Chapter II: Preface

Sergeant-Major Georges Lafond, of the Territorial Hussars, the author of this book, was in South America at the time of mobilization. He returned to France as soon as possible and joined his corps, but asked to be assigned as intelligence officer to the machine-gun sections of the ... first regiment of Colonial Infantry.

With this picked corps, which has been decimated several times, he took part in the engagements in Champagne, on the Somme, at Lihons, Dompierre, Herbécourt, and notably in the days from the first to the fifth of July, where the regiment earned its second citation and received the _fourragère_.

Lafond was discharged after the battles of Maisonnette, and wrote this book of recollections in the hospital at Abbeville, and afterwards at Montpellier, where he had to undergo a severe operation.

Sergeant-Major Lafond’s narrative makes no claim to literary pretension, but it is simply a collection of actual occurrences. It is a series of short narratives which give the life of a company of machine gunners from the day of its formation to the hour when it was so decimated that it had to be reorganized with men from other corps.

What pictures the following titles call to mind: “A Reconnaissance in the Fog,” “The Aeroplane,” “Our First Engagement,” “‘We Have Taken a Picket Post,’” “The Attack,” “The Echelon,” “A Water Patrol”! No man who has lived at the front and has taken part in an attack will fail to recognize the accuracy of these narratives and to experience, as well, emotion, enthusiasm, and pride in having been among “those who were there.”

This record of adventure was very successful when it appeared in the _Petit Parisien_, and I feel sure that it will be successful in book form. I beg Sergeant-Major Georges Lafond to accept my hearty congratulations on his fine talent and his bravery.

MAURICE BARRÈS,
_of the French Academy_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE SEARCH FOR MY COMPANY 1

II THE QUARTERMASTER’S BILLETS 11

III THE ECHELON 21

IV THE SONG OF THE MACHINE GUN 31

V A RECONNAISSANCE IN THE FOG 47

VI OUR FIRST ENGAGEMENT 58

VII EASTER EGGS 71

VIII THE AEROPLANE 89

IX DAYS IN CANTONMENT 103

X AN ORDINARY FATIGUE PARTY 122

XI WITH MUSIC 135

XII “WE HAVE TAKEN A PICKET POST” 148

XIII A NIGHT CONVOY 164

XIV THE SONGS OF THE HOMELAND 175

XV A WATER PATROL 188

XVI A COMMANDER 199

XVII THE ATTACK 217

XVIII WITH ORDERS 232

XIX A WREATH 250

XX DISCHARGED 261

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

“HE’S HIT,” SERGEANT LACE CRIES SUDDENLY. AND
INDEED HE IS HIT _Frontispiece_

REMAINS OF VILLAGES NEAR THE LINES 36

A POILU 56

A SINISTER GRUMBLING SEEMED TO SHATTER THE FOG 110

THE FRONT LINE TRENCH 154

A COMMANDANT’S POST 166

THE LEAST DANGEROUS PASSAGE IS THE UNPROTECTED GROUND 186

THE ATTACK 226

NOTE.—_These photographs are all copyrighted by International Film Service, Inc._

COVERED WITH MUD AND GLORY