Dixmude: The epic of the French marines (October 17-November 10, 1914)Le Goffic, Charles
History
Dixmude: The epic of the French marines (October 17-November 10, 1914)
Le Goffic, Charles
France. Marine. Brigade des fusiliers marins; World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Belgium; Yser, Battle of the, Belgium, 1914
Various versions have been given of this incident, one of the most
dramatic of the defence, in the course of which the heroic Commander
Jeanniot and Dr. Duguet, chief officer of the medical staff, fell
mortally wounded, with several others. The general opinion, however,
seems to be that the German attack, which was delivered at 2.30 a.m.,
was closely connected with the surprise movement attempted at 7 o'clock
in the evening on the Eessen road and so happily frustrated by the
intervention of the Gamas company. It is not impossible that it was
carried out by the fragments of the force we had scattered, reinforced
by new elements and charging to the sound of the bugle. This would
explain the interval of several hours between the two attacks, which
were no doubt the outcome of a single inspiration.
"The night," says an eye-witness, "was pursuing its normal course, and
as there were no indications of disturbance, Dr. Duguet took the
opportunity to go and get a little rest in the house where he was
living, which was just across the street opposite his ambulance. The
Abbé Le Helloco, chaplain of the 2nd Regiment, had joined him at about
1.30 a.m. The latter admits that he was rather uneasy because of the
earlier skirmish, in which as was his habit, he had been unremitting in
his ministrations to the wounded. After a few minutes' talk the two men
separated to seek their straw pallets. The Abbé had been asleep for an
hour or two, when he was awakened by shots close at hand. He roused
himself and went to Dr. Duguet, who was already up. The two did not
exchange a word. Simultaneously, without taking the precaution of
extinguishing the lights behind them, they hurried to the street.
Enframed by the lighted doorway, they at once became a target; a volley
brought them down in a moment. Dr. Duguet had been struck by a bullet in
the abdomen; the Abbé was hit in the head, the arm, and the right thigh.
The two bodies were touching each other. 'Abbé,' said Dr. Duguet, 'we
are done for. Give me absolution. I regret ...' The Abbé found strength
to lift his heavy arm and to make the sign of the cross upon his dying
comrade. Then he fainted, and this saved him. Neither he nor Dr. Duguet
had understood for the moment what was happening. Whence had the band of
marauders who had struck them down come, and how had they managed to
steal into our lines without being seen? It was a mystery. This
fusillade breaking out behind them had caused a certain disorder in the
sections nearest to it, who thought they were being taken in the rear,
and who would have been, indeed, had the attack been maintained. The
band arrived in front of the ambulance station at the moment when the
staff (three Belgian doctors, a few naval hospital orderlies, and
Quartermaster Bonnet) were attending to Dr. Duguet, who was still
breathing. They made the whole lot prisoners and carried them along in
their idiotic rush through the streets. Both officers and soldiers must
have been drunk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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