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1870. DECEMBER. SIEGE CONTINUED
The day after
battle—Disaster--Next day—Paris "dead "—Benevolence and clamour-
-Citizen soldiers—A possible significance—Spy mania—A duel—Sortie on Le
Bourget—A lady on the field—After the battle—An Irishman in French Navy
—Christmas—Public opinion—First shell in Paris.
FROM early morning, and
all next day, ambulance equipages and men patrolled the field of battle
in the performance of their merciful work) their search for wounded made
difficult by the dense fog prevailing. Hostilities had ceased for the
time, to permit of interment of the dead and succour to the wounded. But
unhappily the truce was taken advantage of by stragglers of many kinds,
some of whom were bent on plunder. Everywhere on and near the scene of
recent combat there was devastation; houses burnt and otherwise
dilapidated; boundary walls reduced to fragments; trees broken and torn
by shot; the ground furrowed by shells. Bivouacking in the open, or in
small groups taking advantage of such shelter as remained against the
bitterly cold wind, were soldiers, who, after the fight of yesterday, so
spent the night where they had fought; more than half benumbed by cold,
they kept up camp fires by means of fragments of furniture, some of
great value, taken from neighbouring ruins. Their cooking utensils were
supplied for the occasion by viande freshly cut from horses killed by
Prussian shells. The carriages were soon filled with wounded. They were
driven back to Paris^ their loads appropriately disposed of; after which
a second trip was made to the field, the carriages again filled, the
wounded in them similarly distributed, the horses getting over more than
thirty-six miles in the double journey. Rumours spread that in some few
instances the role of the Red Cross had been departed from; intrenching
tools conveyed in carriages bearing that emblem; information
interchanged between contending forces, communication of which was
beyond its proper sphere. The rumours applied to the one side as to the
other.
Throughout the dreary
night that followed, the French troops had to remain in bivouac among
the scenes and wreck of battle, their physical strength, already lowered
by privation, still further reduced by fatigue and cold, for the weather
was now bitterly cold; their morale impaired by the scenes around them,
added to the experiences of the previous day. As subsequently learned,
conditions of the German troops were very different All who had survived
on the 30th were withdrawn from the field of battle and positions near
it, their places taken by others who had not seen the carnage of that
day, well fed, comfortably sheltered, and thus, in physical condition as
in morale better fitted than their opponents to renew the combat At
break of day on December 2 a furious onslaught was made by them upon the
French, hundreds of whom were so benumbed by cold as to be unable to
stand to their arms. No wonder, therefore, that to them the day became
one of disaster. During all that day wounded in great numbers arrived
from the field in Paris, all available accommodation for them became
crowded. Eminent surgeons were busy in the performance of needful
operations among the five thousand six hundred so brought to them. As to
the dead, their probable numbers did not transpire but at one point of
the extensive range over which the fight extended, eight hundred were
interred in one long trench. During the succeeding night the troops
recrossed the Mame and bivouacked in the Bois de Vincennes.
The most determined
effort yet made to break the besting circle having failed, the fact was
now apparent that unless aid came from the provinces, all within the
beleaguered city were about to enter upon a condition of things more
desperate than we had as yet experienced. On the day immediately
following what undoubtedly was a withdrawal from the field of combat,
the aspect of Paris and of its people was that of sadness, mourning, and
uncertainty. The day was cold, a thick fog overhung the city, with
occasional falls of snow. Along the great thoroughfares the usual
traffic was replaced to a great extent by conveyances engaged in the
transport of wounded; funeral processions, more or less imposing in
their surroundings, met with in different parts of the city. The absence
of sound of heavy guns in the early part of the day seemed to add to the
sombreness of our conditions. It was in a manner a ''relief," as
afternoon advanced, to hear the familiar boom from outlying forts, as
their guns opened fire upon the German positions in front of them.
A week of sadness passed;
Paris ''dead"; its shroud a thick covering of snow; not a wheeled
carriage in the streets; scarcely a foot-passenger to be seen. Winter
more than usually severe was upon us; even the more unsettled classes of
the populace seemed to give a thought to the seriousness of conditions
present, and more particularly to those of the near future. As time
advanced, so did the prevailing miseries among the besieged increase and
assume different forms; in some disease and death, in others starvation
in respect to food and fuel, insufficient clothing, want of necessary
care and attendants among the poorer classes, and so on. As a result of
exhausted fuel supplies, the streets were dimly lighted by oil or
petroleum lamps; shops closed at nightfall; in streets and boulevards
pedestrians had to grope their way along the distance that intervened
between the flickering lamps. Meanwhile^ by day and night, with hardly
an interruption, the sound of heavy cannonading was heard with
suggestive distinctness. An occasional hope expressed that help from the
provinces would soon arrive, only to be destroyed by the receipt by
pigeon post of news of defeat near Orleans. Riot and a spirit of
upheaval became manifest; the places where "demonstrations" by the
dangerous classes were most pronounced, the Halles Centrales, and others
where food was issued. Within the churches scenes of a different kind
were enacted: some were nearly filled with men, women, and youths
engaged in private devotion; in others were groups in the midst of which
the Service for the Dead was being performed over a more or less richly
draped coffin, according to the social position of him or her whose body
it enclosed.
