The defeat
For “several days in a row,” the remnants of “a defeated army had been passing through the town.” Those weren’t “disciplined troops,”but“a disorganized rabble.” The men had “long, dirty beards, with their uniforms in tatters;” and they moved forward “listlessly, without a flag, without a regiment.” They all looked “overwhelmed, worn out, incapable of thought or resolve, marching only out of habit,” and “collapsing from exhaustion as soon as they came to a halt.” “Peaceful folk who’d been living on their incomes” stood out in that crowd, for they were “bending under the weight of their rifles.” This imagery evokes a feeling of great exhaustion. One could only imagine how tired those men were. Not to mention that malnutrition and enormous stress had accompanied them during the war.
Terrified foreboding
The last “remaining French soldiers” had “finally crossed the Seine to reach Pont-Audemer.” “Behind them,” “flanked” by two staff officers, their general “walked in despair.” “Powerless to do anything with his rag-bag of an army,” he was “bewildered by the total disarray that had befallen a nation used to victory.” “A profound calm, a sense of silent, terrified foreboding,” hung “over the city.” Many of its “portly middle-class inhabitants” awaited “the conquerors anxiously.” Life seemed to have “ground to a halt.” The shops were “closed,” the streets “quiet.” This imagery evokes a feeling of nervousness and fear.
Here come the conquerors
“A black mass” swept down St Catherine’s Hill while “two other waves of invaders” appeared on “the roads from Darnetal and Bois-Guillaume.” Along all the “neighboring streets,” the German army was “pouring, its battalions making the stones ring out under heavy, rhythmic steps.” Orders “shouted in a foreign, guttural tongue” echoed along “the houses, which seemed dead and deserted.” From behind “closed shutters,” eyes were watching “these victorious men – masters, “according to the rights of war”, of the city, of fortunes, and of lives.” This imagery evokes a feeling of nervousness.
