Communication about Compagnie Discipline I sent a few years ago to our illustrious member Jonny:
Our regiment was on way to Sahara as a form of punishment opposed to be disbanded and we stayed for about two weeks near CD.
What i saw with my own eyes: prisoners walking behind a GMC (flatbed) carrying a huge slab of stone on their backs (walking in a 90 degree angle) coming from the quarry. I do not remember the distance from the quarry to the camp. Cleaning the
chiottes in our camp (from a former French regular unit) with a toothbrush. They were barrels placed under a platform.
They had to fashion stones for building the camp expansions, or maybe for selling that I do not know about. A guard, usually a
caporal would check each stone with a builder's square for exact measurement, square angles and evenness.
The prisoners had to do everything running, if not getting something, then running in place. They got served the best food I ever saw in the Legion, but not enough time to eat it.
I spoke to one inmate (a Belgian who had hit a lieutenant during
appel before going on operations) of my
Escadron. He said if you wanted to eat, you had to dig a hole and dump your food in. The
caporal of that day must have been in a good mood because he looked the other way when I dropped a pack of smokes and some money to him. I must mention that the prisoners were not really allowed to speak to us, lest the time with elastic would be applied. Basic time in CD was six months with elastic, meaning it could be extended to what ever time.
I could not find out if the prisoners were getting cigarettes or if they where allowed to smoke while in their cells. I believe they were getting some money to buy some essentials
The way it went, they stood in front of the cells, the server would come by and slap the food (all mixed together) in their
gamelle and as soon he was at the end of the line they went to collect the
gamelles. Leaving no time to eat all their food.
If any of the cadre or visitors dropped a cigarette butt, they would nearly fly to pick it up, not to smoke it, just to avoid extra punishment. What I heard during our time nearby: when a work party came back into camp, a caporal threw a ball told an inmate to run for it and get it. He then shot him claiming that he tried to escape. I am not sure what became of that incident because we were there not long enough and I did not get to go there every day. Also during that time, a night guard shot himself, he had left a note that he could not handle the going on's in CD anymore.
If I end up remembering more, I will write again.
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