Military honor slogan

The siege of Berlin

When we walked back along the Elysee Palace Pastoral Avenue with Dr. Wei, we explored the history of the siege of Paris until the walls were covered with shells and the sidewalks were covered with machine guns. When we approached the Star Square, the doctor stopped and pointed to a magnificent high-rise building around the Arc de Triomphe and said to me:

"Did you see the four closed windows on the balcony? At the beginning of August, that terrible August full of storms and disasters last year, I was called to treat a patient who had a sudden stroke. He was a soldier in the Napoleonic era, Colonel Ruff, and he was stubborn in honor and patriotism. At the beginning of the war, he moved to the Elysee Palace and lived in a room with a balcony. Can you guess the reason? It turns out that this is a ceremony to visit our army's triumphant return ... this poor old man! He was about to leave the dinner table when the news of the fiasco in Visanburg reached his home. As soon as he read the name of Napoleon at the bottom of the defeat report, he fell to the ground as if he had been struck by lightning.

"When I got there, the veteran was lying on the carpet in the room, his face was red and his face was dull, as if he had just been hit by a sap. If he stands up, he must be tall; Now lying down, it still looks big. He has regular facial features, beautiful teeth and curly white hair. He is 80 years old and looks only 60 years old ... His granddaughter knelt beside him, tears streaming down her face. She looks a lot like him. Looking at them together, we can say that they are like two ancient Greek coins cast in the same mold, only one is very old, with dirt and worn edges, while the other is dazzling, clean and bright, completely maintaining the newly cast color and luster.

"The girl's pain touched me a lot. After two generations as a soldier, her father served in the General Staff of Marshal Mike Mahone. The image of the burly old man lying in front of her always causes another association in her mind that is as terrible as his father. I tried my best to comfort her, but I didn't hold out much hope. What we encounter is severe paraplegia, especially when we get this disease at the age of 80, which is incurable. That's what happened. The patient was in a coma for three days and didn't move ... within a few days, the news of the failure of the Battle of Reshefen came again. You must remember how the news came from. Until that night, we all thought that we had won a great victory, annihilated 20,000 Prussian troops and captured the Prince of Prussia ... I don't know what miracle or current spread the jubilant atmosphere of the whole country to our poor deaf-mute patient, which made him fall into the illusion of paralysis. In a word, I didn't see the original patient when I approached his bed that night. His eyes are bright and his tongue is not so stiff. He has the spirit to smile at me and stammered twice:

"Play ... victory ...!

"Yes, colonel, a great victory! '

"When I told him the details of Marshal Mike Mahone's brilliant victory, I found his eyes wide open and his expression on his face became radiant.

"As soon as I left the room, the young girl stood by the door waiting for me. She is pale and crying.

"'He's out of danger!' I held her hand to comfort her.

"The poor girl hardly has the courage to answer me. It turns out that the real situation of the Battle of Reshefen has just been announced. Marshal Mike Mahone escaped and was wiped out ... She and I looked at each other in horror. She is worried about her father, and I am worried about my old grandfather's illness. There is no doubt that he can't stand this new blow any more ... So, what should we do? ..... can only make him happy, let him keep this fantasy of bringing him back to life ... However, you must lie to him. ...

"'Well, I'll lie to him!' The brave girl volunteered to tell me that she wiped her tears and pretended to be smiling into her grandfather's room.

"The task she shoulders is really arduous. The first few days were fine. This nice guy is still not sound, just like a child, he was fooled by others. However, as his health gradually recovered, his thinking became clearer. It is necessary to explain to him clearly how the armies of both sides move and prepare a daily battle report for him. This beautiful little girl looks really pitiful. She bent over the map of Germany day and night, planted flags everywhere, and tried to make up a wonderful battle. Marshal Bazin marched into Berlin for a while, General Froy Sadr arrived in Bavaria for a while, and Marshal McMahon marched into the Baltic Sea. In order to keep it alive, she always asks my advice, and I try my best to help her; However, in this fictional offensive war, it was the old grandfather himself who helped us the most. You know, during Napoleon's empire, he fought so many wars in Germany! He knew in advance of any military action by the other side:' Now, they are going to move here.' ... "you see, they are going to do this. . 。” As a result, his foresight came true without exception, which of course inevitably made him somewhat proud.

