MatthewLaSon Sep 7, 2015:

@ Nikki I'm with you on this: I just don't get it.

I thought it meant that the driver was "pris à la jambe cassée, se retrouvant sans son cheval." But really, I'm clueless.

Tony M Sep 6, 2015:

I half suspect... ... from all you say about the provenance of the text that it should perhaps have been « ... a la jambe cassée », confirming it is indeed the conducteur and not the horse (who, let's face it, would have been shot if it had broken its leg).

Timoshka (asker) Sep 6, 2015:

Additional info I should have mentioned that "60" refers to the 60th Regiment, which is mentioned repeatedly in the text.

Timoshka (asker) Sep 6, 2015:

More context I'm not sure the surrounding text provide any help, but here goes: "Je ne reconnais plus le chemin. Une magnifique route a été constructe sur le terrain bouleverté que j'avais traversé précédemment. Avant d'arriver a l'echelon un accident. [Target sentence goes here.] Comme d'habitude pas de médecin. Arrivée a l'echelon vers minuit." The writer doesn't always include accents, but then again, he's often writing in a trench, with shells exploding around him.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Sep 6, 2015:

Could you post the sentence before and the one after the sentence you have already provided? A larger extract might provide more context.

From a grammatical point of view, it is the horse and not the driver whose leg is broken. Here's why.
Your sentence reads :
Un conducteur [subject] du 60 [du département 60?] / [60th regiment? / autre chose?] pris [verbe qui va avec le sujet, soit le conducteur] sans son cheval [son = du conducteur] à la jambe cassé [goes with the last noun, the horse].

If the punctuation and the accents are correct, it is the horse whose leg is broken. If it were the driver, then the sentence would read :
"un conducteur du 60, pris sans son cheval, a la jambe cassé".
That would make for an odd reading, as obviously, if the chap is being picked up, he would obviously not be "picked up" with his horse! Quoi que... ;-)