Part 10

At the cantonments at Fiefs and Berles, where we passed a fortnight before the 9th of May, the afternoons were entirely given up to sport. We organized “field days” in the woods, obstacle races, and the men, recruits and old reservists, galloped through these spring days with absolutely unbounded animation. To give the men the habit of moving without anxiety over open ground where the bullets whistled, I took advantage of the nights when we were working on saps and parallels to make them march in patrols a short distance in front of the lines. If I saw that the workmen were thinking of crouching down, I made them stand up for a while; as for me, I fortified myself by walking up and down in front of the working party.

We wished for an irresistible assault and therefore tried to inculcate in the men the instinct of hand-to-hand fighting, at which they ordinarily hesitate with the result that the close combat is stopped for days and months at a few score metres from the enemy. We had bayonet fencing, but it was a demoniacal fencing, the fencing of the chargers of Froeschwiller.

The fencing exercises, carried out by the company to prepare for the attack, were as follows: first, a brief review of the movements, then immediately fencing on the run; the men were formed at a few paces intervals and then started on a run; it was “Halt! Thrust! Thrust again!” They started again, climbed the embankments, lunged and relunged furiously; they got winded, so much the worse.... “Right face!” and everyone ran to the right, descended the slope stabbing and stabbing again, getting excited and feverish, the officers and sergeants galloping more furiously than the rest.

Afterwards fencing with the dummy. We had stuffed sacks full of straw and made them smaller each day to make a smaller target and oblige the men to be more accurate in their thrusts.

Each man attacked the dummy individually, shouting with all the frenzy of which his imagination was capable, and those who attacked the best, with the greatest élan, went over it again to show their comrades how to do it. It was no play, they knew enough of the Germans to believe them in front of them, and I recall that among those from Gascony, Toulouse, and Provence, who formed the basis of the company, some shouted with frenzy, “Piquo, Piquo!”

In order to give more movement, the exercise against the dummy was arranged in the following manner:

In a quite tangled wood, we established obstacles by cutting down bushes over a course of 80 metres. Then here and there we placed the dummies. Thus on a fairly short course the man was obliged to run, jump, bend down, attack, and this in every manner, for we placed the dummies in such a way that the man had to combine his attack with right face, left face, face to the rear, or with crossing an obstacle. This exercise particularly interested the men, and as we measured the time taken by each one to run the course, in a few days it had developed in an astonishing manner their agility and suppleness, and gave nerve to those who had none. I know that as concerns myself the knowledge of having covered the course in the shortest time, in addition to other experiences, contributed greatly to developing my confidence in my vigor and my good legs, which were the most precious of my offensive qualities on the 9th of May.

Afterwards we attacked in groups and then passed to charges by section. Here we sought, while giving the greatest impulsion and fury possible, to maintain cohesion and give to each one the confidence of the touch of elbows, and to the enemy the terrifying impression of a wall that nothing could stop. We marched at charging pace, aligned, with a lengthened and furious step—not restrained and without conviction—up to 50 metres; then we charged, lowering the bayonets in a single movement to the height of the waist.

We were working to get the charge of the skirmishers and Zouaves at Froeschwiller; now we have had it with loss of the majority of our officers over three successive trenches on two kilometres of a single rush to the cemetery of Neuville-Saint-Vaast.

V. MATERIAL PREPARATION OF THE TROOPS.

The fight does not consist in getting killed but in getting out of it by thrashing the enemy. Therefore do not go at it in a hurly-burly fashion; one should be careless only about the inevitable fatality over which one can have no influence. Let us prepare our business down to the slightest details in order to conquer and live.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE GROUND.

Maps.

Before the attack, the physiognomy of the terrain and of the enemy’s defenses should be well impressed on the memory. The position should be known not only from the front but in profile. This study is of the greatest importance, particularly for the troops of the second line, because the greatest cause of stoppage in an offensive against a fortified position is the incomplete knowledge of the position. One is afraid, in advancing, of falling into an ambush. The company commanders, particularly those of the first line, should indicate to their chiefs of section the successive points of direction for their sections, so that each one will be aware of the obstacles he will have to cross. The men should likewise know the ground well. I used to require them to study the future sector of attack, giving them the principal points to watch when they went on guard in the trench.

If on the 4th of December we had known the terrain of attack before the night engagement instead of not having the slightest notion of it, we would not have awaited the dawn at the first German trench for fear of falling into a wasps’ nest, and we should have taken not only the second but the third trench and made many prisoners.

Very detailed maps are distributed before the attack to company commanders and to chiefs of section, but one should try to complete them oneself by attentive and repeated observation of one’s sector. Before the attack of the 9th of May, I had recopied for each noncommissioned officer the part of my map concerning the zone of attack of the company, entering on it all known information.

Matériel.

Real superiority over the enemy is obtained by superiority of weapons; courage cannot make up for destruction, one must tax one’s brain to furnish the men with matériel which may be useful to them.

Grenades.—Every grenadier or member of a patrol should carry five grenades; each man should have one, not to throw himself but so that it may be possible to get a certain number of them together in case of need. If a fight with grenades is foreseen in a region cut up with trenches or boyaux or in a town, the supply should be increased.

Furnish suffocating grenades, especially to patrols going into boyaux.

Familiarize everyone a long time beforehand, if possible, with the handling of the different grenades. On the 8th of May, I sent 5 kilometres for suffocating grenades, which I had just heard of, in order to be acquainted with the effects of this useful weapon. Have hooks prepared, fixed to the left wrist, for the purpose of lighting the friction grenades by hand.

Revolvers and knives are indispensable for the fight in the boyaux.

Have individual sand bags to establish a rapid barrier in the boyaux or to build up a line of cover such as we have before described.

Also the Filloux apparatus, with the use of which the men should be familiar.

Equipment.—Keep the lightened knapsack, which will be of service against a possible bombardment of the conquered position (lesson of Langemark, December 4). Fold the blanket on the inside of the knapsack to form a padding against fragments.

VI. DEVELOPMENT AND PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE ATTACK.

ACTION OF THE FIRST LINE OF ATTACK.

The artillery preparation, roaring on the horizon like a furious storm, ceases sharply, and a tragic silence falls over the field of battle. The infantry leaves its parallels in a single movement, at a walk, magnificently aligned, crowned with the scintillation of thousands of bayonets. Then the hostile trenches burst out suddenly with fire, the fusillade rattles immediately, madly, dominated by the pitiless rattling of the machine guns. The wave of assailants thins out, entire units disappear, mowed down. Some lie down and advance no further, while others, better commanded, march ahead in spite of all. Some, more favored, find themselves in places where the artillery preparation has cleared the enemy out. They reach the first trench, and hand-to-hand fighting commences.