Generalleutnant Eugen von Dorrer: Letters from the Flanders, October - December 1914

[2ndCMR]

And that was why it was called the "Annus Mirabilis".   But I don't think Byng's execution made the Royal Navy what it was, anymore than Sackville's cowardice or treasonous spite at Minden reflected what those six battalions were to achieve that day.   The quality was in the population from which both army and navy sprang.  Right, back to the war already in progress...

[Heinrich von Reichenbach]

23 hours ago, 2ndCMR said:

"Fellows" would be more appropriate than "blokes" I would suggest. 

 

Von Dorrer wrote: " , ... denn mit diesen Kerlen erreicht man nichts Großes." - In fact I was pondering for a while about the best term for the translation of "Kerl" (pl. Kerle). At least v. Dorrer wrote derogatorily about them. "Fellowss" seemed to be associated too positively to be used in this context.

 

 

[Hugh Shipman]

Hello Kerlen,

Apologies for the shorter extract which follows but we are bumping up against how far we have got with  the translation to date.

 

Regarding the letter below, H and I have not so far found out who P.E. , the fussy pedant, might be. Neither did we find "G", whose headquarters were inherited, nor the true meaning of Bismarck's "pupilarische Sicherheit" .

 

Hugh

Edited 24 April , 2018 by Hugh Shipman
spelling

[Hugh Shipman]

von Dorrer Translation

 

Part 15

 

Nov. 24^th, 14 Staden.

 

The letters generally seem to come in unsteadily but fortunately you receive all of them sooner or later. As a matter of fact it is expressly forbidden to keep a diary because in the hands of the enemy such a thing might betray important matters. Therefore, the letters truly represent the war diary for the family. An official account is to be kept by an officer of the headquarters. Being the main source for the subsequent writing of history in the war archives, it will be published immediately after the war. However, I am happy that this is not a task that falls to me to do as to write a clear document of this tremendous war must be a huge undertaking, never to date being mastered.

 

Today mid-morning I was in G’s headquarters, in order to discuss with him and his subordinate leaders the relief of his division that will take place tonight.

G’s quarters, a charming little hunting château with neat furnishings, located in the middle of the huge Fôret d’ Houthulst, pleased me so much that from the day after tomorrow onwards I will relocate my headquarters there. If I had my double-barrelled shotgun and a dog with me, I could go hunting pheasants. Certainly I hope that we do not have to stay here too long, and that a strong offensive of the left and the right wing will finish the almost ignoble situation next to Ypres by delivering into our hands the 50 000 Frenchmen and Englishmen deployed there. With each hesitation however this will become more difficult because the French continually bring new forces to the threatened points, in particular very much heavy artillery. What we could have achieved 3 weeks ago with a fresh brigade, or 14 days ago with a fresh division, today will require 2 army corps at the minimum.

 

Because I had to look at this development from such a very close vicinity, I have become so crestfallen and disgusted. Each time I spoke out arguing the utmost possible, as later witnessed by Beseler who himself had the right thoughts without being able to get them through either to his troops or to the Army High Command. There the Duke too has been of the same views, but unfortunately he did not force them through against his general staff where people like P. E. and all those pedants and small-time fussers wield an unfavourable influence. Still I hope that in the not too distant future we will brace ourselves up for a vigorous offensive. Then we will have to win. If only we had Hindenburg as a chief of the general staff in the Great Headquarters! Falkenhayn, the secretary of state for war undoubtedly is a very capable person. However, for being Moltke’s representative he is lacking experience, consistency; in fine this is what Bismarck called “pupilary certainty” [“pupilarische Sicherheit”]. This effect is felt right down to us.

 

Yesterday there must have been some mighty firing at the coast. The rumbling thunder of very heavy artillery pieces nearly caused an earthquake.

[2ndCMR]

On 4/15/2018 at 10:08, Heinrich von Reichenbach said:

 

Von Dorrer wrote: " , ... denn mit diesen Kerlen erreicht man nichts Großes." - In fact I was pondering for a while about the best term for the translation of "Kerl" (pl. Kerle). At least v. Dorrer wrote derogatorily about them. "Fellowss" seemed to be associated too positively to be used in this context.

