Germany : Fritz Limbach - letters from the front - 1915

[JWK]

Martin,

at the time of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle Fritz was still in training, in Don, and not yet attached to a specific regiment.

The news that he would go the 16'ers came end of March, just after the 16'ers (and the Marburger Jäger - the Jg 11 on the map - ) had moved south of the Canal (The order to move came on the 18th, and by the 20th they were installing themselves there, taking over from a Bavarian regiment)

So Fritz's time with the 16'ers was only south of the canal, at the Prellbock

The 6 Kompagnies of IR16 and their assigned stretch of the front :

[Martin Feledziak]

That is good, It all fits like a glove now,

These historical events take on a greater impact when someone is feeding in personal accounts.

Now ...I promise to stop interupting !!

[JWK]

Martin, continue interrupting please!

It will be in the spirit of Fritz: he tells his family many times "Ask questions! I don't know anymore what to write to you"

(But not knowing what to write does not stop him from writing 8-page letters twice a week though! Imagine what his output would have been had his family asked him many questions...)

…..continued from post #48

Douvrin, 25 July 1915 and Fritz is enjoying his 4 days rest.

“Yesterday we had our Kompagnie’s Schützenfest : targetshooting in the morning, and then in the evening the award-ceremony.

It was very late last night, so if this letter doesn’t quite turn out as it should : that’s the reason. The small hours had become big hours by the time we went to bed.

It was all véry enjoyable, unfortunately I didn’t shoot myself onto the podium.

There were great prizes to be won , like watches, cigarcases, wickelgamaschen, pocketlights etc. Even the highest gentlemen were there, like our Regimental and Battalion commanders. They'd made a special Schützen zeitung for the occasion, in which everyone, from our Leutnant down, was made fun off. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time.

To round it all off we even danced, can you imagine that? We’re doing well here, us “poor soldiers in France”.

If I can get my hands on one I’ll send you a Schützen zeitung. Unfortunately there aren’t enough for everyone. This time there was a beautiful poem in it about our Leutnant. You should know that he has the habit of saying “I’m broken” in every possible situation, whether he likes that situation or not.

Herr Oberstleutnant almost fell off his chair laughing!

And I believe that Herr Leutnant also liked it very much, and that can only be good for our Kompagnie. He is überhaupt a cheerful man, but very strict.”

28 july 1915, and Fritz is back at the Prellbock, and he is a happy man : the camera, he asked his parents for, has arrived!

“The camera is not too big afterall. I packed it in a cigarbox, together with the cassette and films, so that I can easily carry it everywhere.

I’ve made some pictures already . When we’re then back in Douvrin I’ll develop them there when I can. For that please send me some powdered developer and fixer. And if they got it a red lamp.”

[Fritz sure knows how to develop films! He goes on describing what they can send instead if they can’t find a red lamp]

“As I already wrote you I’ve become friends with Otto Mertens from Solingen, also a Gymnasium graduate. Us two are the Leutnants special friends now. He always calls us “Max und Moritz”

Max und Moritz : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Moritz

And here a picture of Herr Leutnant (a little cropped, because of the very obvious badge on his arm. Uncropped picture in the links) and a few links:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Stennes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stennes_Revolt

http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/walter-stennes-sa-fuehrer-und-spion-fuer-stalin-a-947674.html

Colourful life he’s led! From friend of Hermann Goering, to very high up in the NSDAP, to prisoner in an SS-prison, to spy for Stalin in China (if we have to believe der Spiegel) . But I'll let you make up your own mind about this man.

Edited 20 August , 2022 by JWK

[Martin Feledziak]

Jan - even more meat is appearing on the bones of this thread.

According to the Wiki - Stennes gets his EK1 in May 1915 - Does Fritz mention this in his writings ?

I am not sure how long it takes for soldiers to receive recognition for their deeds.

But they appear to get them in the field - much like Fritz shooting prize giving evening.

Stennes appears to have been in it from the start, enlisting as a Luetenant with the 16'ers. Even wounded 2 weeks in. Perhaps he gets a medal resulting from that incident.

[JWK]

Fritz does indeed mention it, but at a much later date :

Douvrin, 25 August 1915

Today we had our Kompagnie-inspection, which went all very well.

Our Commander General von François was there, as well as the Division-commanders and all the other high animals.

We played a mock-attack, which was really tough, I mean we were sweating like I don’t know what.

