Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-29
TEL[S0F BEGINNING
OF FOREIGN LEGION
Capt. Charles Sweeny Depicts
Privations Which Soldiers
Suffered in France.
SIX WEEKS; Then TRENCHES
By CAPT. CHARLES SWEENY.
OF the Foreign Legion.

NOs l.
We met in Rouen August 26, 1914, We
recruits for the Foreign Legion. 1t
seemed to me the veterans of the old
legion who had been given the task
of breaking US in wore an air OF de-
lection. Certainly no crowd ever look
ed less soldierly than we did. There
were a dozen nationalities and as many
tongues. Rich men. dandfes. poor men,
toughs. of all heights, conplexions,
disorderly group. We were alike in
but one thing.
We meant to fight for France. We
loved France. Something in each OF
us. voiceless and confused as We were.
told US that the world would be the
gamer IL France won and immeasur-
ably the loser II France were crushed.
do not know that many Of US carried
the argument further. The officers
hurriedly sorted US into groups by ma
group. Not many Of US had had any
previous military experience. We
seemed hopelessly amateurish in our
stained cit" clothes. Most of us SLOUGH
Fall in
We struggled down Rouen's streets in
disorderly. column of fours. That
night we slept in straw under the
forms were issued to us. and we en-
barked upon the course Of training
which in six weeks made us over into
the raw material for soldering. No
other nation than the French ever at
tempted such a thing in SO short a
time. but France was driven by neces-
sity. At the end Of our six weeks
we were sent into the trenches We
completed our training under fire.
W. hear. Ss0 tx. ea asReie e hrs.
stumbled out Of the school As tho
days went on We emerged from our
straw moro alertly. for our physical
condition was lettering. The first task
before our instructors was to make US
At men for the hard work ahead. We
used to walk five to ten miles out in
Jhe country and back again each day.
so bands for US in those days. There
Soldiers of the King and 'Tfpperary"
and kept step to the tunes. Our nom
Commissioned officers were all old
DICTIONARIES from Algiers.
Shown No Pity.
Left. right, left, right"
swollen eyes were the rule those days.
The old lesionaries had no pity on US.
We thought they were iron men, but
by and by We became iron men, too. We
had got as far as about face" in our
loaded on cattle cars and taken to
Toulouse. Forty men to the car, not
enough room to lie down or even to sit
up in. No straw. An agony of fatigue.
thirty miles day. hours spent in squad
and company formation. Fat fell away
from US. Our faces grew lean and hard
and eager. On to Mailly for company
and battalion formations.
What Is that?"
It was the sound OF the guns. It was
the 6rst time most Of us had heard
them, but from that time on we were
20 NJ Af~
made into soldiers in the atmosphere Of
war, in the practical French way.
Every day We saw the wounded on
their way to the rear. The smells OF
the streets. Our minds grew used to
the thought Of wounds and death. We
were hardening to our work. although
we did not know IL. One afternoon the
the front that night. Perhaps IS per
cent of US were veterans Of the Moroc-
can wars The rest were raw recruits.
but strong and mt In six weeks time
we had been made at for trench war
fare.
First Day Under Fire.
.one battalion for the front at once"
We had reached verzenay after sew
eral days march. Ny battalion was
in soaking rain. Underfoot the fields
were marshy. SO that we sank mid
leg deep in the mud. For the first time
that day came under nre. I had been
the road to the trenches I had been
sent from yerzenay to ind Col GlaudeL
q veteran Of the Moroccan wars.
came out OF the street to overlook the
ehrapnel began to fall about me.
felt funny. That Is the only word for
H-funny. We went on to Beaumont.
A broken village battered. crush
church all beaten down. It was the
hrst time our men had seen anything
Of war. They looked at these things
stupehed. amazed, little frightened.
It was hard to comprehend. It was
foreign to all our previous experience.
The Germans were Smelling It with
what seemed a brutal persistence. We
stood I'm the ranks. silent. fiinchfng.
angered by this danger to which there
was no reply and for which 1t seemed
there was no need. Lips trembled. Yet
our men were not towards. 1t was only
that this was new. We were ordered
back to the banks Of the canal
How We shuffed back through the
dust and the shreds Of pottery and the
broken masonry Of the walls! Fright
ened. OF course. The scream Of the
shells overhead seemed fncessant. They
exploded everywhere amid those broken
were persistent1y green in spite Of war.
10 we got to the canal. 100 yards from
the very center Of the bombardment-
q clear stream of brown water, Dor
dered by little bushes with here and
there the platforms on which the coun-
try women kneel to wash their clothes
in the stream.
II seemed almost familiar to us. this
scene. for there were men kneeling
on those little stages. washing their
clothes. bathing in the stream, sitting
on the banks. sewing kits in hand.
playing cards. RossipinR It was quiet
and homely and peaceful. in spite Of
the shells that burst such Q little dis
lance away. These men were veterans
and that bombardment that had so
shaken US was merely an incident of
the day to them. We began to COM
prehend.
Here we had open order drill every
day. We went out 1--WE or six miles