"And Together We Are Invincible..."

“Bordeaux! Bordeaux! I like to lounge in the cafes and smell the rains and the perfumes of the women walking past the sidewalk tables. Have you ever been there? No? Still, ah, the women my friend! You know, we have the BEST women at home Charles! The best women! Sure, they’re uptight and would rather jump into the Dordogne than to invite tête-à-tête with a clochard such as I, but dammit they’re pretty to look at from afar!”

The third wave of barrages from the 105mm Leichter Howitzers cracked the skyline above and around the narrow trenches carved into the French hillsides to the southwest of the River Marne.

“In Bordeaux there is a man who sells loafs of the most wonderfully warm, diamond-shaped breads, Charles. You buy two or three of these breads and a two bottles of a sweet, blood red Cabernet and you take to the streets and dance in the rain with the old women from the les marchés de rue. I should like to take you there! You would like that? Of course you would.”

Within months the Imperial German Army pushed forces from Charleville to Soissons to where the French, and later American, forces were dug in. Vast networks of trenches cut the earth and bled conversations, dreams, and promises of handsome cities and villages.

“Charles, you and I shall be the most fetching duo in the eyes of all les dames de la classe supérieure! We will don coats with tails and part our hair slick with glossy pomade. We shall croon them with our stories of heroism and mêlée! Can you imagine this my friend? Of course you can, Charles! Vous êtes mon ami, et ensemble nous sommes invincibles!!!”

The fourth wave of 105’s peppered the champs de bataille. Fists stabbed the night air and voices sweared to gods and devils that while man may fire the furnace of dread and angst, none shall remove the assurance of Bordeaux’s rains and women laced in sweet perfumes.