Memoirs of the Foreign Legion by Maurice Magnus

THE exercises at Valbonne were just as tedious and monotonous as at Bel-Abbès. In the morning _réveil_ at 5, _rassemblement_ at 5.30, and march to the field just beyond the last row of shacks.

The field was a wide plain, hilly here and there, with some shrubs in places; it stretched to the horizon from the further side of the camp; towards Lyons it was bordered by some houses and rows of trees, and towards Switzerland the snow-capped Alps were visible. How they beckoned me! The field was a rich green pasture with occasional mud-puddles, and owing to the dampness it was difficult to exercise on the sward, as the clods of earth and grass stuck to one's boots. The exercises consisted of the usual _demi-tour-à-droit, à gauche, à droit, un pas en avant, un pas à derrière, armes sur l'epaule, garde à vous_, no shooting, not once, and absolutely no instruction in anything that could be useful to defend one's life at the front.