Translated from Chinese - experimental
This:
进攻的命令下来了，士兵们狂热地欢呼："皇帝万岁！"4个纵队下了山坡……斜端着枪。我们要爬上对面的山坡，英军防守着那里的树篱，那里还有火炮在轰击我们。距离不远，一个普通人步行的话只要五六分钟。但浸透雨水、非常柔软的地面和高高的黑麦严重地拖慢了我们的速度。因此，英军炮兵有足够的时间来消灭我们。
早餐用火药调味的年轻新兵路易·康莱属于法军第1师第28战列步兵团，这是距离公路最近的团。他看到埃尔隆处于纵队中央，还听到将军呼喊："今天你们要么胜利，要么牺牲！"
所有人都高呼"皇帝万岁！"，以回应埃尔隆简短的演讲。鼓手敲起了冲锋的鼓点，各纵队开始推进……此前敌军火炮只发射实心弹和榴弹，这时开始用霰弹狠狠扫射我们。我们走了还没有一百步，我们第2营的营长马林就负了致命伤。我们连的连长迪泽被两发弹丸打倒。副官于博和鹰旗旗手克罗斯阵亡……英军大炮第二次开火后，掷弹兵鼓手勒库安特失去了右臂。
勒库安特继续用左手敲鼓，直到因失血过多而倒下，不过他后来得以幸存。和法军所有鼓手一样，他演奏的是冲锋曲，法军进攻时总是用这支曲子伴奏。一位年轻的英国军官回忆说，这支曲子的旋律是"噔当，噔当，噔噔噔噔，噔，噔"，然后是一个间歇，所有官兵会高喊："皇帝万岁！"约翰尼·金凯德上尉及其来复枪兵在拉艾圣附近的沙坑内等待。他记得这些不祥的鼓声，背景是军号，并不时响起"皇帝万岁！"，而在这一切之上，是震耳欲聋的炮声。这就是战斗的嘈杂。金凯德觉得，法军似乎希望仅仅用这些声响就"把我们从阵地上吓出来"。
康莱记得，法国军官一直在呼喊："保持队形！"
敌人的第三轮炮火将我们营的正面削减到一个连的宽度。"保持队形！"的可怕呼喊又一次响起。这命令绝没有让我们心惊胆寒和绝望，而是产生了完全相反的效果。它鼓舞了我们的勇气，不仅激励我们去夺取胜利，还激励我们为那些在我们面前牺牲的不幸战友复仇。
康莱估计，纵队花了20分钟才穿过了潮湿、长着茂密黑麦的田野，而迪蒂尔上尉估计正常情况下只需要5分钟或6分钟。虽然前进得很慢，迪蒂尔还是觉得法军前进得太匆忙，队形被打乱的风险太大，因为他们太狂热：
这种急促和热情变得很危险，因为士兵们在接敌之前还有很长一段路要走，在笨重而稀烂的泥地里行走，很快就疲惫了。这些烂泥能把人的绑腿布撕扯下来，甚至把鞋黏住。队列中很快出现了混乱，尤其是纵队前锋进入敌人射程内的时候。
花了15-20分钟才通过山谷，在此期间纵队一直遭到实心弹、榴弹和霰弹的扫射，但仍然坚持前进，现在开始上山了，不过山坡不陡。纵队前方战斗已经打响了，双方的散兵互相射击，但庞大的纵队逼近山顶的时候，法军散兵后撤去加入自己所在的营。他们打退了联军的散兵，但没有翻越顶峰去袭击背坡上的敌军。那是大纵队的任务。
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The offensive order came down, and the soldiers cheered fanatically: "Long live the emperor!" The four columns descended the hillside... with their guns slanted. We are going to climb the opposite hillside, the British army is guarding the hedges there, and there are still artillery bombarding us. The distance is not far, an average person can walk only five or six minutes. But soaked rain, very soft ground and high rye slowed our speed seriously. Therefore, the British artillery has enough time to destroy us.
Louis Conley, a young recruit seasoned with gunpowder for breakfast, belongs to the 28th Battle Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division of the French Army, which is the regiment closest to the road. He saw Elron in the center of the column and heard the general shouting: "Today you will either win or sacrifice!"
Everyone chanted "Long live the emperor!" in response to Elron's brief speech. The drummer beat the drums of the charge, and the columns began to advance... Previously, the enemy's artillery only fired solid rounds and grenades. At this time, they began to blast us fiercely with shotguns. We had not walked a hundred steps before Marin, the commander of our 2nd Battalion, was fatally wounded. Our company’s company commander Dize was knocked down by two projectiles.
Adjutant Yu Bo and Eagle Bannerman Cross were killed... After the British artillery fired for the second time, the grenadier drummer Le Cuant lost his right arm.
Le Cuant continued to beat the drum with his left hand until he collapsed due to excessive blood loss, but he later survived. Like all drummers in the French army, he played the charge song, which was always used to accompany the French army when attacking.
A young British officer recalled that the melody of this tune was
"Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, the melody, the melody of the melody, Dang Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang, the melody of the melody of the melody of the melody.
Captain Kincaid and his riflemen wait in the bunker near Laai San.
He remembered these ominous drums, with a bugle in the background, and "Long live the emperor!" from time to time, and above all, there were deafening cannons. This is the noise of the battle. Kincaid felt that the French army seemed to want to "scare us out of the battlefield" with just these sounds.
Conley remembered that French officers had been shouting: "Keep the formation!"
The enemy's third round of artillery fire reduced the front of our battalion to the width of a company. The terrible cry of "Keep in line!" sounded again. This command never made us frightened and desperate, but produced the completely opposite effect. It inspires our courage, not only inspires us to win victory, but also inspires us to avenge the unfortunate comrades who sacrificed in front of us.
Conley estimated that it took 20 minutes for the column to pass through the wet, dense rye fields, while Captain Didier estimated that it would only take 5 or 6 minutes under normal circumstances. Although the advancement was slow, Didier felt that the French army was advancing too hurriedly, and the risk of the formation being disrupted was too great, because they were too fanatical:
This rush and enthusiasm became dangerous because the soldiers still had a long way to go before they met the enemy, walking in the heavy and muddy ground, and quickly became tired. This mud can tear off people's leggings and even stick shoes. Chaos soon appeared in the queue, especially when the forwards of the column were within range of the enemy.
It took 15-20 minutes to pass through the valley. During this period, the column had been strafed by solid rounds, grenades and shotguns, but still insisted on advancing.
Now it is starting to go up the mountain, but the slope is not steep.
The battle in the front of the column had already begun, and the skirmishers on both sides fired at each other,
but when the huge column approached the top of the mountain, the French army skirmished and retreated to join their own battalion.
They repelled the allied skirmishers, but did not reach the summit to attack the enemy on the back slope. That is the task of the big column.