Our Leutnant was presented with the EK1, the first and youngest Leutnant of the whole Regiment to receive one.

I was very happy for him, he really deserved it. He cried tears of joy.

So perhaps it was made official in May 1915, and then presented when the timing was right at a later date?

[Langdon]

Fascinating history - how did he make it to 1989! By not being around in June 1934 for a starter..

Mike

[trajan]

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Stennes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stennes_Revolt

http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/walter-stennes-sa-fuehrer-und-spion-fuer-stalin-a-947674.html

Colourful life he’s led! From friend of Hermann Goering, to very high up in the NSDAP, to prisoner in an SS-prison, to spy for Stalin in China (if we have to believe der Spiegel) . But I'll let you make up your own mind about this man.

Just had a chance to follow up on this guy... Colourful to say the least! I knew about the later SA 'problem' but had no idea about this earlier one.

Any idea as to the cross he wears bottom right?

Trajan

[JWK]

I knew I was gonna regret the "In the spirit of Fritz: ask questions" rermark when I typed it !

I have no idea.

Top left is the EK1, that one I recognise. Below that the wounded badge (in silver)

Top right looks like a Johanniter Order (Order of St John) , but to be invited into that order you have to be a Protestant noble (at least here in the Netherlands) so must be another one ....

Bottom right : no idea whatsoever.

But then this picture was taken some time áfter his 19th birthday (famously celebrated with his Kompagnie), so maybe it's a post-www1 order?

There are many very knowledgeable people on this forum who can give you an answer in nano-seconds.

But alas, I'm not one of them.....

[JWK]

…..continued from post #53

Prellbock, 5 august 1915

“Not much news from here (We just get the news over the wireless that Warsaw has fallen . It’s a party here) . Yesterday we celebrated the first anniversary of our war against Britain, as follows: Shortly after nightfall the planting of a black-white-red flag [the then German flag] , in front of the English trenches, by our Leutnant.

At exactly midnight a Feuerüberfall [sudden onset of rifle fire] by all party-goers, with riflegrenades and throwing of handgrenades.

Then at the sign “Seitengewehr pflantz aus!” [Fix bayonets! ] even better fire, and at the sign to attack a triple Hurrah!

And then we disappeared into the dugouts as quickly as possible.

The English must have looked surprised.

By the way the English are getting quieter by the day. It seems like they don’t have any artillery here anymore, or at least not the heavy stuff. Or are they running out of ammunition? We have found here an unexploded shrapnellgrenade made in July 1915! And we’re still using ammunition from previous years.”

“Then a special request for the Sundays: what do you think of sending me a small tin of lobster in mayonaise, and a tin of salmon? I’d love that so much.”

Douvrin, 9 august 1915 , and Fritz is sending the first film home, to be developed and printed by Paul Bonert (his cousin) , or , if Paul doesn’t have the time, they should bring it to Jansen (which is a fotoshop in Barmen I’d imagine)

He lists all 10 pictures (2 were duds), who’s on the picture, where and when it was taken, and a complete list of how many prints of each, and where to send them.

And can they do it quickly please, Fritz is “gespannt wie ein Regenshirm” (tense as an umbrella) and wants to know a.s.a.p. how the pictures turned out.

We’ll know in a few days.

“Yesterday [8 august 1915] we had a festival to celebrate that 1 year ago the war broke out, with a Thanksgiving service in the morning, followed by a parade in front of our Regimental commander Oberstleutnant von l’Estoc.

Then in the afternoon tug of war competition, running, hurdles, handgrenade throwing etc. by the 1st, 6th, 11th and 1st Berg Kompagnie.

Followed by a very enjoyable get-together with beer.

Very nice day, and our Kompagnie did brilliantly: of the 90 prizes we won 72.

Our Leutnant was “broken” .

[JWK]

....continued from post #59

12 august 1915, and Fritz writes a letter from the Prellbock stellung on the front.

Fritz is a prolific letterwriter (as you may have noticed), but so are his parents: in évery single letter Fritz writes he confirms the receipt of “mother’s letter of this and that date” or “father’s two letters of this and that date”. Plus his aunts (Aunt Bonert, Aunt Vollmer, Aunt Nettelbeck) also write to him, almost weekly. And there are the letters of people that have some relation to the Limbachs, but haven’t quite figured out who they are, like the Weyerbuschs, the Heedes, the Steigleders, who also write regularly.

