Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army

Vinoy at the head of the 13th Army Corps arrives from Mezières, his retreat therefrom, in face of the Germans flushed by victory at Sedan, looked upon as the most masterly performance yet achieved. His forces occupy camp in the Avenue de la Grande Armée, and thither crowds resort to see the men who had performed so successful a feat; the order and regularity in all that concerns them indicating their training and discipline in strong contrast to what was so recently experienced in the Champ de Mars. But chiefly was attention directed to certain mysterious objects carefully concealed by canvas coverings, but with an outline like that of artillery guns. These were mitrailleuses, from which great results were anticipated.

To walls of houses and enclosures were affixed announcements that the Republic had been declared, and giving the names of those who now constituted the Provisional Government. Other notices similarly displayed contained appeals to patriotism on the part of the National Guards, and manhood of the capital, that they should rally to the rescue of La Patrie en Danger. Troops of the line marched in various directions, the object of the movements not apparent. Groups of men stood at intervals along the streets, the képi as yet the only item of uniform worn by them.

The tone of the press moderated from what had lately been; it was evident that grave events threatened, the possible nature of which caused thinking people some anxiety. Cafés usually brilliantly lighted and crowded with customers became less so; uniforms took the place of civilian costume at the small tables within and without. Outside the ramparts, houses and other buildings were in course of demolition. On the defences the work of repair and strengthening was in progress. Railway stations were crowded by people, – some endeavouring to get away, together with their removable belongings; others to get all such property inside for comparative safety.

Preparations for defence went on apace. Private carriages disappeared, except such as were retained by special permission; public conveyances decreased in number, the horses belonging to them being requisitioned for public purposes. Women pedestrians were few; scarcely a man to be seen on the streets, in shops, offices, and other establishments, but those who wore more or less complete uniform; those on the streets carrying rifles, side arms, or both. At night, and throughout the day, the sound of drum and bugle was incessant; here and there varied by the Marseillaise sung in stentorian voice. In the Place de la Concorde successive bodies of armed men paid homage before the statue of Strasbourg, gesticulating and vociferating as they did so, that emblem becoming concealed under the wreaths deposited upon it. Meanwhile, to prevent the Prussians from obtaining the game hitherto preserved for Imperial purposes, a public battue to take place at Compiêgne was proclaimed.

Men, to whom in the emergency arms were issued, increased numerically faster than did the means of providing them with uniform. Already did the circumstance suggest itself to many that by placing in the hands of the masses such means of offence, a source of possible danger to public safety was thereby created. That idea was speedily fostered by the occurrence of scenes of disorder in some localities by the men so armed; by others no less suggestive, in which men “fraternized” with troops of the line over absinthe in cabarets.

By the 10th of the month the Prussian forces, 300,000 strong, were at Ligny, not more than twenty-five miles from the capital. The terms in which by certain journals appeals were made to the invaders were questionable in respect to dignity: on the one hand, if as “friends,” offering friendship; on the other, if as enemies, barricades and sewers transformed into mines to be exploded under them. M. Balbi proposed that portable fortresses, each of a strength equal to one hundred thousand men, should be sent against them; other proposals for annihilation of the advancing armies were submitted to the authorities, and declared impracticable.

During next few days information as to transactions was received with increasing vagueness, such items as seemed reliable only through English papers, and that not for long. Some of the classes, who in more peaceful times had willingly served in the ranks when “drawn,” now expressed a desire to serve by substitute, if they could. Mobiles in great number arrived in Paris from the provinces. Public announcements declared that so great was the devotion of the people to the Defence that the Levée en Masse would leave the proportion of men at their homes as one to twenty-eight women. According to some published statements, the men already enrolled were more formidable in numbers than in quality; the withdrawals from the city of those liable to service so numerous that special measures against them were proposed in respect to their civil rights and property. A report circulated to the effect that cartridges and other ammunition contained in ordnance stores had been seriously tampered with.