Now it was that noble
efforts were made by individuals, municipalities, and by the Assistance
Publique to lessen, as far as that was possible, some of the greatest
straits prevailing among particular classes. Large sums of money were
presented to the Paris Administration for that purpose by some wealthy
residents, of whom Sir Richard Wallace gave 80,000 francs. Places of
distribution of such fuel as could be procured, and of food to the poor,
were arranged ; nor was it long before the discovery was made that the
persons who obtained the lion's share in these respects were the most
clamorous and dangerous, rather than the most necessitous for whom those
measures of philanthropy were intended. But among all classes,
notwithstanding everything possible in the way of help, the difficulties
and privations incidental to our position increased apace.
In the ranks of the
citizen "soldiers," more especially those of Belleville, disaffection
and insubordination took various new developments. They established
among themselves a so-called Committee of Administration, by which all
orders were thenceforward to be issued, and promotions made. They once
more clamoured to be sent to the front against the enemy; their demand
was acceeded to; their conduct when face to face with their opponents so
objectionable in more respects than one that they were hastily recalled.
The particular corps most implicated were disbanded; a general
reorganization, as far as practicable, applied to the whole body of the
Garde Nationale.
A possible significance
in respect to other forces than those of Paris under similar
complications of circumstances attached to the occurrences just
mentioned; it was emphasized by conditions pertaining to other classes
of citizen soldiers whose reputation stood higher than that alluded to.
It was said of those enrolled under such titles as Amis de France^
Francs Yreurs, and so on, that so far from being recognised by the
Germans as soldiers, properly so called, when they fell into the hands
of the latter they were looked upon as brigands and assassins; dealt
with accordingly, that is, taken to the rear and shot. It was said of
them that ''if the franctireurs will indulge in Red Indian warfare, they
must take the consequences."
The spy mania acquired
renewed activity, experiences among us foreigners becoming again
unpleasant, though never to the extent already mentioned. Such was the
degree to which the new development prevailed that certain aristocratic
ladies who had taken upon themselves the part of vivandieres, in place
of those to whom allusion has already been made, were subjected to
unpleasantness as a result of suspicion that fell upon them. Houses in
the windows of which lights were detected in the course of the long
nights of midwinter were disagreeably overhauled by order of "the
authorities"; those occupied by Germans, or by French suspected of
German proclivities, were in some instances invaded by roughs, and that
without interference by the police, who were passive spectators of
violence done to person or property, or both. It was necessary for all
who desired some measure of individual safety to obtain at the office of
the Governor and to have the card so named vis6d from time to time at
the same bureau.
Arising out of what
seemed to us outsiders a very silly quairel in connection with the
tittletatde and can-cans of a dub a duel took place, while the
circumstances around us were as have just been described. The principals
and their "friends," all French, every endeavour made by the latter to
prevent the encounter having failed, the meeting took place in a garden
within the city. The adversaries, each with foil in hand, took their
places as arranged by their "friends," the foils of the latter held so
as to be under those of their respective opponents, and so^ ready to
strike up the weapon in case of "accident," undue advantage, or other
sufficient cause. Stripped to the shirt, the combatants lunge, pary, and
thrust at each other in the grey mist of morning, while the sound of
heavy firing from outlying forts was borne through the air. From their
persons perspiration issues, to be converted by the cold of a December
morning into visible vapour; the shirt of one is pierced, his side
grazed ; the fight lasts forty-five minutes; the bared arm of the other
principal is suddenly raised quivering in the air, blood trickles.the
weapon falls; "honour" has been satisfied.
From forts and other
positions around the city firing increases in degree; it is continuous
by day and throughout the night. Within, there are large bodies of
troops in motion to the sounds of drum and bugle;
orders issued that all gates of the fortifications shall be closed alike
to egress and ingress, these incidents being precursors of another
attempt against the enemy. Long before daybreak on December 21 the Rue
Lafayette was crowded by troops and ambulance establishments making
their way to the Porte de Pantin. Soon thereafter a combined force,
comprising this and other portions, took up position on the open field,
triangular in form, at the angles of which stand respectively
Aubervilliers, Le Bourget, and Drancy. On the left of the French
position the combat immediately became terrific in its violence, the
interchange of fire firom guns and rifles on each side amounting to a
continuous roar and shower of missiles. Heaviest of all was the
bombardment of Bourget, then in possession of the Germans, from the fort
of Aubervilliers. After a time the marine battalion, led by Admiral de
la Roncibre, made a rush, hatchets in hand, cheering as they went, upon
the village, with the result that out of six hundred men, of whom their
force consisted when their charge began, two hundred and seventy-nine
lay dead or wounded within a few minutes, the position still retained by
the enemy. At other places also the French attack failed; a third defeat
had been sustained. The intensity of cold was the greatest hitherto
experienced.
