FOREIGN LEGION IN GREAT DESERT

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 307, 28 December 1929, Page 6 (Supplement)

FOREIGN LEGION IN GREAT DESERT

(By E. F. LOEHNDORFF.)

(Concluded from Saturday,' December 14.)

One day, we left the caravan route leading to Timbuctoo, and were riding along the borders of the El-Aregh, the Band region, when in the distance emerged tho green walls of a palm bedecked fort, from the watch-tower of which the tricolour flag was limply waging. As we drew nearer, the walls of the fort were suddenly covered with numbers of legionnaires, and a wild cry, tremendous, screacliing, and' frightful greeted our arrival. A world of hope and suspense was expressed in this cry. We rode to tho open door and gesticulating men, with maddened eyes, surrounded us, helping us off our saddles and leading our mounts to the troughs. The relief force had come surprisingly sooner than they expected. The officers exchanged greetings 'and dispatches, and we were soon sitting, exhausted and apathetic, along the walls of the foit looking out with astonishment at the pleasant landscape extending before us. It was an oasis which numbered seven date palms, and which boasted of a spring carefully guarded by stone walls. We could not, with our benumbed brains, understand why these men looked so happy and pleased to see us. But they were happy, really delighted, as if they had been afraid they would never be able to get back. The sun had sunk below the horizon. In the two common rooms of the fort the dead-tired riders lay as stones on the beds, resting to their hearts' content. I eat in the watch tower just under the leafy crown of the tallest palm and stared into the distance, my weapon resting in my tired hands. Below, along the walls and on the flat roof, another man was on guard. All were asleep in the fort. We, alone,_ in that vast desert, were both straining our eyes until every cloud had been accounted for and every trace or form had sunk into nothingness. The Tropical Rage. Our new life in the Seven Palms Foit began the next day. . The first week passed away without the monotony of the place palling upon us, as we had provisions to stow away and a great deal with which to occupy ourselves , We had no service to perform outside of the fort, and the eight camels on whi?h the relieved men were returning were soon made ready. And we sat and polished and furbished our they shone like silver, and then w polished them again, |eaint know the thoughts of the other, and £°a" to hate Mm. Soon the fort gamson became a mass of wild and maddened men, who would sit at the same table to eat, but snarl at each othe as if ready, to slaughter one £nd a"Or we would mount guard on the walls and in the watch tower, looking out ■upon the red, scorching wast© until a a' black cloud would fall over our eyes and all things would be blotted out around us. We were beginning to feel that insensate rage which certain tropical conditions produce. Corporal Bukazovie was the first to give way; he began dancing and screaming along the walls calling for the lakes and streams his vision ehowed him in mirage, and striving to splunge into their phantom depths to quell his thirst. He was soon isolated in one of the five dark cells of the fort, in which the heat was a veritable purgatory. In the cell he bellowed and roared so that the very walls seemed to shake and men on watch out in the desert posts were frightened and retired to the fort. . Then Bonplant, good and jolly Bonplant, caught fever and in his delirium suddenly burst out with the declaration that he had been crowned Emperor of the Sahara, and he distributed to all of us decorations and honours. He assured us that the captain of the garrison was chief eunuch, which incensed that worthy, of course, and Bonplant was soon lodged also in one •of the dark cells. He was there "eight days before he had cooled down. When ie came out his speech was wild. He Tvae still revelling in visions of harems with thousands of retainers. - The next was Fisher, a great big man, bear-like, who thought he had become a pump, and would work his arms up and down to draw water, clear and pure water, that would quench our thirst.

Lieutenant Chapelle then gave way to absinthe drinking, as was perhaps Shis wont, and soon found his way to i;he dark cells. The fort had become a hellish place, with all the men running amok and officers and non-com-missioned officers utterly unable to restore a semblance of order.

The desert rage had caught hold of us all. The men wanted to hang their ■officers on the palm trees; they would attack the trees themselves with drawn .jbayonets and fire volleys into ' the -waste. They wanted to march away in the desert and only by the timely menace that he would tfain the machine gun on the group of wild men ranging round the fort in the silvery night did the captain contrive, to avoid a mutiny. Nevertheless the stores were plundered, part of the provisions? were buried out of the fort and one day, under a terrible sun, several men marched out of the fort. But they soon came back, their tongues almost out of their heads, dying with thirst, just like beaten dogs. They were glad to be locked up in the cells.

Later, reconnoitring raids were organised with the eight camels left in the fort. We went out to survey some poor oasis, or some wells in the desert where ,we found ancient leather vessels hung up to catch the slightest drop of water; We visited native douars where for a 5 fe Y sar <lines and matches the inhabitants would soil us their daughters. And, \ once > on such a raid, in spite of the sergeant s curses, we had to weather the j sirocco. Only One Saved! We were exhausted, sleeping in onr saddles when we had our first'breath of the wilderness' hot, death-dealing wind. ,Wc found that our mounts were becoming rcHtlcßH. But it was already too late to ily for safety. I Ba w in the I distance something like an enormous browninh black cloud rising in the shape of a wall, and following my comrades' •example I dismounted promptly, forced

ADVENTURES OF A LEGIONNAIRE.

the animal to lie down and stretched myself by its side, my face hidden under its jaw. — The sirocco was upon us with a terrible howl. It became suddenly so warm that I could hardly breathe. My ears were drumming aiul aching, fire seemed to be running down my back, and heated sand pressed my limbs so that the> seemed to wither. The pressure was so great that I thought my breast would be smashed in, and that the end had come. But there was a sudden stillness; I found I could breathe better. I worked ray way out of the sand, my eyes, nose, mouth and ears werq full of it. Fully conscious now I looked around me. My camel was covered with sand, heaped up like on a tomb. I could not see any of my comrades; they were buried under sand, huge masses weighing tons covering them up completely as they lay with their beasts. I had been the only on - to escape. The Fight. The whole landscape was altered, I had no compass and could not tell where I was. Nevertheless, I managed to free ray camel's head. The beast recovered slowly, and I hoped he would instinctively find its way back to its stable. The camel was soon on its way, but after a few hours' ride, I came suddenly upon a posse of men who had emerged from a small fissure in the sand cliffs.

They wore blue veils over their faces, and carried spears or swords. Some were leading camels. A shot cwyslied, and I heard the ping of the bullet pass my ear. My camel had soon got into its stride. Turning my head over my shoulder, I could see the Touaregs in hot pursuit. Some more shots were fired, as.the pursuers set their camels to a gallop. But mine flew like the wind. "Ushah, oh Baba! Ushali!" I cried to the beast to egg him on to further effort. And then, to my indescribable joy, I saw green walls in the distance atid the tree-tops of the Seven Palms. Bullets were flying around me, but the tribesmen were riding too fast and could not be sure of their aim. Soon I espied a row of faces along the wall, and heard volleys ringing out.

The pursuants bellowed hoarsely, and then the machine-gun started to play, and all was still; I saw the Touraegs retiring to safer distance, waving their weapons frantically. My camel faltered as we reached the open door of the fort and flung me on the sand. When I stood up, the captain was inquiring anxiously:

"And the others?" he said. I saluted and stammered: "All dead. The Sirocco! The sand!" And I broke down completely.

After that episode, life in the Seven Palms Fort went on monotonous as usual, under the broiling sun, until six months later when we were relieved. We had to go back to An Sefra, and I was next sent to Morocco to fight against the Kabyles, then I made my fifth and successful bid for 'freedom. I have seen many other things, but I shajl never forget the Seven Palms Fort, and its handful of the lost Legion out there in the furnace of the Sahara, waiting for a relief which for some never came.— (Anglo-American IST.N.S. Copyright.)