None of the letters Fritz received have survived unfortunately. Because he is on the move every 4 days (From front trenches to reserve trenches to rest in Douvrin to front trenches etc etc etc ) he cannot keep this mountain of letters, so after reading and answering them they’re burned. Just like the feldpostpackets (after opening them and devouring (or sharing them with his comrades) the contents ofcourse).

Another thing is that when they leave the trenches the trenches have to be spic-and-span, swept, cleared of all rubbish, so you can’t leave any torn envelopes or opened packages lying around.

By the way: the trenches have wastebins, running water, a mailbox, a canteen even.

And wherever Fritz is, the Feldpost follows him. No problem even if people write the wrong Regiment in the address ( Regt 6 e.g. Fritz is Regiment 16) : the German feldpost wíll find him!

A few days delay, that’s all.

And side by side with the prolific letterwriting, there is the prolific package-sending going on.

In this letter from 12 august 1915 Fritz confirms the receipt of the feldpostpackages numbered 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 259, 260. And yes, some packages never arrive “Especially those that obviously contain fluids” (But the bottle of cognac díd arrive !)

Following on with the 12 august letter:

“Send me some more ammo for the revolver [ a Browning] please. I’ve shot too many rats with it.”

“The English were ofcourse terribly annoyed about that little joke with the flag [see post # 59] . They’ve tried to destroy it, with every possible shrapnell, mines etc , but it still stands. We have even put a second flag next to it, a yellow-black-white-red one [ Does anyone know what kind of flag that is ??] , and now they’re completely “aus dem Häuschen” [ They’ve gone complete berzerk ], but we’ll quieten them down.

A few riflegrenades, especially during the night, are the perfect remedy for that. We’ll get those brothers. For every shrapnell, every mine from them they get back three German ones. That gets them quiet.

I believe we have new troops opposite us. You can sense they are even more afraid than the last ones. Every night the skies are filled with aeroplanes to observe if there are any troopmovements. And they fire off flares like never before. “

[Martin Feledziak]

Marvellous Stuff.

Fritz has a great sense of humour, or at least you make him appear so.

Here are some things I have read about 1 year volunteers, Like Fritz.

They were able to sign up at age 17 - 20 for just 1 year, otherwise all Germans would have to appear for service at age 20 and would have to serve for 2 to 3 years. ( Not sure how this would work during an actual war - I can't imagine the lad saying - "OK I have done my 12 months, I am off now"

1 year volunteers would have to fund themselves, uniform, meals etc. Fritz tells us his folk already sent him the revolver and now he needs more ammo. so that fits.

You did tell us that a uniform could cost 300 marks and Fritz got a shiny new 98 rifle,but did his family pay for this gear ?

Anyway

we are now looking forward to the development of his film..

Also, you are doing a great Job, Jan - as Dutch Guy converting German into English, this is a great skill, well done, but keep it coming..

I know we are coming to the end as September 1915 Looms !!

[JWK]

Martin,

Good to hear his humour shines through even after two translations (German -> Dutch -> English).

Fritz sure has a way with words, I especially lóve it when he writes about “the high, higher and highest animals” (Meaning all the officers and generals) , or “I especially loved the cake in package nr xxx , and so did the mice. They demand you send some more.”

From what I glean from his writings he didn’t have to pay for his uniform, rucksack, meals, boarding, rifle etc.

The only thing he bought was a Litevka, for 50 DM, but he didn’t really have to wear that one. It was more “Sunday-wear”. Don’t know what happened to it, because after Kevelaer (where he was in training) he never talks about it anymore.

Jan Willem

[JWK]

After I bought this Nachlass I started reading Fritz’s letters, and came to August where he describes the pictures he took. Felt a little sad as for sure I would never ever lay eyes on them, and all I will ever have was his description of them.

 

Imagine my joy when I found some of them on a Flickr photostream : https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=29007475@N08&q=IR16 !!! (A Flickr-stream chockful of beautiful pictures! Worth a look!)

 

I immediately sent off an e-mail to the owner of the photostream, who véry kindly replied a few hours later. I’d asked him where he got those pictures, and he sent me the e-mail address and Delcampe-address of the dealer he got them from.

Wrote an e-mail to the dealer, explaining this and that, got the letters etc etc and does he have some more pictures of that series?