 

 

"Blokes" is also a neutral term and being a word used by what was then called "the lower orders" of society, would not I think be an appropriate rendition of the speech of an educated man at that time.   Combined with a suitable adjective, or depending on the context it is used in, either word can be dismissive or contemptuous in tone.  "Laggards" might be the best compromise.

 

Myself I am still wondering how "ganzer Kerl" is a term of praise, while "kerl" can be one of contempt!(?)

[Heinrich von Reichenbach]

@2ndCMR

Thank you for your constructive comment and proposal. According to dict.cc, "laggards" seem to be in good accordance with "Kerlen".
"Ganzer Kerl" indeed is positively correlated, while the grading of "Kerl" is always being determined by the context in which it is been used. An extreme negative context: "Scheiß-Kerl" (**** face, ******, son of a bitch).

 

Regards

 

Heinrich

[Heinrich von Reichenbach]

von Dorrer translation

 

Part 16 

 

25^th Nov. 14  Hunting lodge Houthulst,

Today I relocated to the hunting lodge in the forest of Houthulst with a part of my staff (Gudowius, Roon and 2 orderly officers) while Wöllerath together with the greater half of it took up quarters further behind at the Northern edge of the forest in a  small chateau. Here there is not enough space for the entire crowd. If it was springtime or still the lovely autumn of 4 – 6 weeks ago, the sojourn here would be almost quaint. In peacetime the pretty house with its turret and a huge verandah in a spacious wood glade must have been an enchanting place to stay. Also inside it is not exorbitantly, rather commodiously furnished, such as we have not been accustomed to so far. However, the cosiness here is being impaired both by the noise of war which is resounding through the entire forest, and by all the coming and going at day and at night which is inevitable in the staff quarters of a division.

Unfortunately there is real thaw today which is steadily causing the unpaved forest trails to become bottomless, making them impassable for our cars. How much longer we will have to remain here so close to Ypres? Basically it is a shame that here we haven’t caused the British and the Frenchman a Sedan which 3 weeks ago could have been done easily, and 14 days ago still without too much effort. Now the favourable opportunity is over. – Because there is no progress here, in the Argonnes and at Verdun things now seem to be getting more serious again.  Seriousness for the troops however is not to be missed here either. The artillery fire on both sides is temporarily of immense severity, particularly the Frenchmen do not save ammunition unlike us who unfortunately have to do that quite often.

It seems as if a decision now shall be brought about most notably in the East while here is a temporising modus operandi. Preferably however one should have executed decisive attacks on both fronts. The opportunity was so favourable. - At this very moment we received the phone call that the big strike in the East has turned out well, and that as many as 7000 Russians has been taken captive. Thank God that headway is being made there, at any rate! If only we had likewise intercepted the 50 000 Frenchmen and Englishmen close to Ypres; they were so nicely in the trap. But Hindenburg and Ludendorff were the ones who were missing among us.

 

 

[Hugh Shipman]

von Dorrer Translation

 

Part 17

 

26^th of Nov. 14 Hunting lodge Houthulst,

 

We are all ejoying at the victories of Hindenburg, wishing to have a Hindenburg at the top of our High Command here. In that case the run of events would soon be different here, too. The one that least of all covers itself with glory is the Pr. Kr. Min. [Prussian Ministry of War]. Why? – the annals later will tell of it.

 

Today before noon I visited Beseler for a small hour. He has developed very interesting opinions about our warfare. As a Chief of the General Staffs B. certainly would have acted more to our benefit than the current representatives of Moltke.

Having a very real and incisive view, B. is a generous man who at most only lacks the ruthlessness and sharpness necessary against his unit leaders to be a great commander. He too complained to the utmost about the present standstill. If it had gone according to his ideas, one now could have added to the success in the East an identical one in the West. Unfortunately those entities who owned that sagacity were missing the necessary power while others were missing the necessary sagacity.

 

This afternoon a most extreme artillery uproar has developed and has still not ended . Our little house sometimes quiveres in all its nooks and crannies. Hopefully we will not have a long casualty list tomorrow. My Division is just starting to revive and should better be saved from such severe unsettling. At daylight I rode a little forward, attended by Gudowius, in order to see what was happening during a little pause. However unfortunately there are no viewpoints at all in that flat, strongly developed and wooded land. One needs to move on to the forward battle line where still one can only see what is situated in the proximity. What keeps oneself as a leader from moving too far upfront is that up there the leader is not reached by messages and orders. So he unfortunately remains tied to his telephone wires.