While the fight was at
its hottest a lady bearing the Red Cross brassard came upon the scene,
her precise object and purpose not apparent Wounded men were being
brought to and attended by members of ambulance societies under
circumstances to which most of us had become accustomed Not so the lady,
to whom the scene around and its general accompaniments proved
altogether "too much"; her demeanour and style of action showed how
unsuited she was to the position into which, no one knew how or why, she
had come. She was taken in charge by a courteous surgeon, and guided
with gentle firmness to the rear, after which ambulance work proceeded
with regularity and system, as usual.
On the day following the
scene presented by the battlefield was one that fancy could have hardly
pictured. The village of Drancy a mass of ruin ; fire and smoke
everywhere rising there from;, the church destroyed, but in the midst of
ruin the figure of the Madonneapd Child erect upon its pedestal, and
untouched. Parties of troops who bivouacked during the night sheltered
themselves as best they could, some by pieces of Units and others by
pieces of doors and furniture; camp fires kept up by means of fragments
of cabinets, costly furniture, and pianos. Among the men some had
possessed themselves with sheep-skins, blankets, rugs, or carpets, .with
pieces of which their heads and bodies were protected, giving to them a
strange and wild appearance. Everywhere the deeply frozen ground was
torn by shells, or had in it pits formed by the explosion of those
missiles.
Accompanied by a Staff
officer I visited two of the largest barracks within the city, meeting
in both of them from the soldiers through whose rooms I passed such a
display of civility and hospitality as I had heretofore been
unaccustomed to. In the Caserne de Papinifere, in accepting the cup of
wine proffered by a soldier, I drank ''Success to the French army,"
feeling as I did so how little likely was that sentiment to be realized.
From the further end of the room came the inquiry, expressed in the
English tongue, "How do you like our wine, sir?" A brief talk with the
speaker followed. In the course of it he said he was by birth an
Irishman; had left his wife in Dublin; had served twenty years in the
French navy; was well satisfied with that service, in which there were a
good many of his countrymen; that his period for pension was very nearly
complete; but in all that time he had never been so near "losing his
number" as ' there at Bourget"
Christmas is upon us.
Weather bitterly cold; many of the troops in bivouac suffer from
frost-bite; the Seine thickly covered with ice; fuel expended; pumping
machinery, like other kinds, at a standstill, hence water supply
materially interfered with, personal ablution and laundry work all but
impossible. Marauding parties break down and rob wood wherever they can;
trees newly cut down are placed on the heatth; they refiise to bum, but
yield smoke in abundance which irritates and inflames the eyes. Food
difficulties have increased in urgency; the daily ration insufficient in
quantity to maintain strength and animal warmth. In the hospitals
upwards of 20,000 sick and wounded; mortality in those establishments
greater than on the field of battle among the wounded prevailing to an
alarming extent. The health of besieged had become impaired by
semi-starvation; hands, feet, and ears were chapped and painful. These
were among the conditions in which our great festival was celebrated;
affectionate thoughts wafted towards those from whom no communication
had reached us since the unhappy day of Chatllon.
Public opinion manifested
itself in ways opposed to religion, law, and order. Classes of people
belonging to, or of similar type to those of Belleville and Vilette,
broke into ribaldry of expression that seemed to approach in profanity
that of 1792 ; in that also they were joined by some of the daily
papers, the position assumed by the Communists so violent as to menace
the existence of the Provisional Government Meantime there was increased
activity in the batteries of the besiegers, indicating that the circle
of ''fire and steel" beyond the city had narrowed ; yet, with all this,
the dangers, present and prospective, were looked upon as at least equal
in gravity from enemies within as from those beyond the walls.
On the 27th of December
newly unmasked batteries opened heavy fire on Avron and other places in
its vicinity; shells began to fall within the enceinte of the city, and
so the long-expected bombardment began. So heavy was the volume of fire
on that position that during three days of its continuance it was
estimated that 7,000 missiles — all of large size — fell upon it.
Manfully for a time did the defenders stand their ground; very great
their losses in killed and wounded when at last they were forced to
abandon their forts on the north-eastern side, their wounded serving to
still further crowd the overcrowded ambulances. The ultimate issue of
the siege, never very doubtful to us foreigners, had now become less so
than before. Men asked each other, "How is it that 600,000 Frenchmen
permitted themselves to be blockaded by 200,000 Germans?" The mystery
seemed to be solved by a writer of that day, somewhat according to this
manner: ' It is confessed that the Governor (Trochu) has shown
unfortunate hesitations; but to do good work the tools must be good, and
in these respects he is deficient. To fight the Prussians we should have
old soldiers, well disciplined and inured to war, reliable and
instructed officers ; not young soldiers of three months, poorly fed and
sickly, and officers who have been too recently promoted to properly
understand their duties." In gloom and sadness to us the year 1870
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