World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, German
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 800 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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