Recollections Of An Officer Of Napoleon's Army (1911) (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II THE BIVOUAC AND THE MARAUDERS Here we are in a beautiful plain, furrowed by artillery, trampled by cavalry; it has rained all day. It is here that we are going to sleep. The order is given; twenty men of each company are sent into the neighbouring villages to bring back wood, straw, supplies. Soon a curious sight presents itself before our eyes. " The market will be good," say the soldiers, " the dealers are coming." In fact, from all sides, we sec hurrying forward our fearless freebooters loaded down with sacks full of poultry, baskets of eggs and loaves of bread stuck one after the other on ramrods. Some push before them sheep and cows, oxen and pigs; others make peasants, put in requisition, carry the straw and wood. Judging by the scowling faces of the peasants, by the interjections which escape them, one can easily see that they are not pleased, buttheir words are drowned by the cries of the animals and by the soldiers' peals of laughter. .When one is at the bivouac, near the enemy, every man lies down fully dressed; each sleeps, one might say, with his eyes open; one must be ready for any emergency. Sometimes, we have remained in our boots for a month, which is, to say the least, very uncomfortable. Sometimes also, when lying down, the desire came over one to unbutton one's clothes; one loosened a buckle, then another, and it required more time to remedy this little disorder than if one had been entirely undressed. When the season is cold everyone lies about the fire; but one gets toasted on the one side, while being frozen on the other; one of course has the resource of turning around, but that is not at all easy. When one happens to be in the second rank, one can then undress; less precautions are necessary. The officers have linen sacks in which the...