With an Ambulance During the Franco-German War: Personal Experiences and Adventures with Both Armies, 1870-1871Ryan, Charles Edward
History
With an Ambulance During the Franco-German War: Personal Experiences and Adventures with Both Armies, 1870-1871
Ryan, Charles Edward
Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 -- Civilian relief
In a large space, near the General's quarters, lay the bodies of several
Bavarians--perhaps a dozen, some of whom had their faces turned up as
they were lying, and looked very ghastly. Outside the camp, the ground
was strewn, in some places quite thickly, with the Bavarian soldiers who
had fallen on that day, which had proved so disastrous to their arms.
The sight, though no longer strange, was all the same a sad one to us,
for we had begun to look upon the wearers of the light blue uniform with
friendly fellow-feeling, and we seemed (so fast does the time run in a
campaign) to have been long associated with them. I shall not here
describe the battlefield, since my view of it, by the light of our lamps
and of the moon (for a beautiful moon arose just in time to show us the
way home), was, of necessity, rather limited. But, in any case, I doubt
the possibility of depicting, as they really present themselves, the
details of a battlefield. Who can do justice to the heartrending scenes
of warfare as carried on with modern weapons, the chief excellence of
which seems to consist in the degree of mutilation which they can
inflict on the bodies of those against whom they are directed?
Before relating our entrance into Orleans, I will give Warren and
Parker's account of what had happened in the town after our departure.
As the day advanced, and rumours were spread of a French victory, the
excitement of the townsfolk knew no bounds. They rushed frantically
about in all directions, but did not dare to interfere with the few
soldiers on guard at the gates of the Mairie and at the Hospital.
In the afternoon, however, when it became generally known that the
Germans were retreating, not towards the town but in the direction of
Étampes, the populace became most riotous, and from the manner in which
they menaced the unfortunate guards, it was plain that their lives were
in great danger. At our Hospital, indeed, where there were ten men on
guard over some Ambulance waggons at the door, the mob met with a stern
opposition. The German soldiers stood together, with their swords drawn,
and, bidding defiance to the crowd, were determined not to budge an
inch, but rather to die than relinquish the charge assigned to them.
These brave fellows, who stood so resolutely by their post, would most
assuredly have met with a violent death at the hands of the Orleaners,
had not the Mayor sent out a _Parlementaire_, accompanied by a body of
the Gendarmerie of the town, and requested them, in the name of the
Government of National Defence, to lay down their arms. This they did
willingly, as they saw the danger of their position, and so they were
taken off as prisoners to the Mairie. A great crowd followed, howling
and yelling in the most disgraceful manner during the whole journey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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