will be confined to barracks next Sunday, and that will give you plenty
of time to ponder over it."
In everything we were given to learn it was always thus. Legros cared
little or nothing whether we understood what we learnt or not, but
he attached the greatest importance to our repeating it _verbatim_,
notwithstanding the fact that he was himself unable to do so. Even when
we had to learn the principles of surveying, he expected us to know
word for word every explanation given in the book. Later on, before we
were dismissed, the Sergeant called me up once more, and finding that
this time I could answer his question to his satisfaction, he cancelled
my punishment, telling me, however, that he would deprive me of the
right of applying for leave on the following Sunday.
As the routine of our daily work made it impossible for us to dine out
in future, we made an arrangement with the canteen-keeper, who agreed
to supply us with board at the rate of £5 a month, and henceforth a
table was permanently reserved in the canteen for us.
We had been more than two hours in the schoolroom, and it was with real
relief that we heard the trumpeter's call of "Soup" (dinner). Before
dismissing us from school, however, the Sergeant read us the regimental
orders for the day, which contained a reference to ourselves. "The
_Volontaires_," said the Colonel, "are warned that they are, under
no circumstances, to ask for another troopers' help, either to clean
their outfits, or their arms, or to get their horses saddled. Any
_Volontaire_ receiving assistance from another trooper will have eight
days' _Salle de Police_, and the trooper who has helped him will
receive a similar punishment."
"Now you're warned," commented the Sergeant, "and although I have no
right to interfere with those who don't belong to my squadron, I'll see
about those among you who are in it, and I'll take jolly good care that
the Colonel's orders are strictly carried out."
Here was a nice state of affairs! We had but two hours to ourselves
every day, and we were expected, not only to take our meals during that
time, but also to do work for which an ordinary well-trained trooper
was supposed to require three to four hours of steady application! That
we could carry out the Colonel's orders was physically impossible,
and the only result was that the two men who looked after our things
insisted upon getting two francs more a week, as a compensation for the
risk of punishment to which they were exposed.
That evening we had our first mounted drill in the riding-school under
our new Sergeant, and we were able to realise what a bully the man was.
He frequently kept us trotting without rest for a quarter of an hour at
a time, though it may be remembered that we had no stirrups, and riding
as we did on hard saddles with coarse trousers was a terrible strain
on most fellows who had very little previous training on horseback.
It was then that I appreciated the precaution I had taken of donning
doeskin riding breeches under my trousers. One of my comrades fainted
from sheer exhaustion, while three others dropped off their horses, but
every one of them was immediately ordered to remount, and the trotting
went on for fully five minutes longer. When our Sergeant commanded a
halt and let us dismount for a few minutes' rest, some of my comrades
sat on the ground, completely exhausted; they were coarsely rebuked,
and ordered to stand up at once, the Sergeant commanding "Attention!"
"There's a fine lot of troopers," he said, "who can't even stick on a
horse and trot round a riding-school without coming a cropper! Now I
warn you that, if one of you falls off again, I'll keep you on the
trot until every blessed one of you drops from exhaustion--you blasted
recruits!" and forthwith he gave the command to "Mount," starting us
immediately at a trot. On we went round and round the riding-school,
and God knows how long we should have been kept on the move had not
our Captain appeared on the scene. The Sergeant's manner altered
immediately; he made us halt and spoke gently, carefully explaining to
each one of us the right position on horseback, and while the Captain
was there, never kept us trotting or cantering for more than a couple
of minutes at a time. During one of the rests the Captain said that he
could not congratulate us, as a body, on our riding; "Out of fourteen
of you," he said, "there are not five who understand a horse, and I see
but three who can really ride." I am glad to say that I was among the
three that he pointed out with his whip. How one of the _Volontaires_
could ever have been foolish enough to join a cavalry regiment passes
my comprehension; the poor fellow was absolutely ignorant of the first
principles of riding; he was, besides, terribly afraid of horses, and
never managed to get over his dread; in fact, it was through sheer
luck that he stuck on his horse for five consecutive minutes. Hardly a
day passed during the first two months of his service without coming a
cropper, although he was allotted the quietest horse in the regiment.
I must mention here that our horses were changed every day, and that,
besides, while we drilled in the riding-school, we were told to change
horses in the middle of the lesson. The first day, I was mounted on a
mare, who was the worst kicker I ever came across in my life; she could
kick so high that at times she almost stood perpendicular with her hind
legs in the air, but fortunately she had a very tender mouth, so that
with judgment and good handling it was easy to check her antics. When
we were told to exchange horses I handed over the mare to my neighbour,
the son of a farmer, who had never ridden anything but plough-horses;
the moment he got on the mare's back she gave a tremendous kick and
he was sent flying in the air, and turning a complete somersault he
landed on his back. He soon got up and was ordered to mount again,
but he had no sooner done so than the mare, guessing his lack of
confidence, gave another furious kick, with her hind legs so straight
in the air that he slipped over her head to the ground, where he sat
in front of his charger. It was fortunate for him that in these two
instances the animal was immediately caught by a Corporal, as that mare
was such a vicious brute that she never failed, after having thrown
her rider, to turn round and try to kick him. I was therefore ordered
to take her back, and having asked leave to remove the rags covering
my spur rowels, I was allowed to do so. As soon as I got on her back
she tried her kicks once more, but I gave her such a dressing with the
sharp points of my spurs, holding her head well up at the same time,
that she became as quiet as a lamb for the remainder of the evening.
I often rode this charger afterwards, having a particular liking for
her, as she ambled easily, and one hardly moved on her back while
trotting, a great boon when one has to ride without stirrups. When we
were dismissed that evening several of my comrades were almost unable
to walk, and one of them had his knees so terribly scraped that he was
losing a large quantity of blood, and was literally leaving a red trail
on the ground behind him! Notwithstanding this, he was compelled to
ride the following day, as he did not wake up in time to report himself
sick, and was therefore not allowed to attend the Surgeon-major's
visit.
FOOTNOTE:
[17] Saturday being inspection-day.