Auchy, 16 april 1915
I hadn’t
finished yet yesterday
[Friday]
Handgrenades we can throw by hand
over short distances, like a baseball. You ignite them and then throw them.
They explode 10 seconds after ignition. They seem to work very effectively. The
English are réally afraid of them. Last night I witnessed how one was thrown towards
an Indian camouflaged patrol-party. Those Indians ran away real quick.
The worst I think is undermining,
you can’t hide from that. In front of our company’s Stellung there is a marsh however, which makes detonations
impossible, and also: the English are about 350 mtrs away. In other places it’s
only 50 mtrs, and that’s where many explosions take place, also from our side.
There was one just last night. I do not know whether anything was achieved. It
was more to the left of us, near the French. [*1]
The English are particularly interested
in a brickstack which gives them a lot of problems because of the machinegun
installed on top of it, and their artillery cannot get a good shot at it.
The English don’t seem to be good in
mental arithmetic. They’ve already exploded two mines, but every time just
befóre the brickstack without causing us much damage. I believe ours are better
than they are in calculating the right spot.
It also happens quite frequently
that, whilst digging trenches, you hear the enemy working beneath us or next to
us. It then is a matter of getting to the enemy trenches before the enemy, or
to blow up the enemy tunnels.
These undermining actions are carried
out only by volunteers and miners, as the work is very dangerous.
I find this kind of warfare really
horrible. This undermining should really be banned under international law. But
that is of course too late for this war.
On our side we have to the right of
us, directly adjoining our Kompanie, in
the direction of Givenchy-La Bassée, the 56’ers, and to our left, in the
direction of Arras, the Marburger Jäger
[Kurhessisches Jäger-Bataillon nr 11]
, who haven’t distinguished themselves much yet in this war, due to their not
so brilliant leadership. They rumoured about that in Kevelaer already.
Opposite the 56’ers are the English,
opposite us are English, Scots and Indians, and opposite the Marburger Jägern the French. A mixed bunch as you can see.
You can see really well who’s
walking through the English trenches. In parts they have very low defences.
First you see an Indian turban walking past, then a Scottish cap, and then
again an Englishman. It seems they don’t wear helmets in the trenches.
Here also only a few wear helmets, and
then with the Pickel screwed off. I
also only wear my cap. I covered the red band with grey just to be on the safe
side.
You can do almost as you please
here. It’s also no longer “Herr Gefreiter”
and “Herr Unteroffizier” and “Sie” [= you, formal], but “Herr Unteroffizier, please come here for
a moment”.
On this occasion I’d like to share a
story with you about our time in Don. There we had a very pompous Herrn Gefreiter. I had spoken to him
without the high regard due to him in his exalted status, and he got very angry
about that, and called me all sorts of things.
He ended with the expression “Or do
you think perhaps you are a fool and I am nothing?”
To which I replied “No, totally on
the contrary, Herr Gefreiter!”
He luckily wasn’t that smart, and he
didn’t realise that I just called him a fool.
We had given this Herr Gefreiter the nickname “Kohldampf” [= ravenous hunger] (Here “Kohldampf
schieben” [= shoveling hunger] means “having nothing to eat”) . We called
him that because of his giraffe-like body.
Then another story from Don. We
stored our weapons, and didn’t have any for a couple of days.
On the first morning the Oberleutnant : “Slope arms!”. Herr Leutnant : “Herr Oberleutnant, they don’t carry arms”. Then the Oberleutnant
again: “Unsling arms!”
But I really have to stop now.
Otherwise this letter won’t leave today either.
Yesterday I received mother’s letter
of the 28th March, and a parcel with chocolate, and the Wochenschau from the Weyerbuschs. Please
thank them for me.
Don’t have any special wishes
anymore. I only need a new flashlight. The old one fell in the clay-soup in the
trenches, and disappeared never to be seen again.
Then the glass of my watch is
broken, and one of the hands came off. I’ll see if I can mail it to you. Can
you then send me a really cheap steel watch please, 4 or 5 Mk. I can perfectly
do without a watch though. This is no place for a good watch, it will only get
clogged with mud. Think about it, will you. Maybe you can have my old
nickel-watch repaired. It should still be in my bedside table.
Furthermore I can’t really think of
anything I’d like now, except for ground coffee, so that I can make myself a
nice cup of coffee now and then. All you can get here is Langenberger. I can always have someone bring condensed milk for
the coffee from Douvrin.
Then: I heard a rumour about Peace-negotiations.
Is there any truth in that?
Furthermore: what does the garden
look like now? Is everything growing well? Let Helene take all the flowers
there are to pick to the hospital, to give some pleasure to the poor wounded.
The small irisses and the
globeflowers, at the back of the garden, will start to flower shortly surely.
But now I really have to stop. The
fieldkitchen will arrive soon, and it takes the mail with it.
Many warm greetings to everyone, also
to the new August and to all people who inquire after me.
Your Fritz
How is Karl Hillmer? Is he back to
the front yet?
Please send my regards to the
Nettelbecks. I received a card from them, hope Walter gets well soon.
[*1]
War diary of 1st King’s Royal Rifles, 16 April 1915 :
and the original letter
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