And so he did! 8 in total. Oh, and he had a rummage around and found some negatives, would I be interested in that ?

Don’t quite believe in it, but if I did I’d say I was guided towards them!

 

The tally now is :

9 negatives (All from the first roll of film of 12. 2 were duds, and I’m missing negative nr 1)

8 pictures (printed by Paul Bonert, back in 1915)

And I have scans of 13 other pictures.

So of the 43 pictures Fritz took in July/August/September 1915 I now have 30 in whatever form.

If anyone reading this has any of the remaining 13 : please let me know (or post them here, even better).

 

Anyway, on with the show:

….continued from post# 60

Fritz received the prints of his first roll of film on August 19^th.

“Received father’s letter of the 16th with the money and the pictures, and a whole load of packages (why do you always send them on the same day?) . I’ll give you the numbers as soon as I know them. Many thanks for everything.

We all are very happy with the pictures. Am really curious to know how the pictures of the second film turn out. “

“ The pictures unfortunately didn’t turn out as good as I’d hoped. But then it is more difficult than I thought to photograph in the trenches. They’re all so narrow and there isn’t any good place to take a picture”

Judge for yourself :

Here are the 2014 prints of the 1915 negatives

(And following in Fritz's footsteps "Prints unfortunately didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped" )

Nr 2 “a guy from Schwelm, gunners station at the Prellbock, 27 July 1915”

Nr 3 “Otto Mertens from Solingen, gunners station at the Prellbock, 27 July 1915”

Nr 4 “Your’s truly, gunners station at the Prellbock, 27 July 1915”

Nr 5 “Group, outside the reserve-trenches, 31 July 1915”

Edited 22 September , 2018 by JWK

[JWK]

Nr 6 “Group, outside the reserve-trenches, 31 July 1915” Now with Fritz, third from the left

Nr 7 “Group, in reserve-trenches, 31 July 1915”

Nr 8 “Group, in reserve-trenches, 31 July 1915”

Nr 10 “Group, in our camp in Auchy, 31 July 1915”

Nr 11 “Harbour of Auchy, with destroyed ships, 31 July 1915”

[Martin Feledziak]

an impressive slice of history !!!

I think that the quality is first class.

Remember friends this is 99 years ago. They look super crisp.

Jan,

what size negatives did you get these prints from. I am guessing 120 roll film

whatever I am well impressed

Good job

[Beechhill]

Martin,

Good to hear his humour shines through even after two translations (German -> Dutch -> English).

Fritz sure has a way with words, I especially lóve it when he writes about the high, higher and highest animals (Meaning all the officers and generals)

Jan Willem

And he wasn't even quoting "Animal Farm" for which the world would have to wait another 30 years:-)

Thank you for sharing this fascinating story!

[egbert]

The surprises will not end- well done!

[JWK]

Martin,

yes, I believe it was a 120 film.

Negative size is 6 x 9 cm (approx), and 12 exposures to a film.

No idea what kind of camera he used, he used to have a Ticka (One of those pre-James Bond tiny cameras) ,

and the camera he took these pictures with fits inside a cigarcase, and can be easily packed into his rucksack.

So won't be a Brownie box I presume.

...continued from post #63

Douvrin, 23 august 1915

“It is good you sent me the camera, isn’t it? You won’t believe how many men come to me to ask if I could photograph them.

So I made many pictures of reasonably unknown grandees, but that doesn’t matter.

You know how bad I am in rejecting someone, if I see he réally wants it and asks nicely.

There are ofcourse also some rather difficult types “I need 5 prints” etc And postcard format ofcourse.

But those I just pretend to photograph.

Then, send me please my shavingset and a little mirror and some scissors.

I don’t want to walk about in the trenches unshaven for 12 days.

The day after tomorrow we have Kompagniebesichtigung [Kompagnie-inspection] ,

so lots of exercises. This time we’re 5 days in rest, because last time we only had 3.”

Douvrin, 25 august 1915

Fritz has received the prints from the second roll of film, and sends off roll nr 3:

“ On rolls nr 3 Nr 1-11 are groups and people at Prellbock, nr 12 just unknown grandees in front of our quarters in Douvrin.

They’re all time-exposures, and I hope this time wíth heads. A new film is on its way to me again, I hope"

“Today we had our Kompagnie-inspection, which went all very well.

