A Volunteer Poilu

A Volunteer Poilu

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Title: A Volunteer Poilu
Author: Henry Sheahan
Release Date: May 12, 2004 [EBook #12330]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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VOLUNTEER POILU ***

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A VOLUNTEER POILU
by Henry Sheahan

To Professor Charles Townsend Copeland of Harvard University
Dear Copey,
At Verdun I thought of you, and the friendly hearth of Hollis 15
seemed very far away from the deserted, snow-swept streets of the
tragic city. Then suddenly I remembered how you had encouraged me
and many others to go over and help in any way that we could; I
remembered your keen understanding of the Epic, and the deep
sympathy with human beings which you taught those whose privilege it

was to be your pupils. And so you did not seem so far away after all,
but closer to the heart of the war than any other friend I had.
I dedicate this book to you with grateful affection after many years of
friendship.
Henry

Topsfield, September, 1916
Preface
I have ventured to call this book A Volunteer Poilu principally because
we were known to the soldiers of the Bois-le-Prêtre as "les Poilus
Américains." Then, too, it was my ambition to do for my comrades, the
French private soldiers, what other books have done for the soldiers of
other armies. The title chosen, however, was more than complimentary;
it was but just. In recognition of the work of the Section during the
summer, it was, in October, 1915, formally adopted into the French
army; a French officer became its administrative head, and the drivers
were given the same papers, pay, and discipline as their French
comrades.
I wish to thank many of my old friends of Section II, who have aided
me in the writing of this book.
HENRY SHEAHAN

Contents
I. THE ROCHAMBEAU S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE
I A war-time voyage--The Rochambeau--Loading ammunition and
food supplies--Personalities on board--The dyestuffs agent--The
machine lathes man--The Swede from Minnesota who was on his way
to the Foreign Legion--His subsequent history--The talk aboard--The
French officer--His philosophy of war--Ernest Psichari--Arrival at
Bordeaux--The Arabs at the docks--The convalescent soldiers-- Across
La Beauce--The French countryside in war-time.
II. AN UNKNOWN PARIS IN THE NIGHT AND RAIN.
Paris, rain, and darkness--The Gardens of the Tuileries--The
dormitory--The hospital at night--Beginning of the Champagne
offensive--The Gare de la Chapelle at two in the morning--The
wounded--The Zouave stretcher-bearers--The Arabs in the abandoned

school--Suburban Paris at dawn--The home of the deaconesses.
III. THE GREAT SWATHE OF THE LINES
Nancy--The porter's story--Getting to the front--What the phrase "the
front" really means--The sense of the front--The shell zone--The zone
of quiet--My quarters in the shelled house--The fire shells--Bombarded
at night--Death of the soldier fireman.
IV. LA FORET DE BOIS-LE-PRETRE
Le Bois-le-Prêtre--Description--History--Les Glycines, "Wisteria
Villa"--The Road to the trenches--At the trenches--The painter's idea of
"le sinistre dans l'art"--The sign post--The zone of violence--The
Quart-en-Réserve--The village caught in the torment of the lines--The
dead on the barbed wire--"The Road to Metz."
V. THE TRENCHES IN THE "WOOD OF DEATH."
The Trenches--Organization--Nature of the war--Food, shelters,
clothing, ammunition, etc.--A typical day in the trenches--Trench shells
or "crapouilots"--In the abri--The tunnel--The doctrinaire lieutenant of
engineers.
VI. THE GERMANS ATTACK
The piano at Montauville--An interrupted concert--At the Quart--The
battle for the ridge of the Wood--Fall of the German
aeroplane--Psychology of the men in the trenches--Religion in the
trenches--
VII. THE TOWN IN THE TRENCHES
Poor old "Pont"--Description of the town--A civilian's story--The house
of the Captain of the Papal Zouaves--Church of St. Laurent--The
Cemetery and its guardian.
VIII. MESSIEURS LES POILUS DE LA GRANDE GUERRE
En repos--A village of troops--Manners and morals--The
concert--journal of the Bois-le-Prêtre--Various poilus.
IX. PREPARING THE DEFENSE OF VERDUN
En permission--State of France--The France of 1905 and the France of
1915--The class of 1917--Bar-le-Duc--The air raid--Called to Verdun.
X. THE GREAT DAYS OF VERDUN
Verdun in 1912--Verdun on the night of the first great attack--The
hospital--The shelled cross road--The air shell--The pastry cook's
story--The cultivateur of the Valois and the crater at Douaumont--The
pompiers of Verdun--"Do you want to see an odd sight?"--Verdun in

storm and desolation.

A Volunteer Poilu

Chapter I
The Rochambeau S'en Va-t-en Guerre
Moored alongside a great two-storied pier, with her bow to the land, the
cargo and passenger boat, Rochambeau, of the Compagnie Générale
was being loaded with American supplies for the France of the Great
War. A hot August sun struck spots and ripples