Thus the number of
desertions was not to be wondered at. The commander-in-chief did his best
to ensure discipline among his dispirited troops. Several men were shot by
way of example. When, shortly before the battle of Le Mans, the 21st Army
Corps crossed the Huisne to take up positions near Montfort, several
officers were severely punished for riding in ambulance and baggage
waggons instead of marching with their men.
Le Mans is not easily defended from an enemy advancing upon it from
eastern, north-eastern, and south-eastern directions. A close defence is
impossible by reason of the character of the country. At the time of which
I write, the town was one of about 37,000 inhabitants. Very ancient,
already in existence at the time of the Romans, it became the capital of
Maine. William the Conqueror seized it, but it was snatched from his son,
Robert, by Helie de La Fleche. Later, Geoffrey, the First of the
Plantagenets, was buried there, it being, moreover, the birthplace of his
son, our Henry II. In after years it was taken from Richard Coeur-de-Lion
by Philip-Augustus, who assigned it, however, to Richard's widow, Queen
Berengaria. A house in the town is wrongly said to have been her
residence, but she undoubtedly founded the Abbaye de l'Epau, near Yvre
l'Eveque, and was buried there.
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