Cannon-Fodder

Ferdinand reports to the 12th Cuirassiers during terrible weather and is immediately subjected to the authority of noncommissioned officers such as Rancotte.

A storm has frightened the regiment's horses, creating confusion in the stables. Ferdinand is pulled into an exhausted patrol trying to restore order. Brigadier Le Meheu compounds the disaster by losing the password needed to relieve a guard.

The night becomes a grotesque initiation ceremony. The soldiers hide in the stable, drink, sleep in cramped conditions and subject the newcomer to the rituals expected of a young recruit.

Ferdinand arrives at the cavalry barracks in darkness, wind and rain. He is given little explanation of what is expected and immediately discovers that the regiment operates through shouting, intimidation and arbitrary authority.

When horses panic during the storm, the exhausted soldiers are sent out. Le Meheu cannot remember the password necessary to complete part of the guard relief, so the patrol hides near an enormous oat chest in the stable while he tries to solve the problem.

The soaked men eventually fall asleep together. When they wake, Ferdinand is expected to buy wine to celebrate his admission into military life. A stableman produces hidden bottles, and Le Meheu himself becomes drunk.

Rancotte eventually discovers the group and drives them back into military order.

Another surviving section centers on an epileptic seizure suffered by a fellow volunteer and the ignorance or indifference with which the other soldiers respond. The episode reinforces the novel's picture of the barracks as a place where individual suffering barely registers.