Oignies, 6 may
1915
[Thursday]
Dear
family,
Yesterday I
finally received mail from you again, i.e. mother’s letter of 25th april,
and 12 parcels, amongst which 2 from the Bonerts and one from Aunt Vollmer. The
fieldstove has arrived too, I hope the second one isn’t on its way already.
I really
wanted to write to you yesterday. But, as it goes, when you receive mail after
such a long time you’ve got a lot to unpack and other things to do.
Besides
that I spent a long time in the bathtub. It’s perfect here. We’re billeted in
an old coalmine and can bathe as much as we like any time of the day, and there’s
always cold drinkingwater and hot water. You really turn into a civilised human
being again.
My rash, which
I rubbed with fenneloil, has almost disappeared. This morning I caught another
two of those nice animals [= lice], but it’s nothing compared to before. During
the day you hardly notice those little animals, it’s at night that they usually
are very lively. By the way nobody is immune to them, not even the officers.
As I
already wrote the weather here is beautiful. Almost a little too warm.[*1] The
surrounding area is beautiful. At the moment I’m lying peacefully on my belly
in the Bois d’Epinoy (perhaps you can
find it on the map) upto my ears in bluebells. [*2] I’ve never seen bluebells flower so
beautifully. The whole floor of the wood is covered in them, one next to the
other. Everything is blue, with here and there a white one. Above that sea of
blue you then see the lightgreen shrubs, and further up in many places
blossoming wild cherries, and ofcourse other trees as well.
Furthermore
the whole wood is teeming with nightingales. This evening they’re singing
superbly again.
Actually I
quite like it here. It’s good to be amongst your equals again. You can now have
a good conversation with someone again. I’m also slowly getting rid of talking Platt [= Low German dialect], which I picked
up in the trenches.
Actually it’s
a rather curious bunch here. Very young 17yr old Kriegsfreiwillige, and 34yr old dignified headteachers. Apart from
16’ers there are 56’ers, 57’ers and Marburger Jäger here. About 80-100 men in
total. Marthy Böddinghaus’ brother is also here.
Duty is very
nice and, in comparison, very light. A lot of lessons ofcourse, which are
always given outside in the woods, given by a very pleasant Leutnant. Herr Leutnant even takes along his little dog on most occasions, to
the delight of all of us. It’s not very well brought up though.
But enough
for today. Sunday I should have time and liking again to write you a really lenghty
letter.
So, with
many warm greetings to everyone asking after me your Fritz
[*1] The wardiary of 1st KRR (at Bethune at this time) also mentiones the warm weather :
[*2] Position of the Bois d'Epinoy
and a stockphoto of bluebells in a wood :
The original letter :
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