But meanwhile the enemy is stealing up behind, between the trench and the fort. Captain Tabourot is mortally hit, and is carried into the dressing-station within the fort. Commandant Raynal, himself wounded, comes to see him. "No word of consolation, no false hope. The one knows that all is over; the other respects him too deeply to attempt a falsehood." A grasp of the hand--a word from the Commandant: "Well done, _mon ami_!" But the Captain is thinking of his men. "_Mon Commandant_--if the Boches get through, it is not the fault of my company. They did all they could." Then a last message to his wife. And presently his name is carried through the dark by a carrier-pigeon down to the Headquarters below: "The enemy surrounds us. I report to you the bravery of Captain Tabourot, seriously wounded. We are holding out." And a few hours later: "Captain Tabourot of the 142nd has died gloriously. Wound received in defending the north-eastern breach. Demand for him the Legion of Honour." For five days the heroic defence goes on. All communications are cut, the passages of the fort are choked with wounded and dying men, the water is giving out. On the 4th, a wounded pigeon arrives at Headquarters. It brings a message, imploring urgently for help. "This is my last pigeon." The following day communication is partly re-established, and a few fragmentary messages are received. "The enemy"--signals the fort--"is working on a mine to the west of the fort. Turn on the guns--quick." ... "We don't hear your artillery. Are attacked by gas, and flame throwers. Are at the last extremity." Then one message gets through from below--"Courage! we shall soon attack." The fort waits, and at night another fragmentary message comes from Raynal asking for water and relief. "I am nearly at the end of my powers. The troops--men and officers--have in all circumstances done their duty.... You will come, no doubt ... before we are completely exhausted. _Vive la France!_" But death and thirst--thirst, above all--are victors. On the 6th, a few hours before the inevitable end, Marshal Joffre flashed his message to the heights--in the first place, a message of thanks to troops and Commander for their "magnificent defence," in the next, making Commandant Raynal a Commander of the Legion of Honour. On the 7th a last heroic effort was made to relieve the fort. It failed, and Raynal--wounded, with a handful of survivors--surrendered, the Germans, in acknowledgment of the heroism of the defence, allowing the Commandant to retain his sword. What manner of men were they that fought this fight? What traditions did they represent? What homes did they come from? M. Henri Bordeaux, himself an eye-witness, to whose admirable and moving book on _The Last Days of Fort Vaux_, I am indebted for the preceding details, to some extent answers the question by quoting a letter, addressed by his mother to the stretcher-bearer, Roger Vamier, decorated in 1915 by General Joffre himself.