 

The French pilots are getting more and more adventurous. Yesterday two of them moved above us in the evening sky, severely peppered by the guns that were assigned for that [purpose], so that the sky was soon dotted with little white clouds. And after all that it could not be accomplished to down any one of the two. It has been said that in Friedrichshafen one has been shot down. Here unfortunately one has not succeeded in this so far. From our pilots there is nothing to be seen anymore. Do they save their strength for the fulfillment of particular tasks? – If only the weather would become better! Today there was a real gloomy November day, wet, cold and foggy, the worst for the troops in the trenches. Frost and dry air would be better. 

 

At the moment I am separated from the greater half of my staff in such a way that only once a day Wöllerath comes over here on horseback with his signature folder because the cars cannot drive on the bad forest paths. However I hope that this condition will not last too long: I do not like at all barely being able to move onwards for more than 4 weeks, to have to lie again here east of the Yser canal that already long ago we had crossed to the north of Dixmuide. Furthermore field post has no longer reached us for a number of days. Your last message dates from Nov. 18^th. How will be on that front around Chrismas! What luck that the last one was so lovely and that I now can live off the remembrance.

[2ndCMR]

Quote

What keeps oneself as a leader from moving too far upfront is that up there the leader is not reached by messages and orders. So he unfortunately remains tied to his telephone wires.

 

Quote

At the moment I am separated from the greater half of my staff in such a way that only once a day Wöllerath comes over here on horseback with his signature folder because the cars cannot drive on the bad forest paths.

 

Rather an odd contradiction methinks.

 

It is hard not to smile at the belief that what was accomplished in the East might be as easily accomplished in the West.

Edited 20 May , 2018 by 2ndCMR

[Martin Feledziak]

Great to see what is actually in the mind of those who direct War. 

Keep it coming Guys.

 

We may not like it but, there must be more to get this snake straight !!

 

I refer to the account - not the person

 

 

Edited 20 May , 2018 by Martin Feledziak
Clarification

[Heinrich von Reichenbach]

von Dorrer Translation

 

Part 18

 

27^th Nov. 14

Today begins sunny and cloudless, just as beautiful as it had been nasty yesterday. Our artillery fire seems to have annoyed the Frenchmen yesterday afternoon and repeatedly a good effect had been observed. In return they took vengeance at night by means of such a maniacal bombardment so that at times even us officers were disturbed in our sleep despite our being inured to it, because the hunting lodge was shivering to its foundations. Hundreds of tons of iron and melinite [explosives] must have been tossed against us. Encouragingly the result is – as being reported to me so far – zero. Our artillery in the main shoots only by day when observation can be done, thus striking better. If we only had enough ammunition!

28^th of Nov. 14 Hunting lodge Houthulst,

The stay here would be rather agreeable if there weren’t the despicable lyddite shells of the English whereof they or the Frenchmen are affording themselves an unbelievable luxury. I assume the entire naval ammunition is being fired here from offshore. Every evening when our men are delivering their food to the very front line, the wild shooting starts. It is doing little harm because our men know to avoid the particularly bothersome places but due to the very odious noise that cannot be described,  it is trying to the highest degree. If once we catch French or English artillerists I believe that of those only a few would be getting out alive. Hopefully our artillery pesters those of the opposite side not less, inflicting even more damage despite less waste of ammo. The ones from us suggest it at least.

Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful evening on our verandah. It was too blustery to stay there sitting but after the meal we got some exercise in the fresh air. Along with it the waxing moon was shining on our glade, and above the treetops the blazing flashes of the bursting shrapnels was visible. In the course of this and beside the uninterrupted thunder of the heavy guns [there was] almost for one hour rolling smallarms fire towards my Division. However, by phone the comforting message came through that this was only an exceptionally vivid evening prayer, as the evening fire is being named, recited by our friendly opponents.

However, smaller detachments of the latter nearby had tried to advance against our trenches but all of them had been fired off. 3 survivors, 2 from the 94^th Line Regiment and a 19^th Jaeger, all of them being young men at the age of 20, prudent and alert chaps, were brought before me and were questioned by me, being forwarded to the general headquarters afterwards. No important information can be gained from those men. More interesting were diaries and notes that had been taken off from the fallen or captured officers.

