This morning I was able to march twenty kilometres. I have regained my old form.
Out in the streets there is talk of a possible departure for Paris. The depot may be transferred to some town in the centre of France.
We learn that the Government has left Paris for Bordeaux.... This is rather astonishing news.
When will this life in depots and barracks come to an end? When others are fighting and being killed, to mount guard by the watering-trough for the purpose of preventing soldiers from washing their socks is intolerable.
Saturday, 5th September.
No marching or drill to-day, since the order to leave may arrive any moment.
The English, says the communiqué, have taken ten cannon in the forest of Compiègne....
The Germans at Compiègne?... The train from Paris did not arrive this morning. It is becoming quite stifling here.
What is worse than the official dispatches is the multiplication of fantastic news. A famous airman has been shot as a spy; a mined forest in the neighbourhood of Lunéville has been fired, destroying three German army corps....