Directly we came out of the woods, we were marked by the hostile artillery2. Their object was to stop us at any price by their tirs de barrage3. The rumbling4 went on all day without a pause. It is impossible to give any idea of the horror of it. By midday, everyone of us was deaf.
The diabolical5 jaws6 of the horizon! Big and little German guns were talking. Our 75's retorted—rather feebly, it is true. The distance must have been too great, and apparently7 did not silence a single one of the enemy's batteries.
This plain was a hell, a hell: iron and fire, every imaginable peril8, a conspiracy9 of the elements. To begin with, there was a continuous flight of Teuton aeroplanes above our heads, dropping bombs of different kinds, which fell with a muffled10 sound. The din11 of the big "coal-boxes," the shriek12 of the 77's, the[Pg 442] thunder-clap of explosions, and the columns of tainted13 smoke staking out the ground.
Our regiment14 went on advancing; so did one on our right and one on our left, and others farther away. Our soldiers were swarming15 as far as eye could see, a calm and regular deployment16. We marched for a long time by platoons, in columns of four; then by platoons two deep; and at last in skirmishing order; each officer, each N.C.O., each connecting file in his place. The silence and impeccable order were in striking contrast with the blind fury of the projectiles17. Mind against matter.
All our men had realised the solemnity of the task. Three quarters of them were experienced heroes, who had already fought ten times; the rest were raised to the same moral level by virtue18 of their surroundings. There could be nothing more impressive than this sustained and irresistible19 advance, under shell fire, of thousands and thousands of men who never fired a single shot.
By a miracle, our casualties, on the whole, were not very severe. What unflagging inspiration was shown by our leaders of all ranks! Imperceptible, serpentine20 movements protected each unit in turn from the mortal line of fire. How many times did we see a broadside of four "coal-boxes" fall just where we had been hardly thirty seconds before, or else where we would have been but for a fortunate zigzag21! What hazard protected us? I protest that one was tempted22 to bow before a Providence23, like De Valpic. The men betrayed this feeling, murmuring:
"We are blessed!"
We advanced at the double, lay down and got up again, just as at man?uvres. What am I saying?[Pg 443] Better than that. We kept our intervals24 and direction with incredible exactitude. There was not a straggler or funk among us. All honour to these proud troops, these splendid soldiers! They are dead—dead, nearly all of them. They appeared to feel, in the vague intuition of their flesh, in the vibration25 of the nourishing air, that their end, even if they survived to-morrow's sanguinary triumph, was inscribed26 on the pages of the disastrous27 winter or the fatal spring to come. There was no sadness or despair, but something indescribably resigned and shy crept into their gait. Joking was out of date. Judsi himself had put a damper on his animation28. We kept on and gained ground. At one point—the wonders could not be repeated indefinitely—a single rafale on our left mowed29 down about forty men. We did not slacken our pace—hardly turned our heads.
We went on in a rising tide, and I thought how the sight of this inexorable multitude rolling towards them, like God's judgment30, must strike terror into the hearts of the enemy's gunners.
At the end of the day we neared a wood. I was very much afraid lest the hostile infantry31 might be hidden there, watching for us. Those barricades32 of trees looked most suspicious. Our reconnoitring patrol went on ahead of us. I trembled for their safety. The rest of us lay down and waited in an agony of fear. Not a shot was fired. What a relief it was when the wood turned out to be unoccupied—by living men, at all events.
When we, in our turn, penetrated33 into it, we found it strewn with dead bodies. What a struggle must have raged there during the last few days! There[Pg 444] was not much undergrowth, which made it propitious34 for hand-to-hand fighting. The scene was re-enacted in my mind. The Bosches about to continue their defensive35 organisation36, surprised by the attack of the rifle brigade—our dead bore this uniform. The furious onslaught with the sword. We had driven them back at the point of the bayonet and massacred them wholesale37. In advancing, we came upon heaps of Germans. We had lost a great many men, too, but they had cleared the way for us. We were duly grateful to them and the men stepped carefully and reverently38 over their remains39 as they advanced in single file.
"Pore old chaps!" sighed Icard. "You're havin' a rest now and it's our turn to do the swottin'."
Evening was falling. We had not gone more than three hundred yards after leaving the wood, when we halted. We were warned to make the best of the position. A certain sector40 was allotted41 to us, and we were told that we must hold it all the next day. Hold it only? Guillaumin looked at me and pulled a face. What we wanted to do was to get on. The Big Push was what we were out for. He urged me to question the captain on the situation, as I was on such good terms with him. I refused. A little occurrence which had taken place that morning was still rankling42 in my mind. I had thought I might be permitted to ask our company commander whether the enemy was far off. Ribet had heard me all right, but had not deigned43 to answer. He had looked through me as if I did not exist, and then called his orderly. That meant—what? Simply that the captain intended to be familiar only when it suited him. I had been annoyed[Pg 445] and offended. I should let him make the advances, next time!
The lieutenant44 seemed embarrassed by the task entrusted45 to him. As we were occupying the edge of a wood the temptation was great to make use of the resources at hand—the trees for instance. Henriot bustled46 about and had the saws got out; then asked me whether there was not some way of getting hold of some petard of melinite to put round the big trunks. He spoke47 too loudly. The poilus snorted when they heard him. Nobody felt inclined to undertake such a piece of work which would have lasted all night. And then, we were so certain to leave it all behind when we charged to-morrow.
Some time was lost in bandying words. We had been there for half an hour when the captain came up.
"Not begun yet?"
Henriot began to unfold his plan. Ribet cut him short, after the first words.
"You're quite off the mark! The edge of a wood! Do you imagine we're going to settle down at the edge of a wood—a line which is sure to be especially marked? You wouldn't have a man left. Take two or three hundred yards in front there. Exactly! And now dig me some good trenches48!"
"Deep ones, sir?"
"That's your lookout49. You must arrange that. Let your men do the best they can—and remember that you may be attacked any minute."
He went on. His tall silhouette50 disappeared behind the bushes.
Covered by a new patrol party, we chose a piece of ground of the length indicated. Night had come. The stars shone out one by one. The cannonade was[Pg 446] diminishing in intensity51. The long beams of the searchlight were probing the dark sky in all directions.
And now to our task. Guillaumin and I wielded52 spades ourselves, but the work did not get on fast, in spite of our efforts to hasten it. The men were lazy. They had made so many of these trenches in the Meuse and in Argonne which were never used at all.
At the end of an hour we had a ditch only a yard wide at the most, and not deep, allowing just enough room to fire kneeling down. We had to be content with it.
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1
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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2
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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barrage
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| n.火力网，弹幕 | |
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4
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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7
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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8
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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9
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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10
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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11
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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12
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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13
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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14
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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15
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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16
deployment
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| n. 部署,展开 | |
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17
projectiles
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| n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器 | |
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18
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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19
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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21
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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22
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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23
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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24
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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25
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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26
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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27
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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28
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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29
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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31
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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32
barricades
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| 路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 ) | |
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33
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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34
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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35
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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36
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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37
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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38
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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39
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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40
sector
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| n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形 | |
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41
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
rankling
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 ) | |
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43
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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45
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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47
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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48
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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49
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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50
silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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51
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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52
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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