A GERMAN DIARY OF WOE

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 554, 4 January 1916, Page 7

A GERMAN DIARY OF WOE

4 SOLDIER'S PEACE LONGINGS. The following extracts were taken from j the diary of Private Becker, 6th Company I of the Ersatz Battalion of the 3rd Foot Guards, Landsturm, Professor of Latin at the CTmynasium of Bonn. They are the sad recital of. brutalities to which German soldiers are 'subjected by their officers and n.c.o.s. IN RUSSIA. August 2. — On again. Exhausting march. Many bombarded villages, several completely destroyed. Bad food. Bad treatment of stragglers, especially of oneyear volunteers. Bad food, quite insufficient. Bad treatment of stragglers, .insulting language. They are given extra guards. The officers lounge m carriages. The men are indignant at it. August 3. — Jlarch m burning lieat through demolished villages. No water. All the wells are destroyed ; < holera and flies. Loathsome dirt. It makes one weak.. One dreams of fresh springs and wells. . Brutishness. August 4. — March tc Zamosz.' I can. go no further. Always the same brutality of the n.c.o.s towards the men who are going lame. Low spitefuluess. Abuse. August 6. — Krasnostaw. I long for peace. August. 7.-— March of from 17 to 18 miles. Everywhere graves, bodies of horses, unburied or only half-covered. . . . Flies, dirt. ... . One lives like a beast m the filth. Disgusting conduct of the officers. The officers divide the presents from home among themselves. They take away the tent canvas from the men, and have fine tents put .up for themselves, m which they wrap themselves up comfortably. They go on the spree, they steal the bread aiid wine out of the waggons, and all the while they are drawing big rations; August 9. — We are now' three miles from the fvont. The 3rd Company has. come back. Allrthe men. l knew mit !are either wounded or killed. The men's stories' are very depressing ; they are horribly tired, and their morale is low. Only the officers and n.c.o.s are m good shape. Their* number is astonishing considering the losses m men. August 10. — Drill this morning, after a cold night under canvas. It is a trifle m itself, put the endless annoyances, the threats of punishment for the smallest blunders, make life' unbearable. In presence of the haughty and independent attitude of the n.c.o.s the men seem like mere ciphers — like a herd of cattle. August 11. — In a dugout close to the front. Rumor that we ore going to change our theatre of operations. They say France. The officers look splendid. They are gay, and always making jokes. The" men, on the other hand, inarch with their heads down, buried m their own thoughts, without speaking. August 12. — The , action has begun; we are m reserve. lam tired, ill, wretched beyond words. I have an unhealthy longing for peace. August 13. — At 2 o'clock, forward. The Russian trenches are organised m a masterly manner. Troublesome fire from the enemy's artillery. . .■ . Yesterday evening a long talk about the war. Everybody is " fed up " with the war, and especially with the whole of the military regime. It was 5 o'clock m the afternoon before we got anything to eat, for we had to march past before Prince Eitel Friedrich. The Prince looked well, and seemed m good spirits. He might almost have been having a treat. August 14. — In action. . . . Awfiil fire. The regiment has lost about 170 men. "It is stupid to attack so strong a position," muttered Captain B— — . All the same, that did not prevent him from firing on his own men. August 15. — In pursuit of the Russians. Worn out by excitement and hunger. Exuberant cheerfulness of the officers. Colonel, major, captain laugh boisterously. Their faces beaming, shining with fat. For us. hardships, dirt, hunger. . . . Long march until 5 o'clock. We halt m Russian trenches dug m the open country. Hardly have we settled m when shells i rain on our heads. The Russians, as they ' retreat, dig ■ these trenches to entice us into them, which gives them a fixed target. . . . The young soldiers are grossly treated by the old soldiers, who answer them jn monosyllables and hardly deign to look at them. We are treated like criminals, and worse. All of a sudden, for nothing, one is threatened with p. beating.- The commissioned ranks, from Major Stillffied downwards, set the example. Everybody is discouraged. Men of peaceful nature are crushed. Passionate desire for peace, amounting to physical pain. And why should one die ? Why? August 18. — Spent the day m holes. Slept ; nothing to eat. In the evening made a line of trenches joining up the shell holes. The German soldier has no. personality ;\,he is a machine, and that is what he is^trained to be./i As ■ soon as ihe is left to himself he is idle, stupid, and a blockhead. He has only one idea, eating and 'sleeping, and'liis brutishness is ..only limited by barbarous punishment. jle neyer knows of his own accord what he ought to do, and everything he does he does with frightful clumsiness. August 19.— The, day before the", fight I saw, on the march, a color-sergeant beat a recruit with a stick. This 'morning the ( same sight. He smothered him with blows, and the old soldier Seitz helped him. Abuse. Captain Becker said m so. many words : " Tan them as much as you like so long as they obey." March ' all j night without a halt. Major Count Stillfried is ferocious. Soldiers are tied to trees for eating biscuits and apples tor lying to. an officer. August 21.— The officers have tents and tables like tourists, and have an abundant spread. Ausrust 25.— Started .about 4 o'clock lin the afternoon. Soon deployed m skirmishing order; moderate gun and rifle fire. Lieutenant Reinicke is never there when | firing is going on. When, the danger; is over he rushes impetuously to the front. The whole company laughs at it. He is a grotesque sight. . The section leaders grumble and are worried ; they don't know, what. to. do. ■ ■'.'.' August .25.— .... At mid-day {he color-sergeant of our- company hit a soldier of the active army with a stack. .August 29.— As soon as the attack opened, the officer commanding the company, Lieutenant Reinicke, stayed behind, and nothing more was seen of him. Not only so, but the section leaders and' the non-commissioned officers stayed behind. The sections and groups advanced without leaders. Indescribable jumble. We had heavy losses, but one no longer notices them. August 31. — Our leaders yesterday remarked : "'You shall have something to eat when you have taken the trench." September 1. — We are worn out. Marches. September 5. — Food absolutely insufficient. . . . The old soldiers . and noncommissioned officers: stick to the travelling kitchen and stuff themselves. The old hands, too, know how to get themselves looked after, but when recruits want a second helping they are driven away with jeers, and often enough a beating

