The Diary of a French Private: War-Imprisonment, 1914-1915Riou, Gaston
History
The Diary of a French Private: War-Imprisonment, 1914-1915
Riou, Gaston
National characteristics, German; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons
about five in the evening, they make us sleep hard just like
last night only instead of a school it is a church which has
been transformed into a dormitory no great catch, the night
is rather cold but we get through it somehow. Saturday August
29 we entrain at Saale station at nine o’clock in the morning
without knowing where we are going it was a day of anguish
for me and also for all my friends in the same situation as
myself, we remain all day in the train all night and all Sunday
August 30 when we arrive at our destination Ingolstadt at eight
o’clock in the evening, they tells us that there is still 2
hours march to reach Fort Orff where I am still in prison after
4 weeks.
September 24. The weather to-day is rather grey and cold we
stay in the rooms, tell what has hapened to us during the
campane and the poor fellows serving with the colours when the
war broke out said that this was the day of their discharge
however we did all that we could to enliven the dull life we
have had since our imprisonment.
Being quite without money to provide for my little wants, I am
sorry to say that I have had to sell the ring that belonged to
my dear mother the one she gave me the year before she died
I was forced to sell it to buy food for they do not give us
enough to eat and it is with regret that I sacrificed it in
order to avoid coming to a bad end, all this is due to this
cursed war from which I have been suffering for 2 months now,
I hope it will soon be over and that I shall be able to resume
the life of peace and happiness I led in the barracks where I
had a happy time during the week and on Sunday was happy to be
able to get leave to go to Rive-de-Gier where I passed such a
pleasant day with my dear employers and my dear girl and that
dear family of which I often think, at every moment of the day
my thoughts turn to them.
Now at length the day is finished and the moment has come to
go and fetch the wretched pittance which they give us as food
then to have some talk with my friend, companion in misfortune,
bedfellow for we sleep together on one heap of straw and with
one blanket, all this because of this cursed war, still never
mind the suffering, it is for France.
September 25. Glorious weather, one can feel the warmth of the
sun, I take advantage of it to get up quickly, to have a wash,
then I go to fetch the trickle of hot water they give us for
coffee, I profit by the opening of this fine autumn day to take
a turn or two about the fort to take my thoughts off and to
proffit by this fine sunshine which has been very rare since my
imprisonment in Bavaria.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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