Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. A Day at Dun
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no WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
Here again I sketched a few types : a gilder, an official
and a workman, all from Paris, as well as one of their German
guards, a strapping Landwehr man. I remember I had
half finished the portrait of a young French soldier—of the
113th Infantry Regiment, ^ of aristocratic, melancholy appear-
ance, when the word of command was given that the batch
that had been served was to be taken to its quarters and the
next lot brought up. At my request, however, my model was
allowed to stay behind. He was a bank clerk from Blois,
of a highly sympathiquc and amiable nature. Perhaps some
day he will remember that sitting at Dun ; I shall not forget
him.
While I was sketching the soldiers from Paris, I had a dense
crowd of onlookers round me, and I threw out to them the
following impertinent question :
" What are you really fighting for ?
"
" We have absolutely nothing to fight for," replied one
fellow with a defiant air, and he was seconded with much
animation by another man opposite.
" You have your country to fight for, I suppose ? " I went on.
" We have no country," answered the two malcontents.
I asked a sensible fellow who was standing behind me what
sort of persons they were, and was told :
" They are notorious
anarchists."
One may be tolerably certain that they would never have
dared to answer like that on the other side of the firing lines.
And if they had done so, they would have been torn to pieces
by their comrades, who, even if they did not know how and
why war had broken out just now, nevertheless understood
that the future of France was at stake, nay, perhaps her
existence as a first-class Power, On the other hand, they
were all agreed in regretting the war, and expressions such as
these constantly recurred :
" Cette malheureuse guerre—Cette
guerre inutile—C’est terrible—C’est tres, tres malheureux pour
tout le monde." But even to this criticism of the war a reserva-
tion must be added. For not a spark of the enthusiasm with
which the French soldiers went into the fire is left after they
have been taken prisoners. Their hope has then vanished
and nothing is left but the regret that they can no longer be
of use to their country.
^ The 113th regiment of infantry of the line belongs to the 5th Army Corps,
and is garrisoned at Blois. Parisians as a rule belong to the 4lh Army Corps.
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