A VOLUNTEER POILU by Henry Sheahan To Professor Charles Townsend Copeland of Harvard University Dear Copey, At Verdun I thought of you, and the friendly hearth of Hollis 15 seemed very far away from the deserted, snow-swept streets of the tragic city. Then suddenly I remembered how you had encouraged me and many others to go over and help in any way that we could; I remembered your keen understanding of the Epic, and the deep sympathy with human beings which you taught those whose privilege it was to be your pupils. And so you did not seem so far away after all, but closer to the heart of the war than any other friend I had. I dedicate this book to you with grateful affection after many years of friendship. Henry Topsfield, September, 1916 Preface I have ventured to call this book A Volunteer Poilu principally because we were known to the soldiers of the Bois-le-Prêtre as "les Poilus Américains." Then, too, it was my ambition to do for my comrades, the French private soldiers, what other books have done for the soldiers of other armies. The title chosen, however, was more than complimentary; it was but just. In recognition of the work of the Section during the summer, it was, in October, 1915, formally adopted into the French army; a French officer became its administrative head, and the drivers were given the same papers, pay, and discipline as their French comrades. I wish to thank many of my old friends of Section II, who have aided me in the writing of this book. HENRY SHEAHAN Contents I. THE ROCHAMBEAU S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE A war-time voyage--The Rochambeau--Loading ammunition and food supplies--Personalities on board--The dyestuffs agent--The machine lathes man--The Swede from Minnesota who was on his way to the Foreign Legion--His subsequent history--The talk aboard--The French officer--His philosophy of war--Ernest Psichari--Arrival at Bordeaux--The Arabs at the docks--The convalescent soldiers-- Across La Beauce--The French countryside in war-time. II. AN UNKNOWN PARIS IN THE NIGHT AND RAIN. Paris, rain, and darkness--The Gardens of the Tuileries--The dormitory--The hospital at night--Beginning of the Champagne offensive--The Gare de la Chapelle at two in the morning--The wounded--The Zouave stretcher-bearers--The Arabs in the abandoned school--Suburban Paris at dawn--The home of the deaconesses. III. THE GREAT SWATHE OF THE LINES Nancy--The porter's story--Getting to the front--What the phrase "the front" really means--The sense of the front--The shell zone--The zone of quiet--My quarters in the shelled house--The fire shells--Bombarded at night--Death of the soldier fireman. IV. LA FORET DE BOIS-LE-PRETRE