Our Commander General von François was there, as well as the Division-commanders and all the other high animals.

We played a mock-attack, which was really tough, I mean we were sweating like I don’t know what.

Our Leutnant was presented with the EK1, the first and youngest Leutnant of the whole Regiment to receive one.

I was very happy for him, he really deserved it. He cried tears of joy.

I am very glad we have such a Kompagnie-commander, one you can always rely on in every situation.

I don’t know what to write anymore. I have heard people back in Germany sing “Im Osten kämpft das deutsche Heer, im Westen kämpft die Feuerwehr” [ In the East the German army fights, in the West the fire department – loses a lot (if not all) in translation, sorry..] .

I ask you to be fiercely against that, it really is unfair towards us.”

And of filmroll nr 2 I happen to have three prints , two of them are indeed headless (but maybe invaluable for someone who studies German footwear in the First World War), but picture nr 23 is seriously getting there (only one head missing…) :

Nr 23 , Prellbock, mid August 1915

I wonder who they are, and what became of them.

Edited 3 February , 2015 by JWK

[JWK]

....continued from post # 69

Fritz’s mother likes to send packages with goodies to Fritz’s comrades.

And now also one to his Leutnant :

“That the one with the EK1 and 2 received mother’s package is great. The EK2 is really nothing special. If you see who it is presented to here….

But the EK1 is truly something special. Especially if you notice that no other officer has been presented with one before, it must be something special.

A Lance corporal, then a Musketier, from our Kompagnie got one at Neuve Chapelle. He retrieved there about 20 wounded from near the English trenches.

We now have 2 EK1’s and 52 EK2’s in our Kompagnie of less than 100 men. That is remarkable, isn’t it? “

[EK1 = Eisernes Kreuz erste klasse EK2 = zweite Klasse / Iron Cross first class and second class resp.]

“We don’t have, as I wrote earlier, the French opposite us, but still the English, with French artillery. The rumour goes that the English artillery has been shipped to the Dardanelles [= Gallipoli] .

Whether it’s true or not I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem impossible.

A lot of artillery is being sent here from Russia. Almost every night we can hear the carriages rumble through the streets. It can only be a good thing if we have some more artillery here, it keeps Tommy quiet. “

Prellbock, 2 september 1915

“Yesterday I received mother’s letter of the 27 th, and the shavingset. Many thanks. I was very happy with it, and shaved myself this morning. You should have seen it : it’s as light in the dugout again as it was before.

So you want to know how I "feel" as a soldier in the trenches ? Well, I can only answer that with : on the whole good, sometimes better, sometimes a little less so. But on the whole satisfactory.

One has been immersed in this for so long now that you hardly can remember what is was like before. The only thing I’d wish is some more free time and an appetite to write. It’s been ages since I wrote to Walter Benzenberg or Wilhelm Phllips.

On the whole life is good here. But then our Kompagnie has the best stretch of the front of the whole Regiment, and over the last while we have not been subjected to such nice things as explosions, mines, handgrenades etc.

Tommy knows who is opposite him, and that we don’t take things lightly. He knows exactly that when he leaves us alone we most of the time leave him alone.

Sometimes though we are not so decent, and they retailliate usually, but not always. Our 21cm grenades always have the last word. “

Fritz has a little wish, because he feels his father works too hard, and his mother worries too much:

“So this is my special wish : mother takes father by the hand, and takes him to Boppard, or Kyllburg or some other quiet little town for a, let’s say 3 week, holiday. Maybe you can persuade uncle Bonert to come with you. It will do you a lot of good. But talk about it amongst yourselves. It is my special wish. You have fulfilled all my wishes in the past, please fulfill this one as well. And I promise I won’t wish for anything for a long time. “

“Oh, they have a job again for “den Herrn Einjährigen” : “Take 5 men and go to the depot (about half an hour walk from here, in Auchy) and get 30 2mtr planks, 2 boxes of nails, and as many optical mirrors as you can carry” [Mirrors for use in the periscopes] .

But I’ll finish this letter first.

I’m sure the Gentlemen don’t mind waiting a little longer for their planks”

Edited 14 September , 2014 by JWK

[trajan]

I am probably behind on things as still travelling back home, but great photographs Jan. 'Our Fritz', as we tend to see him, was a damn good photographer and recorder.

[Martin Feledziak]

Fritz does indeed mention it, but at a much later date :

Douvrin, 25 August 1915

Today we had our Kompagnie-inspection, which went all very well.