 Down there at Bixschote where my Division again keeps watch in the very frontline, the soil is literally soaked with blood. When new trenches are being excavated, the peace of the ones who had fallen in former fights frequently becomes disturbed, to the disconcerting surprise of the diggers. Prior to us, the XXIII. Reserve Corps endured severe battles there, having captured the village but soon loosing it again. Then my Division arrived, taking it again and since then it has not fallen into the hands of the enemy. On the contrary, our lines are being shifted far beyond it.

In Beerst at the main dressing station of my Division, a real graveyard has come into being, decorated most elegantly and reverently by the comrades. Down at Bixschote the fire of the Frenchmen never allows a proper laying to rest of the fallen. They do not care for the thousands of their own dead men who are laying around, and they just rejected the proposal to hold a short break in order to bury them.

[Hugh Shipman]

von Dorrer Translation

 

Part 19

 

....These conditions are not genteel!

 

Nov. 29^th 1914 Hunting lodge Houthulst,

 

I thought the Frenchmen would be keeping a little more silent today on the 1^st day of Advent because here in our woodland home, Sunday started so pleasantly and peacefully. But from 6 to 8 o‘ clock in the morning their outrageous shell concert started at an intensity that, despite our nerves being rather blunted against it, all without exeption awoke. And at that for the first time for more than 6 weeks I had cosily stretched in a cleanly sheeted bed and slept so well in there! The only enjoyment then is when it is reported that all the nonsensical shelling did not cause any damage at all. Fortunately this is most often the case because the trenches and cover ditches are now much better structured than during the first weeks when our young troops had no understanding of trench digging.

 

We just received backup, and our infantry strength already exceeds the tenthousand again. Hopefully these will not be wasted away in the wet trenches where the men are standing for 48 hours more than ankle-deep in water and mud, but soon will be launched into an attack while they are still fresh. If only Hindenburg who by the way to our joy has been promoted to General Field Marshall would revitalise the rusty belligerence here in the West. A decisive final success against the Russians is being expected these days, such that two days ago the Kaiser set off in the evening for Russia. The first sign of his presence seems to be the elevation of Hindenburg. – We are in the need for frost and coldness; then indeed, we could also get going forwards here.

 

Yesterday our upright Bavarians – I have an excellent heavy howitzer battalion of the Blue-Whites [referring to the Bavarian banner showing blue white rhombuses] at my command – brought us marvellous fresh knackwurst, ham sausages and brawn, a kickshaw. In fact we have had pork bouillon from time to time too, but for a South German palate our North German master butcher spoils every sausage by the use of his spices. 

 

Every day I ride one of my horses and am happy about their exquisiteness; however I would be even much more glad if the tracks were not so miserable and bottomless such as cannot be worse in Russia. Yesterday we came upon an artillery limber that was half-sunk in the mud. The men often need to be pulled with rods and ropes out of the sludge which forcefully snatches huge quantities of boots, never to be seen again. That is why we are longing for frost twice over.

 

Nov. 30^th 1914 Hunting lodge Houthulst,

 

While I am writing, the storm howls and the rain is lashing against my window. Neither however, has a cooling effect upon the ferocity of battle because the cannonade has reached an almost terrific level again, without any good reason to be seen. Up to now the French have never shown serious intention to attack, for the good reason that they were so mightily beaten by us on the 10^th. However, if we continue on higher orders to keep passive, as we unfortunately have since then, then our opponents’ crests must rise [ ! ] , and their hope for success must grow. Then they may attack. We grind our teeth and rail against ourselves but it does not help, and a single division must conform in its actions with the rest. That is because a Hindenburg is missing at the supreme level !

 

What I do not understand anymore is the incessant “jolly mood” which is present in the Great Headquarters and about which all visitors comment. For long there has been no justification for that, should true circumstances be known rather than their glossed-over reports. No doubt that at least we will win and we have to win. So one certainly does not need to be a pessimist when being vexed about the dilettantish muddling. Without the latter, even here in the West one surely by now would have achieved another turn of events. At some point, the history of the time present will be highly interesting but only for those who know the truth. And this we will barely get to know because one is sparing the actors, as long as they are promenading around as great men. Very interesting would be an appropriate statement about the role of Moltke. One gets to hear the most converse sentiments about it.

