Zouaves playing cards at Vincennes. Gouache anonymous, circa 1870. Al. Brown Univ.
"There was a general, a newcomer to Africa, which took great pains to make his party habits and customs of the Zouaves. Brave man, but inflexible on the first theory, he knew thoroughly all ministerial decisions concerning the details of uniforms and domestic service. Fire Nicolas, Emperor of Russia, who pushed so far the militarism, did not attach more importance to the buttons on her leggings. Nothing escaped him. He knew a gram, which weighed a bundle of fodder, and he had been able to count the grains powder cartridges. A review was as important to him that a great battle. Fifteen days in prison lieutenant whose hair was not cut brush and one month to the soldier who was missing for a needle in his bag. This brave general had been sent to Algeria to pass inspection. It should begin with a battalion of Zouaves who were staggered, company by company, to establish a road some distance from the coast.
The first camp of the workers was commanded by a captain, that his soldiers had nicknamed the Simoun. A beautiful name that deserved. As the wind of the desert, he was impetuous, irresistible: he had a superb reputation for bravery. As for how he managed his company, he was considered the leader most debonair imaginable. He had killed one who had stumbled to the fire, but no unnecessary calls, no room for the slightest misdemeanor police.
As feature, it was a phrase that paints his character very well. Every moment he repeated Vlan! is a detail.
- Captain, came to announce a sergeant, the Arabs of the neighboring tribe revolted ; There are at least one thousand who marched on the camp.
- Vlan! is a detail, "he replied; get caught with arms in my lads (soldiers), we will learn good manners these darkies there.
He had a hundred men, a thousand Arabs in front of him, but that it was parallel.
- Captain, "said a quartermaster, there are no shoes at all, who brought the convoy was cut by the Arable.
- Vlan! is a detail. my lads will be their kébir (head), they go barefoot.
And if necessary, the captain put on his boots aside for an example. Such was the captain Simoun, to the camp which was heading the Inspector General referred. The latter, knowing the achievements of the captain, but knowing his habits, held him in high esteem. While walking with his aides-de-camp, his escort of hussars and a jumper for arable guide, he kept his staff feats of arms of the company of Zouaves and its leader.
- Gentlemen, he said, you'll see soldiers models; them and their brave captain, they have recently made a retreat four miles at least, surrounded by seven to eight hundred Bedouin irregular. They have not lost ten men, and they have killed hundreds of enemies. Imagine if they had to maneuver with precision. [...]
Chatting thus they arrived at a sort of village with thatched huts. There were a few tents here and there uninhabited. The guide led the Arab general on this side. Dogs of all sizes, from tame jackals, gazelles private sheep at liberty, a lion cub for two years, a magnificent collection of pigs, chickens, cats, crows, animals of all sorts finally crawling, howling, barking, croaking in the center of this village. When the inspector general and his officers entered his chamber, the whole menagerie was in revolution, and it was a terrible Sabbath. [...] Then a dozen men dressed out shacks in the strangest way. Some had green or blue overalls, white pieces of patched, others wore smocks trimmed in cloth bags and sleeveless. Several were naked to the waist, and held in their hands or a slotted spoon or axes or knives. As for hairstyles, there were cups of white wool, of fez red hats of palm leaves and alpha, an ornament or a rabbit's tail feather of a rooster, according to the whim of the owner. Although baffled, the inspector general took information from this oddly dressed people, to know his whereabouts.
- At the camp of the Zouaves, sir, they said.
- I see a village, but the camp, he said.
- These huts are called shacks, is that we stay in there.
- You're So Zouaves?
- Yes, sir.
General nearly fell over backwards.
- this is the Kebir, "said the Zouave, whom he addressed, and walked away. The other soldiers had already retired.
Captain Simoun indeed advancing to meet his superior. He wore a large mesh pants, a white hooded coat, and he smoked a good briar pipe. The General could not believe his eyes. He wondered if he was not dreaming, if the demon of indiscipline will not Point tormented by a terrible nightmare.
- You're the captain of the company, Sir! he asked in an irritated tone.
- Yes, sir.
- Well! I have to pass inspection. Where are your men?
- At Work.
- And those I've just seen?
- These are the chefs of each squad.
- call everyone sir, I want to spend my journal right away, do you hear, then I direct my report to the governor.
A formidable anger rumbled into the chest of the general, but it contained the phrase. The captain did not suspect anything. It called a bugle. It appeared with a scrubbing brush in one hand and a wet shirt on the other.
- Ring the retreat, no race, "said the captain.
The bugler walked away with all speed.
- What was the bugler with his brush? the general asked.
- It bleached linen for the company, "said the captain.
- This is not regulatory.
- Vlan! is a detail. As it must stay in camp because of the alerts, he must care about something and he earns a few pennies to drink.
- Who will guard the camp while your company is at work?
- None.
- And if attacked?
- Up there on the mound (the captain pointed to a nipple), there is a star. In case of alarm, she has ordered to fire a shot. The point where it is, it dominates the plain two leagues. A signal is given by the sentinel, the bugle sounded the recall, and my lads return. It is not long, look, you'll see.
Indeed, the bugle, having reached the summit of the hill, the wind threw the notes of retirement, followed by the fast modulation of a run. Ten minutes later, a hundred men rushed into the camp as a whirlwind.
There was nothing in the uniform of the Zouaves, they wore slung rifles ammunition and hand shovels and pickaxes several wheelbarrows pushed before them. Without waiting for orders, with marvelous rapidity, they remuèrent soil, improvised ditches, barricades, and in the blink of an eye, the camp became a fortress closed on all sides. The captain laughed in his beard.
- they thought he said that Arabs were approaching. You see, generally Here in a state of defense.
The Zouaves, in fact, visited the primers to their guns, adjust their bayonets, were grouped under the roofs of huts, atop the barricades and waited for the enemy with a capacity, which, to be picturesque , was no less bellicose. The old Gallic blood awoke in the general's heart: he made a revolution in his ideas. He shook hands with Captain Simoun and said
- keeping your men leaves something to be desired though, but they are excellent soldiers for everything else.
- Vlan! replied the captain, holding a detail. The battalion fought in the Moselle shoes, my father was.
From that day the general was so indulgent to the soldiers, they named him the father gratification, because distributions of wine followed his journals. As for Captain Simoun, he died in the Crimea. A Russian officer shouted:
- go!
- No, "replied the captain Simoun.
- You're surrounded, "said the Russian, appointment, or you're dead!
- Vlan! a detail , "replied the captain. And he fell to rise no more. "
- Vlan! a detail , "replied the captain. And he fell to rise no more. "
Louis Black, Memories of a Zouave (Italian Campaign) . Paris, Achille Faure, 1866.
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