Page "Battle of Bang Bo (Zhennan Pass)" Paragraph 34

The night was very dark.

The soldiers marched in complete silence.

We felt cheated, ashamed, and angry.

We were leaving behind us both victory and many of our friends.

From time to time, in low murmurs, we established who was missing.

Then we relapsed into the silence of mourning and the bitterness of loss.

And so we reached Dong Dang, without being disturbed.

We slept in the field hospital huts, after drinking some soup.

We were harassed and hungry.

We had not eaten all day, and had drunk nothing since morning except a single cup of coffee.

In spite of my weariness, I spent a troubled night.

My spirits were haunted by the day's memories, by images of the fighting and phantasms of our misfortunes.

I was shaken with spasms.

I trembled as I have never done on the battlefield.

I lay down, but was unable to sleep.