Don, 28 February
1915
[Sunday]
[Sunday]
Dear family,
Yesterday I received 3 parcels (I
assume those were the nrs 14/16 mother writes about), and today one with
macaroons & waffels or something. And also yesterday I received mother’s
letter of the 21st. Many thanks for everything.
Furthermore I received a parcel from
Arthur Weyerbusch yesterday, and today one from Aunt Bonert. I have already
written to them, but please thank them again from me. It is nice when you
receive something now and then from people of whom you think the least. Especially
the Weyerbusch’s parcel was very nice. I
still haven’t received the first parcels. You should not write Inf. Regt
56 in the address.
Please send me the following: now
and then something nice like sardines, a fried schnitzel or pork chops. They
will stay fresh for a few days surely.
Furthermore handkerchiefs and
a towel, and again Fennel oil. Situation is that a former classmate, August
Pieper, is visiting here from La Bassée where he is stationed, and he nagged me
so for it [“der jammerte so danach”],
that in the end I gave him my Fennel oil. I don’t have any use for it here
anyway. Also please a toothbrush, mine was stolen.
I’d like to know who brushes his
teeth now with someone else’s toothbrush.
Furthermore a tin of boot polish. I
have received the insoles, they will come in very handy.
And some Cognac would be nice too,
the evenings are often véry cold.
I think that is it. The pistol is in
good order again. I have already spoken to our shooting instructor, and we will
test it out on the shootingrange next Sunday. Some other guys want to come too.
I also spoke to Robert Hock about
it. And he told me that such a Browning will serve me well when searching
houses etc. But I’d like it more if I
never have to use it.
Friday and today we were at church
again. Evangelical and Catholic
together. Both times it was a chaplain that preached. Really very
beautiful. To start off our Band always
plays something.
Last sunday we actually had a very
beautiful violin-solo, followed by the Gralserzählung from Lohengrin.
Accompanied by the booming guns at La Bassée. It was beautiful. [*1]
Many thanks for the map, here you
only have the slightest idea of where exactly you are. Now I can look it up on
the map: to church we go in Sainghin-en-Weppes,
there is a training ground near Annoeullin
and another one near Wavrin, a
shootingrange at Bauvin and another
one there where the Canal de la Haute
Deule branches off from the Canal de
La Bassée. [*2]
If you look it up on the map you
will see we always have to walk long distances. By the way the frontline is not
at La Bassée anymore, but now midway between La Bassée and Bethune.
The English got it good again. They
had attacked the lines of 10th Company [of IR 16] and the 56’ers.
10th Company could not
stop them, and they upped sticks.
Then 11th Company went on
the counter-attack, and with handgrenades etc. they did such a good job not one
Englishman came out of it alive.
Even though the English were with 7
to 10 times more men they could not break through.
It didn’t go too well on our side
either, but I won’t have to explain that to you really.
Did you hear anything about IR 56 receiving
the Totenkopf ? [*3] People here talk about it, but I don’t know if it is true.
Our Regimental flag has already
received the Iron Cross, but that was for some attacks end of January.
By the way mother should not be sad
when she hears another English troopship was sunk in the English channel. If
you hear how mean the English behave themselves you think otherwise.
I do not want to write you at all
about what I have heard here from usually realiable sources.
Our Leutnant, a kind and well educated man, told us: Be courteous to the French, be as mean as
possible to the English.
Duty is now pretty heavy. I’d like
to describe to you a day last week:
Get up at 05:30
March in full kit to the Felddienst 07:30. Back at 12:30
14:30 – 15:15 cleaning rifles.
March with combat exercises
Next morning get up at 05:50
That will suffice to give you some
idea. Other days are then better than that.
We’ve marched some 25-30 kms each
day, in full marching kit ofcourse. I didn’t find it particularly difficult. My
feet are still okay.
Friday we will be innoculated for
the third time.
The weather has been beautiful lately,
pretty warm and no wind, and the skies are filled with aeroplanes. If they’re
enemy planes they are shot at by our fieldartillery, forcing them to fly só
high they can’t see anything on the ground anymore. I have seen only two aeroplanes crash.
You see many biplanes here. The
French have monoplanes.
It is easy to recognise our planes
by the black cross painted on the underside of the wings, and by the flares
they shoot out.
They’ve also shown us how flares and
rifle grenades are fired, and how handgrenades are being thrown. The rifle
grenades are fired from a rifle, and fly 300-400 mtr. They are terribly
destructive.
Handgrenades are a sort of wooden
boxes with a handle, which you can make yourself. You have to pull a pin and
then throw them. They explode after 8 seconds.
But enough. Very many greetings to you from your Fritz.
By
the way how is Stoopp doing? [Stoopp is
the family dog]
[*1]
Gralserzählung from Lohengrin, the opera by Richard Wagner.
Here performed by Pacido Domingo:
[*2]
Don and its surroundings:
[*3]
The Totenkopf was a symbol
used by crack units in WW1. Is what I could find on it. Not quite sure of the
meaning of receving a Totenkopf : is
it some sort of “recognition” by the Kaiser?
Hope someone knows!