It is Sunday. Fashionable resorts, including the Champs Elysées and Gardens of the Tuileries, are crowded with men and women. Cafés partially deserted a few days ago are now crowded. Booths of Punchinello are surrounded by knot of amused spectators, the style and demeanour of the people generally by no means such as might be looked for under the circumstances present and prospective. Mobiles recently collected from the provinces rush about irregularly wherever the crowds are thickest; their rifles at the “trail”; their bayonets fixed, – sources of danger to everybody. Streets and roadways show signs of neglect. News circulates that the Canal de l’Ourque and some other conduits have been “cut” by the Germans, the fact being the first to indicate the near approach of the enemy.

“Versailles has honourably capitulated.” Such was the next intelligence to reach us. Confusion thereupon became general. A grand review of forces of the Defence of Paris forthwith ordered; information circulated by authority that the several forts beyond the line of ramparts were fully armed and manned by sailors under command of their own proper officers. As extemporised battalions marched towards the general rendezvous they presented in their ranks two types of manhood – the Parisian and the provincial: the former poor in physique, and undisciplined; the latter, strong and active, but unacquainted with anything beyond elementary stages of military drill. A captive balloon established on Montmartre from which to observe the movements of the enemy. A furore of destruction suddenly set in, resulting in that of bridges, houses, and everything destructible on the immediate outskirts of the city, including a considerable strip of the Bois de Boulogne.

Stores and provisions were collected to enable Paris to withstand a siege of two months’ duration, that being thought the limit to which such an emergency could extend, should it happen at all. Cattle and stock of all kinds were brought within the walls; fodder and grain for them collected, and food of all kinds, available for human consumption, stored; a census of “mouths” taken at the same time.

Already had evils shown themselves as a result of billeting armed men on the people; huts were therefore prepared in the boulevards and other open spaces for the former. Disinclination was soon apparent in a suggestively large number of the men to occupy their proper places on parade. From the city there was reported exodus of men whose names were enrolled for military service. On the walls were posted codes of instructions as to the correct manner of loading rifles. Authority was given to the system now introduced whereby improvised battalions of National Guards elected their own officers – a system from which deplorable results were soon to arise.

Gates along the line of fortifications were now closed against traffic, except to persons bearing special permits. Musters taken of so-called “effective” combatants, prepared, according to declarations by themselves, to defend the capital to the death, gave their number, including all classes278 of troops, approximately at 400,000. Among us foreigners hints circulated that neither by Trochu nor other superior officer were hopes of ultimate success entertained, taking into account the kind of material so extemporised. M. Thiers had proceeded on his mission to the Governments of Europe; hopes accordingly entertained that intervention by England, Russia, and Austria, singly or united, might be brought about. It was an open secret that sympathy of the principal leaders, civil and military, within the capital were more in favour of the past regime than of that now entered upon, their hopes that by some means or other restoration might be effected, a siege and probable bombardment averted. Those hopes were soon destroyed; information circulated that the terms on which further proceedings on the part of the Germans could be arrested, included such items as a heavy money indemnity,279 the retrocession of Alsace and Lorraine, as also of half the French fleet.

In the streets and everywhere else within the city filth and otherwise objectionable matters had accumulated to a very unpleasant degree; means of conservancy and cleansing were deficient; the atmosphere polluted by odours of decomposition. A separate police force to take the place of the Gens d’Armes extinguished on the day of Revolution had not yet been established; crimes of violence were the more remarkable in their infrequency when that circumstance is taken into account, together with the heterogeneous elements of which the defensive forces were now composed.

The plot thickens; information reaches us which leaves no doubt but that Paris is encircled by the enemy. Within the city there is general commotion; in battalions and smaller bodies newly raised levies march towards Vincennes; trains of ambulance carriages wend their way in the same direction. Official notices affixed to walls direct that all men liable to military service should report themselves within twenty-four hours at the rendezvous of their respective corps, under penalty of being proceeded against as deserters. In striking contrast to all this turmoil was the sight of several elderly men and others calmly and peacefully fishing in the Seine; their prize an occasional gudgeon two inches long or thereabout!

