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A Soldier Unafraid - Letters From The Trenches On The Alsatian Front
Nearly 1.7 million French soldiers died in the First World War fighting for their homeland against the invading German Armies; it is difficult to comprehend that hecatomb. It is indeed difficult to comprehend that many lost lives, perhaps the only way to do so is in representative figures such as the Unknown Soldier or by the many memoirs and diaries that have been left behind. One such diary is that of Captain André Cornet-Auquier, a passionate but moral man, well-known for his leadership skills in and bravery on the battlefield. The conditions in which he served on the Alsace front were always tough, being often within forty-five yards of the enemy’s front lines, his faith in his cause and God sustained him even in the most trying situations. Despite being in the front line fighting for so long his luck ran out in February 1916, mortally wounded by a shell splinter. A symbol of French stoicism and courage he died beloved by his men, one of his sergeants said “It is not a spectacle often witnessed, — that of soldiers, accustomed to face death, weeping like children as they stood round his bier.”
82 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 9, 2009
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December 14, 2019
From August 3, 1914: "The latest news shows that we are in for war. I learned this yesterday afternoon. When we heard it in the house where I was staying, everybody grew pale. [...] I was and am still calm. God is there; fear nothing."
From January 1 and 2, 1915: "And then we are sure to meet again if it should please God to separate us momentarily. In fact, as I was just saying to Major Barberot, who left me a moment ago, what are our lives worth when we think of the years of happiness and of peace of those who will follow us and those who may survive us. We labor for to-morrow, in order that there may be no more wars, no more spilling of blood, no more killing, no more wounded, no more mutilated victims; we labor, we whom our mothers will so weep for, in order that other mamas may never know these bitter tears."
From July 17, 1915: "Yesterday I presided at a very moving ceremony. I represented the colonel at the burial of one of our fellow officers, -a very fine young second lieutenant killed at the head of his company. Informed at the last moment, I improvised a little speech which ended with these words: "May the regrets which Lieutenant Maurice Rejol leaves behind him and the tears which may be shed be some consolation to his widowed mother. But it is towards God that she should now turn her eyes to find comfort of an eternal meeting in that native land on high, where there will be nevermore be war or the shedding of blood.""
From December 13, 1916: "The Frenchman has an enormous stock of good qualities, -such as courage, heroism and even -but who would have though it? tenacity. But he is by nature careless and undisciplined. For instance, it is no easy matter to get my men to observe the rules of the most elementary hygiene. The Frenchman is also admirable in that he redeems his defects by wonderful good qualities when crisis happens. But he would do much better to avoid the crisis by being more far-sighted and prepared. We are tenacious to-day, but the Boches have been so for the past fifty years. We are wonderful in improvising; but there are domains where improvising doesn't work. War is one of these. Because we didn't like war, which was all very well, we though there wouldn't be any, which was not so well; and not believing there would be any, we were not prepared for it, which was almost criminal."
From December 22, 1915: "The cause of Justice and Right is His cause and is ours. It is to us, the allied armies, that He has confided the task of making this cause triumph. It is we therefore who will be victorious in this struggle. When? How? I cannot say, and after all it matters little when and how. Don't fear therefore, but believe. [...] If you tremble, it is because you do not believe in the final victory of Justice and Right, in the triumph of the cause of God on earth."
From February 29, 1916: "Though I am very busy, this is the most comfortable resting place I have had since I have been at the front. I am staying with some very worthy people, am well lodged, well taken care of, coddled even, in fact treated as a son. [...] I have been at the work all day to-day and am just back all tired out. I am going to bed without even eating, so weary am I."
From January 1 and 2, 1915: "And then we are sure to meet again if it should please God to separate us momentarily. In fact, as I was just saying to Major Barberot, who left me a moment ago, what are our lives worth when we think of the years of happiness and of peace of those who will follow us and those who may survive us. We labor for to-morrow, in order that there may be no more wars, no more spilling of blood, no more killing, no more wounded, no more mutilated victims; we labor, we whom our mothers will so weep for, in order that other mamas may never know these bitter tears."
From July 17, 1915: "Yesterday I presided at a very moving ceremony. I represented the colonel at the burial of one of our fellow officers, -a very fine young second lieutenant killed at the head of his company. Informed at the last moment, I improvised a little speech which ended with these words: "May the regrets which Lieutenant Maurice Rejol leaves behind him and the tears which may be shed be some consolation to his widowed mother. But it is towards God that she should now turn her eyes to find comfort of an eternal meeting in that native land on high, where there will be nevermore be war or the shedding of blood.""
From December 13, 1916: "The Frenchman has an enormous stock of good qualities, -such as courage, heroism and even -but who would have though it? tenacity. But he is by nature careless and undisciplined. For instance, it is no easy matter to get my men to observe the rules of the most elementary hygiene. The Frenchman is also admirable in that he redeems his defects by wonderful good qualities when crisis happens. But he would do much better to avoid the crisis by being more far-sighted and prepared. We are tenacious to-day, but the Boches have been so for the past fifty years. We are wonderful in improvising; but there are domains where improvising doesn't work. War is one of these. Because we didn't like war, which was all very well, we though there wouldn't be any, which was not so well; and not believing there would be any, we were not prepared for it, which was almost criminal."
From December 22, 1915: "The cause of Justice and Right is His cause and is ours. It is to us, the allied armies, that He has confided the task of making this cause triumph. It is we therefore who will be victorious in this struggle. When? How? I cannot say, and after all it matters little when and how. Don't fear therefore, but believe. [...] If you tremble, it is because you do not believe in the final victory of Justice and Right, in the triumph of the cause of God on earth."
From February 29, 1916: "Though I am very busy, this is the most comfortable resting place I have had since I have been at the front. I am staying with some very worthy people, am well lodged, well taken care of, coddled even, in fact treated as a son. [...] I have been at the work all day to-day and am just back all tired out. I am going to bed without even eating, so weary am I."
March 25, 2014
This short book, originally published in English in 1918, is a collection of the letters home of Captain André Cornet-Auquier, a French reservist called up at the start of the Great War.
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