 

We received a lot of replacements so my Division has reached almost its full strength. Unfortunately however, the replacements consist mainly of old Landsturm men from whom not much can be expected. I do not understand why we do not get sent more volunteers. Those I like the most because they own the necessary freshness and enthusiasm, and the training they are missing is quickly learned in the course of practical warfare. 

 

The shooting continues undiminished. If only we could blow up their French and Englishmen ammunition! They do wallow in abundance, while we are suffering shortage. The country that has the most advanced weapon technology, supplying the whole world with weapons and ammunition, makes suffering its master in decisive times – it is purest cynicism!

[Heinrich von Reichenbach]

Von Dorrer Translation

 

Part 20

 

Dec. 2^nd 1914 Hunting lodge Houthulst

Only for this week more will I be living in the forest house. At the 6^th we shall be replaced, in order to march to Roulers as an Army reserve, my Division entirely, the other one to the North of us being detached as a Brigade. (confidential)! I hope that The Duke has chosen us because on our behalf he can be assured that in case of an offensive we would not fall short. Reserves are held by the leader for use in decisive engagements. To be allowed to do that is our utmost desire! I might be entitled to say “our” because in the course of a visit up front I rejoiced at the fresh get-up-and-go being shown by the men. It just needs to be awakend and to be attended to. So today I heard from the men themselves that about 50 lads from Regiment 206 and from the “Jäger 16”, during the attack at Nov. 10^th managed to take a French battery but could not hold it against the French reserve troops. And unfortunately I had no reserves anymore even though I repeatedly had asked B. for them urgently! It is a thousand pities !

Now there is a real mole’s war going to start. On both sides everyone is burrowing more and more into the dirty soil, finally losing all senses, and the conduct of war basically will become rather different. Because of all that the old fathers of families from the Landsturm suffer from rheumatism in the wet trenches, and quite some of them are being taken day by day by shells with which the French are opulently supplied and day and night putting far reaching searching fire on the area. Therefore we all are happy that we soon get out of this unpleasant condition.

By way of variety today there again was a beautiful day that I have been using for great rides in the forest and upfront. Unfortunately the barometer is already sinking again, and because today there is full moon, an extended rain period is impending. Another reason for being happy to get out of here. – During these rides, G. [Gudowius] is my companion – by the way: whom was promoted to Major two days ago – acts as a fresh and powerful tonic and raises spirits because he curses even worse than me about the stagnation to which we are doomed without good cause. Complaining of course does not help at all but it still eases ourselves. – It is enormous how sacrificial this war is, therefore the responsibility is even greater for those who miss the opportunity do take bold actions because of an inappropriate fear of having casualties, thus extending the duration of war and the eventual number of victims!

4^th Dec 1914 Hunting lodge Houthulst,

Today is “Barbara”! That is how we explain to ourselves the reason for the bombardment that has been opened up by the French today at 6 o'clock sharp and – even though we already experienced quite something, this exceeded all that has happened so far. Cannon thunder does not usually disturb my sleep but this morning I was revived at a stroke, having both feet at once out of the bed, tearing open my window shutter and almost all round in the dark night sky catching sight of uninterrupted flashing and blazing that belonged to the clangour. I quickly put on clothes and found G. and B. in our dining room, already at the phones. Questions and answers quickly went off and came in from back and front. The Commanding General in person had already enquired as to what was going on at about half past six. Apart from the spectacle there was nothing going on, indeed. The attack that could generally be expected to occur after such shooting failed to materialise and thus I conceived the idea that the French simply wanted to celebrate [St.] Barbara.

After all that, the shooting remained buoyant during the whole day and probably will be continuing into the night, unless the hurricane and rain that started this afternoon impairs the joy of the fireworks. It might be possible too, that the French had after all been informed about the removal of troops on our side and because of our unbelievable inactivity took heart and are entertaining the idea of attacking. One has to be aware of all possibilities!

