XVII FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH THE ENEMY
WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences > A German Deserter's War Experience > XVII FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH THE ENEMY
FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH THE ENEMY
THERE was no lack of food at Montmédy. The canteens
were provided with everything; prices were high, however. Montmédy
is a third-class French fortress and is situated like Ehrenbreitstein
on a height which is very steep on one side; the town is situated
at the foot of the hill. The fortress was taken by the Germans
without a struggle. The garrison who had prepared for defense
before the fortress, had their retreat cut off. A railroad tunnel
passes through the hill under the fortress, but that had been
blown up by the French. The Germans laid the rails round the hill
through the town so as to establish railroad communications with
their front. It looked almost comical to watch the transport trains
come rolling on through the main street and across the market
place. Everywhere along the Meuse the destroyed bridges had been
replaced by wooden ones. Montmédy was the chief base of
the Fifth Army (that of the Crown Prince), and contained immense
stores of war material. Besides that it harbored the field post-office,
the headquarters for army provisions, a railroad management, and
a great number of hospitals. The largest of them used to be called
the "theater hospital," on account of its being installed
in the municipal theater and the adjoining houses, and always
contained from 500 to 600 wounded.
Things were very lively at Montmédy. One chiefly observed
convalescent soldiers walking through the streets and a remarkable
number of officers, all of whom had been attached to the various
departments. They loitered about in their faultless uniforms,
or rode along whip in hand. Moreover, they had not yet the slightest
idea of what war was like, and when we met them they expected
us to salute them in the prescribed manner. Many of them accosted
us and asked us rudely why we did not salute. After a few hours
we got sick of life twenty miles behind the Verdun front.
At Montmédy we were about twenty miles behind Verdun
and some sixty miles away from our former position. When towards
one o'clock p. m. we began to move on we guessed that we were
to be dragged to the country round Verdun. After a march of nine
miles we reached the village of Fametz. There we were lodged in
various barns. Nearly all of the inhabitants had stayed on; they
seemed to be on quite friendly terms with the soldiers. Time had
brought them closer to each other, and we, too, got an entirely
different idea of our "hereditary enemy" on closer acquaintance.
When walking through the place we were offered all kinds of things
by the inhabitants, were treated to coffee, meat, and milk, exactly
as is done by German patriots during maneuvers and we were even
treated better than at home. To reward them for these marks of
attention we murdered the sons of those people who desired nothing
better than living in peace.
Early next morning we moved on, and when we arrived at Damvillers
in the evening we heard that we were some three miles behind the
firing line. That very night we marched to the small village of
Warville. That was our destination, and there we took up our quarters
in a house that had been abandoned by its inhabitants.
We were attached to the ninth reserve division, and the following
day already we had to take up our positions. Fifteen of us were
attached to a company of infantry. No rifle firing was to be heard
along the line, only the artillery of the two sides maintained
a weak fire. We were not accustomed to such quietness in the trenches,
but the men who had been here for a long time told us that sometimes
not a shot was fired for days and that there was not the slightest
activity on either side. It seemed to us that we were going to
have a nice quiet time.
The trench in that section crossed the main road leading from
Damvillers to Verdun (a distance of some fifteen miles). The enemy's
position was about 300 yards in front of us. German and French
troops were always patroling the road from six o'clock at night
till the morning. At night time those troops were always standing
together. Germans and Frenchmen met, and the German soldiers had
a liking for that duty. Neither side thought for a moment to shoot
at the other one; everybody had just to be at his post. In time
both sides had cast away suspicions; every night the "hereditary
enemies" shook hands with each other; and on the following
morning the relieved sentries related to us with pleasure how
liberally the Frenchmen had shared everything with them. They
always exchanged newspapers with them, and so it came about that
we got French papers every day, the contents of which were translated
to us by a soldier who spoke the French language.
By day we were able to leave the trench, and we would be relieved
across the open field without running any danger. The French had
no ideas of shooting at us; neither did we think of shooting at
the French.
When we were relieved we saluted our enemies by waving our
helmets, and immediately the others replied by waving their caps.
When we wanted water we had to go to a farm situated between the
lines. The French too, fetched their water from there. It would
have been easy for each side to prevent the other from using that
well, but we used to go up to it quite unconcerned, watched by
the French. The latter used to wait till we trotted off again
with our cooking pots filled, and then they would come up and
provide themselves with water. At night it often happened that
we and the Frenchmen arrived at the well at the same time. In
such a case one of the parties would wait politely until the other
had done. Thus it happened that three of us were at the well without
any arms when a score of Frenchmen arrived with cooking pots.
Though the Frenchmen were seven times as numerous as ourselves
the thought never struck them that they might fall upon us. The
twenty men just waited quietly till we had done; we then saluted
them and went off.
One night a French sergeant came to our trench. He spoke German
very well, said he was a deserter, and begged us to regard him
as our prisoner. But the infantrymen became angry and told him
to get back to the French as quickly as possible. Meanwhile a
second Frenchman had come up and asked excitedly whether a man
of theirs had not deserted to us a short while ago. Then our section
leader, a young lieutenant, arrived upon the scene, and the Frenchman
who had come last begged him to send the deserter back. "For,"
so he remarked, "if our officers get to know that one of
our men has voluntarily given himself up we shall have to say
good-by to the good time we are having, and the shooting will
begin again."
We, too, appreciated the argument that such incidents would
only make our position worse. The lieutenant vanished; he did
not want to have a finger in that pie; very likely he also desired
that things remain as they were. We quickly surrendered the deserter;
each one of the two Frenchmen was presented with a cigarette,
and then they scurried away full steam ahead.
We felt quite happy under those circumstances and did not wish
for anything better. On our daily return journeys we observed
that an immense force of artillery was being gathered and were
placed in position further back. New guns arrived every day, but
were not fired. The same lively activity could be observed in
regard to the transportation of ammunition and material. At that
time we did not yet suspect that these were the first preparations
for a strong offensive.
After staying in that part of the country some four weeks we
were again ordered to some other part of the front. As usual we
had no idea of our new destination. Various rumors were in circulation.
Some thought it would be Flanders, others thought it would be
Russia; but none guessed right.
We marched off and reached Dun-sur-Meuse in the afternoon.
We had scarcely got to the town when the German Crown Prince,
accompanied by some officers and a great number of hounds, rode
past us. "Good day, sappers!" he called to us, looking
at us closely. He spoke to our captain, and an officer of his
staff took us to an establishment of the Red Cross where we received
good food and wine. The headquarters of the Hohenzollern scion
was here at Dun-sur-Meuse. The ladies of the Red Cross treated
us very well. We asked them whether all the troops passing through
the place were cared for as well as that. "0 yes," a
young lady replied; "only few pass through here, but the
Crown Prince has a special liking for sappers."
We lodged there for the night, and the soldiers told us that
Dun-sur-Meuse was the headquarters of the Fifth Army, that life
was often very jolly there, and every day there was an open air
concert. We heard that the officers often received ladies from
Germany, but, of course, the ladies only came to distribute gifts
among the soldiers.
Richly provided with food we continued our march the next morning,
and kept along the side of the Meuse. In the evening we were lodged
at Stenay.
WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences > A German Deserter's War Experience > XVII FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH THE ENEMY