Part 18 (1/2)
Henri started. Unconsciously he had been carrying on the work just as he would have done had he and Stuart and Jules been alone together; that is to say, he had just done his best, and no one could do more.
Then what was it that he had forgotten, this essential point which a commander of experience would certainly not have omitted? He gaped at the veteran, who thereupon laughed and chuckled even more loudly.
”Listen, then, my Henri. You ask us to fight these Boches, to drive them back, to keep them out so that we may hold the fort for France and for Grand-pere Joffre, and, of a truth, we would gladly do that. But listen, then. Men must eat to fight, and drink also, to retain their strength; for if men are not strong, how then can they fight as soldiers, my Henri? The hour has come for food, and is there not food and drink here in abundance?”
There were smiles all round at that; and presently the little garrison were seated close behind their barricade, where two men kept watch upon the enemy so that the rest could not be surprised, while the others ate the rations which forethought had caused them to bring into the fort, and took cautious draughts from their store of water. Then, having finished their meal, they drew cigarettes and pipes from their pockets, and presently a thick cloud of smoke almost hid the faces of Henri's detachment, and quite a column of it blew out from the aperture through which the gun, long since removed, had been wont to project its muzzle.
”Begins to look as though they intended to leave us alone, or perhaps they have been driven out of the fortress,” said Jules, tiptoeing along from one of the loopholes. ”There's not a sound down below, and not a single Prussian has put in an appearance. Perhaps our fellows have come up again, eh? Why not? And may be already above us and all about us.”
”No. It is not so,” called one of the garrison whom Henri had posted at the gun-embrasure, ”for I have been watching here since we came to this chamber. The French troops have been driven back on to the plateau--not far, my friends, you will understand, not very far, but still far enough to take them hopelessly beyond us. No. We are cut off here; and if those Boches have left us alone for a while, and allowed us to enjoy a meal, it is not because they have forgotten.
Maybe they are preparing a new attack; perhaps they have been engaged in consolidating their position; in any case, we shall hear from them again, and sooner rather than later.”
The attack, when it did come, was indeed sudden and unexpected. A shout came from one of the men watching at the loopholes; and, darting forward, Henri discerned at once numbers of figures, which, das.h.i.+ng from the background, were rus.h.i.+ng across the hall towards them.
Indeed, half a dozen of the Brandenburgers were already at the exit from the hall, and as he looked through a loophole they leapt on the first step of the stairway.
”To your places!” he shouted. ”Open fire! Supports get ready to come forward!”
Bang! There was the sharp report of a rifle from down below, a sudden piercing cry, and one of the defenders fell heavily against our hero.
An instant later the wall of bags shook while a German bayonet transfixed one of the upper tier, and tore it from its position. Then the machine-gun opened, deafening all within the chamber, lighting by its flash the scene of the conflict; while the men at the loopholes blazed into the lines of Germans who were now swarming on the stairway.
That flimsy wall of bags filled with corn shook and swayed as bodies of frantic Germans, slaughtered by the defenders, fell heavily against it; while one huge Brandenburger who had leapt in advance of his friends, and who had been caught by a bullet fired from one of the loopholes, fixed a dying clutch on the summit of the wall, and held on convulsively for a few moments. Then, with a piercing scream, he fell backwards, carrying with him some two feet of the top of the slender defence which Henri and his friends had erected.
”Man the gap,” shouted Henri at once, flinging himself towards the opening, and disentangling himself from another of the defenders who had fallen against him. ”Bring bags up from behind and fill in the gap while we defend it.”
What a pandemonium there was in that comparatively narrow s.p.a.ce up which the stone steps ascended, and across the top of which the barricade of corn-sacks had been erected. Every step was crammed with Brandenburgers, while down below, in the gallery along which the miniature railway ran, which, with its truck, had proved of such service, the exit from the huge hall in the shattered interior of the fort, and that hall itself, were packed with shouting individuals, with men pressing forward to the attack, with fallen soldiers, and with wounded who called in shrill accents to their comrades. Those at the top of the stairs were bellowing with anger, and some with fear; for, forced on by the press from behind, and beaten by the opposition of the Frenchmen, they were, as it were, between two fires, and escape, and even the power of defence, were out of the question. They dropped, indeed, as Henri and his friends fired amongst them; while the bearded veteran, setting a splendid example to his comrades, leapt on to some of the fallen bags, and, leaning over the swaying wall, made havoc amongst the Germans with his bayonet. Then of a sudden the shouts died away, there was a rush of steps on the stairway, and silence--a silence which was almost painful, which seemed to smite the ear of those gallant men holding the gun embrasure and the chamber.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THAT BEARDED VETERAN, LEANING OVER THE SWAYING WALL, MADE HAVOC AMONG THE GERMANS WITH HIS BAYONET”]
”It was hot work, my Henri, while it lasted,” chuckled the bearded _poilu_ as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, and stood up after having deposited a fresh bag in its place; ”but, mon Dieu! those Brandenburgers fight like the devil! And how they hate us; and how we hate them! Yes, yes! This is a war to the death! This is fighting for France! And only over our bodies shall they advance towards Paris.