into tiie bargain. The color-sergeant is a dirty brawler, always uttering threats, never a good word ; always ready to use ' a stick, and he doesn't spare it when he gets the chance. j IN FRANCE. i September 21 —Lieutenant Reinicke has gob the Iron Cross. It is the triumph of this vile regime of masters and slaves. | Every morning drill, with the usual ac-, ; companiment of abuse and threats. In itself, what is required of one at drill is not so bad, but it becomes a teal torture on account of the system. Everything one does is wrong, blameworthy, and liable to punishment. Always threats of extra drill ; not the slightest idea of reasonable instruction, no explanation, no practical examples — nothing but threats and annoyances. . . . Every day we have to sing stupid songs, always the same, instead of getting them out of the ' Song Book,' and we »o singing through the village like children. It can't be '-worse m the Foreign Legion. This morning, when wo foil m, I made a wrong movement, as the sun prevented my looking to my front. Immediately the color-sergeant put me down for. punishment Afterwards the lieutenant called me up m front of the whole company and overwhelmed me with nonsense. The whole morning I wad threatened, and at last was put m the rear i-ank. As a result "of our marches m Poland many of us have sore feet. Every day the color-sergeant checks some of the lame men, threatens them, and puts them or. extra fatigue. Even those who have swollen feet, of which the battalion doctor has advised them to be careful, are made to march incessantly, ■• and •if ■ they . flinch they are threatened with extra drill m the afternoon. . , September 27. — One gets stunted intellectually. One has no longer a. single idea except to keep going physically. Always the same longing for peace, and- before my eyes the spectre of the French front close at hand, with, the horrors, of its artillery fire. Left Dora: yesterday evening about 6 o'clock; very hard march of 6ix. to nine miles without halting. Lieutenant Reinicke has been drunk since yesterday. We are m a' village, empty of inhabitants, half destroyed by artillery, quite close to the front; it is* said to be Arleux. All night heavy firing to our front; star shells. Jt. seems that we are going .to take up our position. Spent the Afternoon m dxigout. The fighting seems to be severe.