At this point some representatives of Great Powers quitted the beleaguered city with the intention of proceeding to Tours, where it was stated another Government than that of the capital was in process of formation. Among those who did so was the British Ambassador. The Consul of Paris had already proceeded on leave of absence, the outcome of the state of affairs so created being that upwards of two thousand persons claiming the rights and privileges of British subjects were left without official representative. Colonel Claremont, Military Secretary, to his great credit, speedily returned within the ramparts, and remained with the besieged until the defeat at Champigny left the question of capitulation a matter of only a few weeks to be decided. By no means did all the Foreign Representatives quit the capital. Among those who remained were the Minister and Consul-General of the United States; the Ministers of Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Neither did the Persian Ambassador withdraw from his official position in Paris.

The corps of Sergeants de Ville is re-introduced; itinerant musicians parade the streets, their favourite instruments the barrel-organ, harp, and violin; beggars become numerous and demonstrative. Parties of Mobiles march excitedly, and in an irregular manner, in various directions, no one knowing the why or wherefore of their movements; some to the sound of drum and bugle, others without such instruments. A report circulates that outside the ramparts the members of that force fired upon each other instead of at the enemy; they were said to have arrested their commander on the plea that he held communication with the Prussians. A tax was put upon meat and bread sold in shops; supplies from without had all but ceased; Rentes were down to 54.15. The general demeanour of the masses in ill accord with the conditions in which their capital now was.

From the day on which intelligence of the great defeat at Sedan reached Paris, a degree of enthusiasm became manifest among official classes and private individuals, in regard to arrangements for possible sick and wounded, which contrasted very favourably with the confusion and indecision in military affairs already recorded. The ordinary military hospitals under administration of the Intendance were equipped to their utmost extent; various large buildings fitted up as annexes thereto; societies of various kinds, and pertaining to different nationalities, established hospitals, or ambulances sedentaires as such places came to be called, at different points throughout the city; several clubs were similarly transformed, and numerous private families made what arrangements they could for the reception of sick or wounded men in case of emergency. The medical faculty of the capital volunteered their services in a body; ladies devoted themselves to “ambulance” work in a manner and on a scale never before witnessed, while volunteers as brancardiers gave their names in numbers beyond requirements even according to the most liberal estimates of probable casualties. Thus it came about that provision was complete for 37,000 patients.

At a later period so numerous became the “nurses” that “to carry a brassard280 turned into a fashion; young women played the nurse with wounded soldiers as little girls play the mother with their dolls.” Many earnest women devoted themselves to the work, but that the remark just made was not without grounds was no less true. In some instances the declared object with which they undertook such work was to release men therefrom, so that they might join the active ranks in combat, or become ambulanciers. In other instances it was said of the ladies so employed that they restricted their performances to mere show, leaving all real work in the wards to men, but ready to accept credit really due to the latter. Instances occurred of wounded Frenchmen submitting a formal request to be moved to wards in which their attendants should be men only. Up to a certain time a halo of romance attached itself to the movement as a whole; latterly the brightness of that “glory” became less dazzling.

Unfortunately some of the larger ambulance establishments drew upon themselves suspicion; a report circulated that while above them, as also some huts or barraques erected for similar purpose, waved the Red Cross flag, side by side with or in close proximity to them were stores for combatant purposes, – in at least one instance artillery ready equipped for battle. There were cynics who said that the profusion of Geneva flags on private houses was indicative of a desire on the part of the inmates to claim protection under that emblem, as much as the wish to share their rapidly diminishing quantity of food and “comforts” with sick and wounded men. The fact that brancardiers were “neutral” by virtue of the brassard worn by them was considered by pessimists to account for the great popularity attached to the Corps of Ambulanciers as compared to the fighting battalions. Nor were there wanting persons who expressed views that the entire system of “Sociétés des Secours” had in it the objection that by their means responsibility in respect to the care of sick and wounded soldiers was withdrawn from Governments concerned, and so war protracted beyond what would otherwise be possible.

