"LA FRANCE EST POURRIE"
169
Q:
Would anything have happened to you in Paris? You're all pretty
girls, though. Why did you run away?
A: (l) I don't want to stay with the Boches. (2) They'll die of hunger
in Paris. (3) Not to have anything to eat, certainly no work, and the
mugs of the Boches
(ces gueules des Boches)-merci.
And besides,
I don't want to sleep with any Boche.
Q:
Why would you have to?
A: I heard that they're going to sleep with all the women.
Q:
How do you know in the first place that they're coming to Paris?
A:
(all three laughed bitterly)
They are already there. We've been sold
out. Another revolution is needed all over again to show all those
dirty dogs how things ought to be done
(pour faire la loi a ces
.1alauds),
but it's too late.
Q:
Aren't you afraid of the shooting?
A: That'll stop again.
It
was worse at Montlery.
Q:
But where are you going?
A: Maybe to Nice, maybe to Bordeaux, wherever there are no Boches.
Q:
Have you anything with you-money?
A:
(all three laughed)
We haven't anything, not even stockings. We'll
wash our underwear when we get over the Loire. Let's hope it doesn't
rain. We haven't a thing, no money either.
If
this wheel will only
stand up I'll get along, and when we've washed ourselves we won't
stink any more.
The
following conversation took place with an artillery sergeant met
that
day on the same road.
Q:
Where are you taking your gun?
A: They say, to new positions. You can be sure it's a swindle. There
are no new positions.
Q:
Why?
A: Because there weren't even any old positions.
Q:
Did you do much firing?
A: Not a shot since La Fere-Champenoise. Six shots before Reims, and
near Fontainebleau we lost the rest of our ammunition.
Q:
That seems to have been a funny sort of campaign.
A: Not so funny, at that. No officers, no orders, the Boches always on our
tails and nothing to fight with. It was no joke, believe me.
(C'est pas
de rigolo, je vous le dit!)
Q:
How did it happen?
A: How it happened? Man, it was that way from the beginning. We
were already running away like rabbits last September. The general
staff was full of nothing but traitors and lunatics
(que des traitres et
des cons).
They sold out all France. The Boches didn't have an army
before them, only a pile of crap
(
une coyonnade).
They fired and
we packed up. There was no help for it- we had to lose, that's what
the gang wanted.
La
France est pourrie, je vous le dit, et l'armee
avec, et surtout les officiers. Voila tout.