Our Commander General von François was there, as well as the Division-commanders and all the other high animals.

We played a mock-attack, which was really tough, I mean we were sweating like I don’t know what.

Our Leutnant was presented with the EK1, the first and youngest Leutnant of the whole Regiment to receive one.

I was very happy for him, he really deserved it. He cried tears of joy.

So perhaps it was made official in May 1915, and then presented when the timing was right at a later date?

This must be one of the "Higher Animals"

[Ulrich]

The photos are great. And I can´t believe that letters and photos had survived separately. Btw. It is correct that "Einjährige" had to pay for everything during their service in peace, but not during war. And they need a special school graduation to make the service as a "Einjähriger", because in normal cases they get the rank "reserve officer" after the service.

[JWK]

This must be one of the "Higher Animals"

Von Francis.jpg

That is indeed one of the higher animals, if not the highest animal present at that time.

The photos are great. And I can´t believe that letters and photos had survived separately. Btw. It is correct that "Einjährige" had to pay for everything during their service in peace, but not during war. And they need a special school graduation to make the service as a "Einjähriger", because in normal cases they get the rank "reserve officer" after the service.

Ulrich, thank you very much ! Véry interesting.

Explains why Fritz always makes special mention of the "Einjährigen" from Barmen in his Kompagnie or in his group. They must have gone to school together.

Edited 15 September , 2014 by JWK

[JWK]

....continued from post #69

Prellbock, 6 september 1915

Fritz sends off filmroll nr 4, and he describes who’s on which picture. 3 were duds “because I was still half asleep when I took them” Plus he sends the shoppinglist : 2 of picture this, 3 of picture that, etc.

“Then to mother’s letter of 28 th august: I’m happy mother read that book by Sanghofer [a German writer, couldn’t find any info on him]. I’ve read it too, here in the library.

Please let mother send mr Sanghofer my regards, and that I thank him for the compliment he made us, but for the future I hope he has the goodness to be so kind as to start writing novels again, it suits him better.

Do read the similar book by Sven Hedin [ a Swedish explorer] “

“By the way, as “Kompagnies-photographer”, I now get many invitations to come over for dinner, which I ofcourse always accept. Or somebody comes by “Shall I fetch some water for you?”, which I then always decline. “

Prellbock, 9 september 1915

And the pictures from roll #3 have arrived.

“I’ll write to Paul [His cousin, Paul Bonert, who does all the developing and printing at home] to thank him for all his hard work, and I’ll promise him that in future I won’t photograph so many unknowns.”

“For the rest not much news. Tommy still behaves well, because mother likes to hear that.

By the way they now answer when you call them. We call “Tommy” and they reply “Fritz”, but also Saupreusse [ “Prussian b*****s”] etc.

There are a few amongst them who speak very good German.

Last night the following conversation:

-Tommy!

-Hallo Fritz, haben Sie gut geschlafen? [Did you sleep well?] (Very gentleman-like of them to address us as “Sie” [= you, formal] , where we barbarians just address them with “Du” [= you, familiar] without even thinking about it)

-Thank you Tommy, very good. You speak excellent German, where did you learn that?

-I’ve learned it in Germany

-Where have you been in Germany?

-Cologne, Berlin and Oberammergau in Bavaria

-Well Tommy, come here, then we’ll go to Cologne together for a glass of beer.

-Yes, but if I do you’ll shoot ! The beer is excellent in Germany btw.

And of filmroll nr 3 I have two pictures:

Nr 26, “Herrn Stoffel, from Ferkesdorf”

Nr 28 (or is it nr 29? ) Nr 29 would fit with : “4 guys with French machinegun”

“I don’t really know where that French machinegun comes from, but it is certainly not sitting there as just a piece of artwork to brighten up the Prellbock. We use it to shoot at Tommy”

Edited 3 February , 2015 by JWK

[Martin Feledziak]

Poor lads.. some of them only have a few days left..( we know Fritz, Heinrick and Otto don't make it ) This was not down to these lads or the other lads just over the divide, (Tommy)

But very, very bad circumstances.

Just as an aside, I see Herrn Stoffel and the guys in photos No's 7 and 8 are wearing Corduroy uniform trousers, something I have seen mentioned in Junger's book too.

Such is the quality of Frit's recording.