Chapter XXIII: Appendix: C

CONSTITUTION OF A SQUADRON.

_Captain in Command._
_Second Captain._

_1st Peloton_
(30 men)
1st Lieutenant
(In command)
Sergeant-major
2 Sergeants
Trumpeter

_2nd Peloton_
(30 men)
Sub-lieutenant
(In command)
Sergeant
_Caporal-fourrier_
Trumpeter

_3rd Peloton_
(30 men)
Sub-lieutenant
(In command)
Sergeant
Trumpeter

_4th Peloton_
(30 men)
2nd Lieutenant
(In command)
_Sergent-fourrier_
2 Sergeants
Trumpeter

Each _peloton_ (company) consists of three _escouades_ (squads) of ten men, each under a corporal.

_Total._

2 Captains.
2 Lieutenants.
2 Sub-lieutenants.
1 Sergeant-major.
1 _Sergent-fourrier_.
1 _Caporal-fourrier_.
6 Sergeants.
12 Corporals.
4 Trumpeters.
120 Troopers.

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THE QUEEN'S SERVICE

BEING THE EXPERIENCES OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE BRITISH INFANTRY AT HOME AND ABROAD

BY HORACE WYNDHAM LATE OF THE --TH REGT.

Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3s. 6d.

_The Academy._--"A really excellent budget of information about Army life in all its aspects. We can cordially recommend it to all who take a personal or patriotic interest in the army."

_The Daily Mail._--"A particularly interesting and instructive book about army life in its varied aspects. Even Mr. Kipling may learn a great deal from these enlightening pages."

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_The Spectator._--"As a description of a phase of existence very little known outside the Army itself, and in its inner details only vaguely surmised even by the most careful officers, we think it ought to be very interesting to many readers both inside and outside the Army. In all his views the author is wholesome, sane, and intelligent. His discussion of the position of gentlemen in the ranks, and scornful repudiation of the idea of a 'regiment of gentlemen,' are both interesting."

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_The Pall Mall Gazette._--"Life as a soldier has been described several times before, but never with such effect as in this handy and interesting volume. The interesting matter and common sense contained therein thoroughly recommend it to all interested in the welfare of the Army."

_Literature._--"It is to Mr. Wyndham's advantage that he is throughout in perfect touch with his subject, instead of treating it from the _olim meminisse_ standpoint, which is generally misleading and sometimes insincere. Another point in his favour is that he is up-to-date. His work, as a whole, will probably hold good for some years to come, as not only a readable narrative but also a substantially accurate work of reference."

_The Outlook._--"No one interested in the contemporary condition or in the future amelioration of the British Army can neglect such a book as this, for it affords a remarkable glimpse of military life at the very bottom of the ladder. It is, moreover, both lucid and temperate."

_The World._--"Gives one a very good notion of the soldier's life at Aldershot, the Curragh, or Gib.--cleaning, drilling, feeding, mounting guard--a life which is so like that of the ordinary housemaid, until the guns begin to shoot. The private's grievances are set forth moderately and convincingly. Mr. Wyndham's book, giving the soldier's view, should point the way to those whose pressing duty it is to make military service more popular."

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LONDON: WM. HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C.

MEMOIRS OF SERGEANT BOURGOGNE (1812-1813)

AUTHORISED TRANSLATION, FROM THE FRENCH ORIGINAL EDITED BY PAUL COTTIN AND MAURICE HÉNAULT

With a Frontispiece. 8vo, cloth. Price 6s.

_The Review of Reviews._--"All imaginative pictures drawn by authors in an attempt to depict war as it really is sink into insignificance beside this actual record of a soldier's daily experience in the rearguard of the Army of Moscow. The Peace Societies could desire no more effective literature, and, if they are wise, will do all they can to promote the sale of this book."

_The Times._--"A vivid narrative of Napoleon's ill-starred Russian campaign as viewed from the ranks. Bourgogne was a shrewd soldier, imbued with the national worship of Napoleon, experienced in the wars of the Empire, and endowed with a rare narrative power. The dramatic and tragic incidents with which his pages abound are full of attraction."

_The Pall Mall Gazette._--"Bourgogne is, so to speak, the small-change for De Ségur--the vernacular of that classic. The Brigadier-General on the Staff tells you what the retreat from Moscow looked like. The Sergeant of the Guard was in a position to tell you what it felt like. Moreover, the Sergeant happens to be an impressionist of the convincing sort. He not only makes you see what he saw, but he perfectly persuades you that he saw it. So it is that the true inwardness of the ghastly _débacle_ is shown up to you with a new vividness by the ingenuous sidelights this literary non-com. has cast upon it."

_The Morning Post._--"These Memoirs are well written, full of interest, and abound in dramatic situations. They have, moreover, the recommendation of being admirably rendered into English, and read almost like an English work."

_Literature._--"Ségur tells the story of the disastrous retreat from the officer's point of view. Now we have the narrative of the soldier in the ranks. Ségur was a man of culture. Bourgogne was not always sure of his spelling. Yet the sergeant's story is the more vivid of the two. He was no _littérateur_, yet his book, for intensity of feeling, minuteness of description, even lucidity of style, will vie with any romance of war."

_The Illustrated London News._--"No adventure-story ever written approaches in interest the appalling account of the retreat from Moscow given by Sergeant Bourgogne in his Memoirs. Poe himself could not invent horrors more ghastly, nor describe them more graphically."

_The Daily Chronicle._--"Verily this is a human document of the most terrible and engrossing kind we ever remember to have come across. The annals of war are rich in tales of disaster and suffering, but in none so dreadful as this story of the retreat of Napoleon's Grand Army from Moscow. Sergeant Bourgogne has left us a record, of the campaign from the point of view of the common soldier which must rank as an unconscious masterpiece of naïve and touching war-chronicling and characterisation. His narrative bears the hall-mark of veracity and vivid realism. No romancer could possibly have served up such a gruesome dish of military horrors as has now been placed before us by Sergeant Bourgogne. Even Nansen in his 'Farthest North' pales in interest before the frosts, the snows, and the cruel winds of this non-commissioned Xenophon of the Imperial Guard. We can heartily recommend this book as one of the most appalling, and at times pathetic, pictures of the horrors of war that was ever penned."

LONDON: WM. HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C.

Transcriber's Notes

Obvious errors of punctuation and diacritics repaired.

Hyphen added: head-gear (p. 49).

Hyphen removed: headquarters (p. 31).

P. 17: "de" changed to "des" (Maréchal des Logis Chef).

P. 37: "to" added (told us to go to the Paymaster's).

P. 47: "arn't" changed to "aren't" (socks aren't regulation).

P. 89: "be" changed to "he" ("Now look here, old man," said he).

P. 110: "talking" changed to "taking" (taking off his hat).

P. 144-5: duplicate syllable at page boundary removed (hollering).

P. 171: "your're" changed to "you're" (you're holding there).

P. 202: duplicate "that" deleted (tell me that you have come here).

Ad for "The Queen's Service": "olium meminisse" changed to "olim meminisse".