Trenches, 28 april 1915
[Wednesday]
Dear family,
Finally, finally I have time to
write to you again. Hope you didn’t have any foolish thoughts about that. But
we had a couple of really unpleasant days behind us. As I wrote you before our
4 days of rest in Douvrin went down the drain.
We went back to Auchy at night, and once
there we got the order “Go directly to this and that part of the trenches and
build dugouts for yourselves. And they have to be ready this night”.
What complete rubbish! Like you can
build a dugout big enough for 11 men in a few hours. Our mood, which was already
pretty bad, did not get better of course. So there we went down the trenches, every
one with his rifle etc and on top of that a 6mtr long thick oak pole on your
hump, and then slaving over this and under that.
And how long do you think this whole
thing lasted? 3 Nights and 2 days non-stop. Sleeping and eating were of course side
issues. So you can well understand I did not have time nor inclination to write
you even a single postcard.
The dugouts were finally completed
yesterday, and they are really “bon”,
and, before anything else, really spacious. Unfortunately we don’t have a stove
yet.
Yesterday I could finally go to bed,
and I slept from 9 in the morning till 7 at night in one go. I can tell you:
that did me the world of good. And that without a mattress or straw, just on a
dry plank.
Last night we then had to work on
the trenches again. They’ve been newly dug and were still without planks to
walk on. But now everything is pico bello. It was quite a job from 11
last night till 9 this morning. But okay.
I really don’t feel like sleeping
right now, because I’ve just eaten a lot.
We also have our first wounded now
in our group, in a really stupid way. We were outside the trenches digging sods
to put on the dug outs so the aeroplanes cannot spot them, and suddenly he was
shot through his thigh. It really was a fluke shot as it was so misty the
English couldn’t possibly see us because they’re 400-500 metres away in this
spot.
My comrade lost consciousness
instantly, and I took him to safety and dressed his wound. The English sent us
another few bullets, but without result. They must have seens us then. They all
have telescopes on their rifles.
The wound is thankfully not serious.
Just a flesh-wound. A nice “Heimatschuß”,
to the envy of many. But not me.
As regards parcels and letters I recently
received mother’s letter of the 20th, and a few parcels, the numbers
of which I don’t know anymore because of all this mayhem. Luckily the watch
arrived, but you really shouldn’t have bought such an expensive one.
The luminescent dial is great. I
have not yet had to hold it up to the light at night, I can still see it
perfectly. I’d rather like to keep my good watch here. I keep it well wrapped
in my trouser pocket. I went to the Feldwebel with the parcel - you have to show what you want to send away – and he advised me
to not send the watch. He had some bad experiences with sending goods home, and
others have also confirmed that to me. Nobody sends home anything of value. So I rather keep it here.
But onwards.
You sent me some leather gloves to
use when I’m drawing wire. They’re very nice and very elegant but I do believe
that after only 15 minutes of wire drawing they’re shredded. And that would be
a shame. I rather have the sturdy gloves from Kevelaer. I can get sent a new
pair free of charge. There’s so much junk about here. I have shown the gloves
to our “father” Posthum [He’s the
corporal of the Pionier-kommando] and
asked him what he thought of them. I’d like you to know his answer “Eich glov bi declr ze Hus, do weten ze och
nicht wie et hier ussuht and was das Drahttrecken für ene Geschäft is” [*]
He ‘s from Wald [a town south-west of
Barmen/Wuppertal] , and he has horse sense. He also know something about pouters
[Kind of pigeon], and he also knows my dear friend Rauhaus from Zentral. He is actually very nice and easy to get along
with. You can tell from the picture that
he is very good-natured.
I hope you received the picture.
Would be a shame if it hadn’t arrived. The photographing artillery guy
unfortunately went to another position with his “little knackwurst” [That is:
10,5cm cannon]
I’ll try to find him again. But back
to mother’s letter.
I also have no use for the
Kaloderma. When you’re in the trenches your hands are covered in mud in no
time. And of course you can’t wash them. So the Kaloderma can’t penetrate the
skin. But underneath the clay everything heals just as well. But I found
another purpose for the Kaloderma. Recently I disturbed a little bees nest, and
that itched quite a bit, even though I have long since promoted the little animals to kingdom come.(If I had
Fenneoil it would have solved it right away) It doesn’t bother me now anymore, but better
be safe than sorry.
Nice that you now have soldiers
working in the coldstores (Can’t I get a job there?), and also that the people
of the Landsturm have been sent home
again. Is Mr Reinhoff one of the lucky ones?
If so then he might face the dilemma
of maybe having to sell on his new car with a “large” profit.
Yesterday I received a letter from
the Benzenbergs. Walter has probably been sent to Galicia, and doesn’t receive
any mail from home. Well, what if I didn’t receive any mail, that is: the Field-artillery
here in France have it good even without mail, at least compared to the
Infantry.
But enough for today. I want to get
some sleep.
With many warm greetings also to
August and his family and all the others I am
your Fritz
* : “I believe that they back home
do not quite know what it looks like here, and what exactly this wire-drawing
entails” Original text is in the local
dialect.
Wardiary of 1st KRR for 24th-28th April 1915 :
The original letter :
