‘Field-Marshal God’s inspection’
It could be very useful to compare Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Inspection’ with the following passage from Ford Madox Ford’s novel No More Parades (the second volume of Parade’s End). Captain Christopher Tietjens is sharing responsibility for getting a draft of nearly 3000 Canadian troops up the line from the Rouen base camp to the trenches. His efforts are blocked by having orders given and then countermanded; by having inadequate supplies for these troops from a quartermaster who profits by holding them back; by a French railway strike meant to prevent the withdrawal of British troops from the front; and by the interference of the British Garrison Police, who constantly harass the Canadian volunteers whom they wilfully take for conscripts.
This passage opens with Titjens standing outside his tent trying to get the new soldiers under cover for the night by sharing tents:
It was sheer exhilaration to freeze there on the down-side of the extraordinarily pure air with the extraordinarily fine men. They came round, marking time with the stamp of guardsmen. He said, with tears in his voice:
“Damn it all, I gave them that extra bit of smartness….Damn it all, there’s something I’ve done….” Getting cattle into condition for the slaughter-house….They were as eager as bullocks running down by Camden Town to Smithfield Market….Seventy per cent. of them would never come back….But it’s better to go to heaven with your skin shining and master of your limbs than as a hulking lout….The Almighty’s orderly room will welcome you better in all probability….He continued exclaiming monotonously….”Remaining half-four and next four to the left….Hold your beastly tongues when you fall out. I can’t hear myself give orders….” It lasted a long time. Then they were all swallowed up.
(No More Parades, Part I, Chapter 4)
Ian Brinton