Legion Of The Damned - 01 - Legion of the Damned Read Online Free PDF Page A

He drew a deep breath.
    “The company left before first light on April 30 and marched towards the coast. They made good time during the darkness and reached a post manned by the battalion’s grenadiers before dawn. After coffee and some black bread the march resumed.
    “Danjou led his men out just before dawn, which was just as well, since it was going to be an extremely hot day.
    “They passed through a number of settlements during the next few hours. One such settlement was a run-down collection of shacks called Camerone.
    “Danjou, a veteran of the Crimean War, led the column. Had someone been watching, they would have noticed that his left hand had been lost in an accident and replaced with a handcarved wooden replica. It did nothing to slow him down.

    “The legionnaires entered Palo Verde about 7 A.M. There was no one about. They brewed some coffee and were drinking it when Danjou spotted an approaching dust cloud. The cloud could mean only one thing—horsemen, and lots of them.
    “‘ Aux armes!’ Danjou shouted.
    “The company was terribly exposed, so they fell back towards Camerone and looked for a place to make a stand.”
    St. James looked up and continued from memory. “A shot rang out and a legionnaire fell. They rushed a tumbledown hacienda but the sniper had escaped. Danjou gathered his men and started them towards a nearby village. But the firing had alerted a contingent of Mexican cavalry. They came at a gallop.
    “Danjou waved his sword in the air. ‘Form a square! Prepare to fire!’
    “The Mexicans split their force in half and approached at a walk. And then, when they were sixty meters away, they spurred their mounts and charged.
    “Danjou ordered his men to fire, and thirty rounds hit the tightly packed horsemen. He gave the same order again and a second volley rang out. No sooner had the charge broken against the legionnaires’ square than the Mexicans prepared for another charge. Danjou instructed his men to fire at will.
    “The Mexicans took time to regroup. That allowed Danjou and his men time to break through their lines and reach the walls of the deserted hacienda.
    “During the subsequent confusion the pack animals were lost along with most of the legionnaire’s food, water, and ammunition. Sixteen legionnaires were killed. Danjou had two officers and forty-six men left.
    “In the meantime the Mexican cavalry had been reinforced by local guerrilla fighters who had infiltrated themselves into the farm. They fired on Danjou and his men as they ran for a stable or took cover along a half-ruined wall. A sergeant named Morzycki climbed to the stable’s roof and reported that ‘hundreds of Mexicans’ surrounded them.
    “The ensuing battle was an on-again, off-again affair in which periods of relative quiet were suddenly shattered by sniper fire and sneak attacks.
    “Meanwhile, about an hour’s march away, three battalions of Mexican infantry received word of the fight, and headed for Camerone. At about nine-thirty, a Mexican lieutenant approached under a flag of truce and offered the legionnaires an honorable surrender. ‘There are,’ he said, ‘two thousand of us.’
    ‘“We have enough ammunition,’ Danjou responded. ‘No surrender.’
    “It was then that Danjou visited his troops, asked them to fight to the death, and received their promises to do so.
    “Danjou was shot and killed two hours later. Second Lieutenant Napoleon Villain, a medal for gallantry shining brightly on his chest, assumed command. By noon, the two youngest members of the company, Jean Timmermans and Johan Reuss, were dead.
    “A bugle sounded and Morzycki announced that approximately one thousand additional soldiers had arrived, each and every one of whom were armed with American carbines. The Mexicans called for the legionnaires to surrender and were refused once again.
    “At about 2 P.M. a bullet hit Villain between the eyes and killed him instantly.
    “The legionnaires died one by one. Among