Comrades, we are holding them back. We here in the remains of this fortress, we are helping to keep the Kaiser's hordes away from the interior of France; helping, too, to rob him of victory and conquest.”
Yes, indeed! The violent efforts of these men were helping not a little to check the advance of the enemy, just as the heroic fighting of the French all along the battered trenches round the salient of Verdun was a.s.sisting in defeating the enemy's object. We have said already that the conquest and capture of Verdun alone could be of no particular or material benefit to the Kaiser and his armies. Verdun was, as it were, merely an empty sh.e.l.l, a sleepy old town in the hollow by the River Meuse, overshadowed by heights which formed the major portion of that salient held by our ally. Forts there were in abundance--forts, as we have said, long since dismantled. Yet in Germany the tale spread by the German War Staff, that Verdun was heavily armed and considered impregnable, was thoroughly believed, just as it was confidently believed that the valour of the Kaiser's soldiers would s.n.a.t.c.h it from the enemy.
This terrible World War had come, at this stage, to a period when the spirits of Germans and Austrians were failing, when some stimulus was sadly needed, and when the courage of the people was hardly what it had been when the conflict opened. Who knows? Who can state with certainty what was the real object of the German War Staff in launching an attack upon such an impregnable position--impregnable not because of those dismantled forts and the guns which had once filled them, but because of the nature of the terrain, those hills with their steep escarpments, and those positions on the left or western bank of the Meuse which gave such splendid opportunity to the defenders to outflank with their guns those attacking the northern portion of the salient.
Perhaps a sensational capture of Verdun was the objective of the Germans, merely with the idea that it would act as a stimulus to the peoples of the Central Empires. More likely, finding themselves getting weaker as the months drew on, and terrible losses reduced their fighting effectives, the Kaiser and his war lords were determined to risk all in one mighty effort--an effort which should break through the French line at Verdun, thus bringing kudos to the armies of Prussia, and at the same time demoralizing the French soldiers. Who knows?
They may have hoped to dash through the gap thus formed, and once more advance on Paris. In any case, they were well aware of the phenomenal rise in power of the British forces. Five million men had volunteered to fight for king and country; and now, on the top of that, there was news that Great Britain had adopted conscription; every man up to the age of forty-one was to become a soldier, was to fight for that liberty dear to all Britons.
Then, seeing that Germany's forces were rapidly dwindling, a blow must be struck now--a sensational blow--which would, it was hoped, break the power of France before those British reinforcements could reach her.
Later, Germany might still have strength to tackle Britain alone; and in that case this risky, if determined, attack on Verdun would be worth the price paid for it.
To France then, and the French armies at Verdun, all eyes were turned, for at this moment she held the fate of the Allies in her hands. Let her hold on to Verdun, let her defeat the Germans there by successful resistance, and hold off the enemy till that hour arrived, now fast approaching, when fresh British forces would have sailed for France, and have taken their place beside the _poilus_. Every little helped; and the fierce encounter taking place beneath the shattered roof of the fortress of Douaumont was a.s.sisting not a little.
”They will come again, later on, perhaps, when it is dark,” Henri told his friends, ”and we must make ready to resist them. Pile up the bags and place them three deep now, for during the last attack they were nearly pulled over. After that there's little for us to do but to wait and smoke. Of fighting we shall have our full before this little business is ended.”
Darkness came on after a while, and presently the gloom within the fortress was so deep that even the walls lining the stairway were invisible, nor had any of the party any means of illuminating them, or of lighting up the interior of the hall held by the Brandenburgers.
All they could do was to crouch behind their wall and listen for the attack which they knew must be coming. Then, of a sudden, there was a violent explosion just outside their wall, and one farther back in the chamber which they occupied. Hand-grenades had been thrown by the enemy, and hardly had the explosions taken place than there was the sound of another charge, and a horde of men dashed up the stairs and flung themselves upon the barricade which the _poilus_ were defending.
CHAPTER XVI