"Unfortunately, although we conquered many cities and won many battles, we still couldn't keep up with his appetite. This old man is insatiable ... Every day when I go to his house, I hear about new military victories:

"'Doctor, we have laid the Meiyang Temple again!' The young girl had a wry smile on her face when she said this to me. At this moment, I heard a pleasant voice in the room shouting at me through the door:

"'Very good, very good ... we will enter Berlin in eight days! "

"In fact, the Prussian army is only eight days away from Paris ... At first we discussed transferring him to other provinces; However, as soon as he goes out, the real situation in France will make him understand everything. I think he is too weak, and the stroke caused by a heavy mental blow is still very serious, so he can't know the real situation. So, we decided to let him stay in Paris.

"On the first day of the siege of Paris, I went to his house. I remember, I was very excited and worried that day. At that time, all the gates of Paris had been closed, the enemy Enemy at the Gates, the border was narrowed to the suburbs, and everyone was scared. When I went in, the good man was sitting on his bed and said happily to me:

"'hey! The siege has finally begun! "

"I looked at him in amazement.

"'Why, Colonel, do you know? ……'

"His granddaughter quickly turned to me and said:

"'yes! Doctor ... this is good news. The siege of Berlin has begun! "

"She said this, while doing needlework, action is so calm, calm ... How can the old man doubt? He couldn't hear the sound of the slaughter. He can't see the unfortunate city of Paris, which has been turned upside down and suffered a lot. All he can see from the bed is the corner of the Arc de Triomphe. In addition, in his room, there are many shabby relics of Napoleon's empire, which effectively maintained his fantasy. Portraits of Marshal Napoleon, woodcuts depicting wars and photos of Roman kings in their childhood; There are also tall boxes with carved bronze ornaments, showing imperial relics, badges, small bronze statues, rocks on St. Helena under the glass dome and some small portraits, all of which depict the same lady with curly hair and beautiful eyes. She was wearing a dancing dress, a yellow robe, swollen sleeves and tight cuffs-all these, long cases, Roman kings, marshals, and so on. 1806, this lady in a yellow robe, with a slender figure and a waist, was dignified and deeply loved by people ... which constituted an atmosphere full of victory and conquest, which was more powerful than the lies we told him. The kind colonel made him so naive to believe that the French army was besieging Berlin.

The siege of Berlin (2)

"From this day on, our military operations have been greatly simplified. It's only a matter of time before Berlin is conquered. After a while, as long as the old man is impatient, we will read him a letter written by our son. Of course, this letter is false, because Paris has been surrounded. As early as the defeat of Sedan, Marshal McMahon's staff was captured and escorted to a fortress in Germany. You can imagine how pathetic this poor girl is. She got no news from her father. All she knew was that he was caught, deprived of everything, and maybe still sick, but she had to pretend to be his tone and write a cheerful letter. Of course, the letter is very short, and a soldier who keeps advancing triumphantly in the conquered country can only write such a short letter. Sometimes, she just can't hold on, so she hasn't written for weeks. The old man was in a hurry and couldn't sleep. So soon there was another letter from Germany. She came to his bed, held back her tears and pretended to be happy to read it to him. The old man listened solemnly, smiled knowingly, nodded approvingly, criticized again, and explained to us what was unclear in the letter. But what makes him particularly noble is his reply to his son. He said, "You should never forget that you are French." ... be tolerant of those poor people. Don't let them think that our profession is unbearable ... The letter is full of endless exhortations about protecting private property and respecting women. In a word, it is an out-and-out military honor manual reserved for conquerors. Sometimes, he also mixed some general views on political and peaceful conditions in his letters. On this issue, I should say that his conditions are not harsh:' as long as war reparations, nothing else.' ... what's the use of cutting off their province Can we turn Germany into France? ……'

"When he dictated these words, his tone was very firm. You can feel that his words are full of naive feelings. His noble patriotism sounds moving.