True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
The Main Headquarters are the head or rather the brain of the army
in the field, where all plans are made and from which all orders are
issued. It is an incredibly complicated apparatus with an organization
of which every detail has been prepared in advance. When an apparatus
of this kind is installed in a small town like Luxemburg, all hotels,
schools, barracks, Government offices, as well as a number of private
houses, have to be requisitioned for billets. The invaded country
has no alternative but to resign itself to its fate. But nothing is
taken promiscuously, everything will be made good after the war. The
War Ministry is housed in an hotel, the General Staff--as already
mentioned--in a school, the officers of the automobile corps, in a
private house, and so on. The Commander-in-Chief, von Moltke, resided
at the _Kölnischer Hof_, the Imperial Chancellor and the Foreign
Minister in an exceptionally elegant private house, whilst the
Emperor's personal staff and suite were stopping at the _Hotel Staar_,
where a room was also placed at my disposal....
IV--"AN INVITATION TO DINE WITH THE EMPEROR"
Directly I arrived in Luxemburg, I was honored with an invitation
to dine with the Emperor William the following day at one o'clock.
Most of the guests were stopping at the _Hotel Staar_, and the cars
were to leave there in good time. I went with Adjutant-General,
Lieutenant-General von Gontard, Acting General à la suite. The street
close to the Imperial residence was railed off, the barriers being
withdrawn by the soldiers to let our car pass. The Emperor lived in
the house of the German Minister and had his private apartments on the
first floor. On the ground floor was the chancellerie, where enormous
maps of the theaters of war were mounted on easels, and next to it was
the dining-room, quite a small apartment.
The guests, all in field uniform, without any display, for-gathered in
the chancellerie. I myself was dressed in the most flagrant, everyday
clothes--in the field nothing is carried for show. Among the Emperor's
suite I recognized a couple of old acquaintances, the Headquarters
Commandant, Adjutant-General, Colonel-General von Plessen, and
the President of the Navy Council, Admiral von Müller, of Swedish
descent, who spoke Swedish as fluently as German. The others were his
Excellency von Treutler and Lieutenant-General Baron Marschall, Colonel
von Mutius, acting aide-de-camp, the Princes Pless and Arnim and the
Emperor's body-physician, Dr. Ilberg. We were thus ten all told.
V--"THE DOOR OPENED ... EMPEROR WILLIAM ENTERED"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account