In recent times there is much being talked about the attitude of Holland. The corrupter England indeed makes approaches to all the neutral states, another token for the validity of quick and forceful offensive action of which there seems to be not enough understanding, unfortunately. One should be afraid of casualties. Those however are not being reduced by hesitation, on the contrary the final result will be even more unsatisfactory. But at least from today to tomorrow one can think oneself into self-delusion, not thinking to the day after tomorrow.

5^th Dec. 1914 Hunting lodge Houthulst,

Today you get the last letter from here because tomorrow before noon I will move temporarily with my staff to the rear at Houthulst castle until our quarters at Roulers are available which obviously will not be the case until Wednesday. - Our nice and snug little company here in our small circle has been joined every evening by General-Leutenant von Dieringhoven. What a pity that it is over! Regarding my troops however this fact pleases me because tonight we went through an extraordinarily strong thunderstorm. The lightning flashes went down all around in the trees. The thunder fitted to the roar of the guns in the morning. The thunderstorm was followed by hail and by such dense rainfall that everything was flooded and the trenches are under water. In the latter my poor blokes have to last until the coming night. The French indeed go through the same but the rain has cooled down their shooting furor only transiently. Now after nightfall it usually gets most brisk while in the morning commonly the stronger firing is on our side because we Germans are early risers.

Today people here rumoured that Duke Albrecht will be sent on another mission. After the vehicle literally speaking has been bogged down in the swamp, the affairs here no longer offer a field of activity for a princely army leader. Here there cannot be much done other than to secure what is already owned. The period to achieve decisive successes is over, at any rate for so long until constant strong frost frees up places that are being obstructed by our enemies by every trick in the book. During the next weeks – if so long indeed – we will be exercising as we did in Zossen. Unfortunately we still much miss the officers that are required for it. At the time being I cannot really imagine a true state of rest.         
 

 

[2ndCMR]

Quote

The thunderstorm was followed by hail and by such dense rainfall that everything was flooded and the trenches are under water. In the latter my poor blokes have to last until the coming night.

 

At the risk of being repetitive, I feel quite sure the General was a not a "bloke" sort of chap.

 

Quote

In recent times there is much being talked about the attitude of Holland. The corrupter England indeed makes approaches to all the neutral states, another token for the validity of quick and forceful offensive action of which there seems to be not enough understanding, unfortunately. One should be afraid of casualties. Those however are not being reduced by hesitation, on the contrary the final result will be even more unsatisfactory. But at least from today to tomorrow one can think oneself into self-delusion, not thinking to the day after tomorrow.

 

The vituperation for the "corruptor England" is rather amusing - anyone who hasn't read the "Hymn of Hate" in translation should give it a try.  Such is the rage of resentment against the one who spoils Der Tag!

 

The self-delusion did indeed continue right to the bitter end - and beyond.

[Martin Feledziak]

Generalleutnant Eugen von Dorrer appears to have gone very quiet - what could have happened to his letters.

                                  "Has the snake escaped" ?

Or will you be able to pin it down again ?

[Ck Stuggi]

I'm Eugen v. Dorrers great grandson. I have in my possession a photo album showing some of the locations mentioned here with him in it. If interest exists I'll gladly post some. I made a colorization of a portrait of his on the occasion of his 100 years passing almost 5 years ago. 

[charlie962]

14 hours ago, Ck Stuggi said:

If interest exists I'll gladly post some

It certainly does. The letters were excellent. Welcome to the Forum.

Charlie

[AOK4]

14 hours ago, Ck Stuggi said:

I'm Eugen v. Dorrers great grandson. I have in my possession a photo album showing some of the locations mentioned here with him in it. If interest exists I'll gladly post some. I made a colorization of a portrait of his on the occasion of his 100 years passing almost 5 years ago. 

 

Hello,

 

I would be most interested to see these pictures.

 

Jan

[Ck Stuggi]

Thanks for the welcome. First is a picture I colorized from a tinted bw photograph for starters. The next picture is labelled "Jagdhaus Houthoulst 24.XI - 6.XII.14". He's not among the people in the picture who seem to belong to his extended staff. The second black and white picture is him with his closer staff (the tall young man immediately behind him is Rittmeister von Roon).

 

Edited 22 March , 2021 by Ck Stuggi

[AOK4]

Great pics from the time in Houthulst Forest!

