Next morning the others refused to work again,—“You have killed our brothers. Kill us also—we are not afraid to die.” They were not killed but were court-martialed and sentenced to fifteen years’ penal servitude.
The third morning, no one would work. These cheerful fatalists said, “We are Russians—our country calls us—we demand to go, and you tell us go to work. We will not work. You killed our brothers, kill us also. You may mutilate our bodies, but you cannot crush our souls.” These also court-martialed, were sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude.
There were many Russians. They showed no disposition to yield. The load was getting too heavy,—even for the broad shoulders of officers of the Legion. The underground wireless had been working. A sigh of relief went up when a high Russian official, breast covered with decorations, arrived from Paris. About the same time, orders came from the French headquarters to stop proceedings. The penal servitude sentences were not carried out; but they could not bring back the dead to life.
Inside of one month, Battalion F of the 2nd Legion, to which the unhappy men belonged, was merged into others. In two months, the Russians were transferred to the Russian Army. Four months later, the Regiment had ceased to exist.
CHAPTER VII
TRENCHES
The real, well-made, manicured trench is from two and a half to three feet wide and eight or ten feet deep. The narrower the trench, the better. It gives the least space for German shells to drop in and blow occupants out. The more crooked the trench the better. The enemy has smaller chance to make an enfilading (raking lengthwise) fire. Here only are narrowness and crookedness virtues.
Each trench is embellished with channels, mines, saps, tunnels, subterranean passages, and bomb proof structures of various sorts. Out in front, are from ten to fifty yards of barbed wire entanglements, through which a Jack rabbit could not go without getting hung up. The German has about the same arrangement on his side. That piece of open ground between the German wire and the French wire is known as “No-Man’s-Land.” In the night, patrols of men, German and French, promenade this strip, to guard against surprise attacks, and make observations of the enemy.
Patrols often meet in conflict. Some never come back. Others, wounded, must lie in shell holes, awaiting an opportunity to return. At the sign of an attack, darkness is lighted by star shells. It is then necessary for the patrol to get back to the wire-cut lane, or tunneled hole under the wires where they went out, their only refuge and chance for safety.
Back of the first line trench is the second, back of that a third. In some places, there are a dozen lines of trenches, different distances apart, varying with local conditions. From the rear, at right angles, interweaving like meshes of a net, are the communication and auxiliary branches through which men bring up supplies, provisions and ammunition.
In the front line trenches, in addition to the infantry’s rifles and grenades, are machine guns and trench mortars. Around the second line, the 75’s and field artillery. About the third line, with the reserves, stand heavy artillery. So, when one side attacks the other, they must cross that open “No-Man’s-Land,” go through these barbed wire entanglements, meet the rifle fire and grenades of the infantry, and those three rows of artillery. You can readily see why the line remains stationary along the front for so long, also how, when it has been broken or bent, there has been such great loss of life.