We stand up because it's the fashion, but we've no longer
either force or freshness."
"I've been getting information," Cocon goes on; "the troops--the
real troops--will only entrain as from midnight. They are still
mustered here and there in the villages ten kilometers round about.
All the departments of the Army Corps will first set off, and the
E.N.E.--elements non endivisionnes," Cocon
obligingly explains, "that is, attached directly to the A.C. Among
the E.N.E. you won't see the Balloon Department nor the
Squadron--they're too big goods, and they navigate on their own,
with their staff and officers and hospitals. The chasseurs regiment
is another of these E.N.E."
"There's no regiment of chasseurs," says Barque, thoughtlessly,
"it's battalions. One says 'such and such a battalion of
chasseurs.'"
We can see Cocon shrugging his shoulders in the shadows, and his
glasses cast a scornful gleam. "Think so, duck-neb? Then I'll tell
you, since you're so clever, there are two--foot chasseurs and horse
chasseurs."
"Gad! I forgot the horsemen," says Barque.
"Only them!" Cocon said. "In the E.N.E. of the Army Corps, there's
the Corps Artillery, that is to say, the central artillery that's
additional to that of the divisions. It includes the H.A.--heavy
artillery; the T.A.--trench artillery; the A.D.--artillery depot,
the armored cars, the anti-aircraft batteries--do I know, or don't
I? There's the Engineers; the Military Police--to wit, the service
of cops on foot and slops on horseback; the Medical Department; the
Veterinary ditto; a squadron of the Draught Corps; a Territorial
regiment for the guards and fatigues at H.
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