CHAPTER XXVII

1870. SEPTEMBER. SIEGE OF PARIS

An Alsacienne – Action at Chatillon – The dangerous classes – “Mourir pour la patrie” – Contrasted conditions – Batteries open – Theatres and Louvre – Food and prices – More contrasts – Action at Villejuif – Again the Alsacienne – Historical sieges.

Among the “ambulances” visited by me while being prepared for their intended purpose was one in the near vicinity of the Luxembourg Palace. A particular club was in process of transition accordingly; its members, socially distinguished in Parisian society, had arranged among themselves to undertake the entire management and work, professional and otherwise, in connection therewith, the female members of their respective families devoting themselves to the performance of such functions as pertained more properly to them. In a spacious apartment of that club-ambulance, a number of ladies were variously occupied in arranging articles of bedding, night-dresses, bandages, etc. Among them was one, an Alsacienne, young, fair, and so gentle in manner, that as she accompanied me through the several apartments about to become wards, I took leave to ask whether she had formed any idea as to the nature of the duties that might fall upon her in relation to wounded men, and, if so, whether she felt that she was physically capable of them. “Of course,” so she said in reply, “she could not tell what those duties might be, or if she would be able to fulfil them; but in such circumstances as now threatened, it was the duty of every one, man and woman alike, to do their best, and she hoped to do hers.”

In the early hours of the 19th, the French forces, some 60,000 strong, occupying the heights of Meudon and Chatillon, were attacked, and driven away by the Germans. It subsequently transpired that although considerable numbers of the regular soldiers of the line stood their ground as became them, others, including some Zouaves, fled panic-stricken; their example was quickly followed by the Mobiles, and so, as day advanced, great numbers of those classes were seen in flight along the great thoroughfares of the city, a few of them carrying their arms, but the great majority without weapons of any kind, shouting as they fled, “Nous sommes trahi!” themselves saluted by the populace with cries of “Lâches.”281 The sight was a melancholy one, its tendency to impair whatever belief existed in regard to the successful issue of the defence now entered upon. Still later, ambulance carriages passed along the streets, bearing their loads of men wounded in this the first serious engagement in the near vicinity of the capital, the siege of which begins as a result of that action. As subsequently expressed by newspaper correspondents, there is little doubt that had the Prussians followed up the fugitives on this occasion they might with them have entered Paris.

In the evening of that day the sound of shots fired in the streets was heard; report spread that two thousand of “the dangerous classes” were abroad, a report so far confirmed that they were being marched under escort to the gates, and so expelled, to take their chances between the lines of besieged and besiegers. It was deemed unsafe for foreigners to appear, lest, being taken for Prussians, they might vicariously suffer for the success of the morning. Cafés and such places were ordered to close early; a declaration published that persons convicted of pillage should be held liable to death penalty. The discovery was made that telegraphic communication with the outer world was cut off. Under all these circumstances there existed an impression that the risks to life had been lessened to those within the city by the repulse sustained by our “defenders” in the morning.

On September 21 was celebrated in Paris the outbreak in 1792 of the Republic, and massacre of French nobles. Placards declared that the successors of men of that day will prove themselves worthy of their ancestors; other affiches expressed determination to resist to the death, to accept no armistice, to yield neither a stone of a fortress nor an inch of territory. In the Place de la Concorde a battalion of the Garde Nationale presented arms to the statue of Strasbourg, sang in chorus the Marseillaise, decorated the emblem itself with floral wreaths; having done so, they marched away! Soon there came a body of “patriots”; their task to drape the figures of Marseilles and Lyons in red, in token of the Republic declared at both those places. Along the Rue Rivoli came a battalion of newly-enrolled citizen soldiers, their destination said to be the front. At the head of the column marched in gorgeous and picturesque costume a cantinière. The men’s rifles were decorated with evergreens; accompanying them were their wives and children, all in tears; the brave men loudly singing, “Mourir pour la patrie.” As they reached the Rue Royale an affecting and sad parting was witnessed; the column resumed its march, but now in silence; but, as subsequently transpired, not to come in conflict with the enemy.

