World War, 1914-1918 -- Anecdotes; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
We were now in the centre of activity of the army defending
Verdun. On every hand we saw artillery parks, ammunition parks,
and regiments resting, whilst along the road a long line of camions
passed unceasingly. During the whole length of my stay on the
French Front I only saw one regiment marching. Everywhere the
men are conveyed in the camions, and are thus spared the fatigue
which would otherwise be caused by the intense heat and the
white dust. There are perhaps only two things that can in any way
upset the perfect indifference to difficulties of the French trooper:
he hates to walk, and he refuses to be deprived of his "pinard."
The men of the French Army have named their red wine "pinard,"
just as they call water "la flotte," always, however, being careful to
add that "la flotte" is excellent "for washing one's feet."
As we passed through the Headquarters of General Nivelle, he
sent down word to us not to wait to call on him then, but to proceed
at once to Verdun as later the passage would become more
difficult. He kindly sent down to us one of the officers of his staff to
act as escort. The officer sat by our chauffeur, warning him of the'
dangerous spots in the road which the Germans had the habit of
"watering" from time to time with "marmites," and ordering him to
put on extra speed. Our speed along the road into Verdun
averaged well over a mile a minute.
The "Movies" Under Fire
Within range of the German guns, probably not more than four or
five kilometres from Verdun, we came on a line of men waiting
their turn to go into the cinema. After all there was no reason "de
s'en faire," and if they were alive they decided they might as well
be happy and amused. Just before entering the gate of Verdun we
passed a number of ambulances, some of them driven by the
American volunteers. These young Americans have displayed
splendid heroism in bringing in the wounded under difficult
conditions. Many of them have been mentioned in despatches,
and have received from France the Croix de Guerre. I also saw an
ambulance marked "Lloyds."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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