A strange contrast between conditions was now observable. Considerable numbers of the fugitives from Chatillon were marched along some thoroughfares, their coats turned outside in, their hands tied behind them, the word “Lâche” placarded on their backs. Masses of men, including old and young, the strong, decrepid and malformed, gathered in front of the Hôtel de Ville, and along the boulevards extending thence to the Place de la Bastille. After a time the crowds dispersed, but the reason alike of their gathering and of their dispersion did not then transpire.282 Meanwhile, the aspect of the boulevards was bright and gay with women fashionably dressed, and men in uniform; the cafés crowded, their inmates laughing and joyous. At the kiosks people eagerly purchased papers of the day, and laughed at the caricatures of Germans, executed in even worse style, if that were possible, than anything previously seen. In the Champs Elysées goat carriages and merry-go-rounds, Mobiles playing games of sorts, nursery maids neglecting their charges, men squabbling, songs, patriotic and ribald, half-drunken men everywhere.

Events developed rapidly. The sound of heavy guns at different points around the outskirts told its own tale. The heaviest firing came from the direction of Meudon. Crowds of people gathered at the Trocadero, and there watched for explosions of Prussian shells as they burst in mid air or crashed through the leafy woods adjoining the Seine, though at some distance from the city. A balloon dispatched from within glided westward at an elevation beyond the reach of Prussian fire; the balloon, as we subsequently learned, being guided by M. Nadar, who, while passing over their camp, dropped showers of his own advertisements among them.

Now the theatres were in some instances turned to another purpose than that of mere amusement; they were transformed into ambulances, the male portion of the usual performers taking their places in the fighting ranks, the ladies adopting the brassard as nurses. Another significant incident was the barricading of doors and windows of the Louvre Museum, a number of water reservoirs being prepared near it, in case of fire, and with evident regard to possible bombardment.

The inhabitants of villages within the line of investment were admitted inside the ramparts; there they became established as so many communities, each under its own administration. Conditions, present and prospective, pointed to the necessity of systematising the issue of food stores; meat was unobtainable at butchers’ establishments and restaurants. A register was established on which was inscribed the names and residence of persons authorized to remain within the walls, these numbering two millions, exclusive of bouches inutiles already expelled.

From academies and medical schools students enrolled themselves as artillerymen and ambulanciers. So popular was the last-named corps that many fictitious “members” were soon arrested for bearing its brassard. In some instances it was said of citizen “soldiers” that they showed small desire to take post in advanced positions; in a few, that Gardes Nationaux and Mobiles objected to proceed beyond the barriers. While on the one hand certain enthusiasts endeavoured to set on foot a League of Peace, others proposed schemes of mutual assurance against casualties incidental to a state of siege. Still went on the work of destroying emblems and changing the names of streets associated with that of Napoleon. A proposal was made to strip from the column in the Place Vendome the historical scenes on its metal casing, and utilise the bronze for purposes of defence. Wives of workmen on barricades and other defences might be seen carrying the implements of their husbands, while the latter lounged about unencumbered, and in all respects unlike earnest ouvriers. In the long hours of inactivity that intervened between short periods of indifferent work, tongues and idle hands became in their respective ways so demonstrative that, as a counterpoise, a series of cheap performances “for the benefit of the masses” was organized. In the pages of Le Combat was a proposal that a subscription list should be opened, with a view to present a fusil d’honneur to the man who should shoot the King of Prussia, the subscriptions to be limited to five sous per person. Prussian helmets were offered for sale in such numbers that people asked each other how far off was their place of manufacture.