 

You may know that some of his papers are in the Württemberg archives (Stuttgart): http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=1-7495

 

Jan

[Ck Stuggi]

I'm quite aware but havent had the chance to look at them yet. I do have a writeup of his wife for her children (Wolfgang, Liselotte and Susanne) in which she recounts meeting their father and their life together. After his injury she managed to get about half-way to Brieulles from Stuttgart before she had news of his passing.
Below see two pictures from Bixschoote, there are two more pictures depicting the (undamaged) inside of a church and another of an undamaged church which are unlabelled and do not seem to depict the same church, hence I didnt include them.

Edited 22 March , 2021 by Ck Stuggi

[Ck Stuggi]

Ok just to report back really quick, I've sspent the past few days OCR-ing the scanned source and proofreading it.
The aforementioned "corruptor England" is a poor translation imo, the german "Versucher" is more neutrally to be translated as "Temptor".
There are aa mere three entries left which I just shot through the excellent machine translator at deepl. com, but which still need a bit of review before they can be posted. Now I gotta tend my girls!

[Ck Stuggi]

Glancing over the locations, the lowest of the three pictures is the Kastel de Groote, which was rebuilt after the war and is located on the north edge of Houthoulst forest ( https://goo.gl/maps/udq71asZa2kU1PBc8 ).

Edited 26 March , 2021 by Ck Stuggi

[Ck Stuggi]

Houthoulst Castle, 6. 12. 14.

[Castle de Groote]

The move here went off happily this morning. It was a splendid Sunday morning, sunshine, clear, light frost, unfortunately still far from cold enough. The fine weather also lured French aviators into the air in large numbers. One of them dropped 4 bombs into the forest in our immediate vicinity, which burst with a great roar, but did not harm anyone, as the trees caught the fragments. Our artillery once again fired a lot, but completely in vain at the birds. It is downright a crime that we have no viable anti-aircraft guns. A light machine cannon, such as the navy used to employ against torpedo boats, would be quite sufficient. As it is, the French and English pilots are as bold as wasps, and nothing is seen or heard of ours.- Last night we heard extraordinarily interesting things about what was going on there from a gentleman who had been at the source at Gr. H. Qu. until recently. Interesting, but unpleasant to the highest degree. Whereas in the past nothing was glossed over, now the art of dyeing reports and painting favourable overall pictures is on the rise, and unfortunately seems to find approval where deceiving becomes so easy for the practised routiniers.- All our hopes now rest on Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who will hopefully not take too much longer in the East and then bring a different traction to the West. For the time being we must restrict ourselves here to waiting, unless the fearfulness of our successors makes the French eager to attack. How often have I been told from below that the enemy seem to intend an attack. I have always replied, all the better, we could only rejoice in it! And one cannot believe how such a reply has an encouraging and reassuring effect downwards. I never reported such intentions upwards at all, because I didn't believe in them. The course of events has always proven me right - if only I had more young officers, or rather officers at all. My division is still about 50 officers short of the bare minimum. Tomorrow we will still be here, as our quarters will not be available until Tuesday. In Roulers [Roeselare] we will once again be among people, i.e. non-soldiers, as R. is a small town with about 8-10,000 inhabitants.

 

Roulers, 8. 12. 14.
Today we have pure spring weather, after it rained so much yesterday that the whole of Houthoulst forest turned into a swamp. Thank you and all the donors for the 1/2 parcels. But literally too much is being given. People don't appreciate the gifts enough; if they have enough, they throw the best away carelessly, and if they have nothing, they grumble. I have seen pictures of the most wanton destruction, not only of other people's property, but even of our own material, so that one only regrets not being able to apprehend the malefactors under the circumstances of war. I will admit that such fellows are exceptions, but our reputation here is severely damaged by them. But to come back to the gifts of love for Christmas, I think we can give them to the needy. But again, don't do too much of a good thing! The German Reich as such still needs a lot of money until the war is happily over.
In the East, fortunately, things seem to be going splendidly. Hindenburg is the saviour of the Fatherland, for if the Russians had been victorious, we would have a hard time here in the West, too. Then the comb would swell the wretched rabble opposing us. I can certainly be proud, with some justification, that my disregard for the enemy is approriate here, since my division has not once reported the enemy attacking it and it needed support. The few times we have been in earlier ....
[End of source]

Sorry if this shouldn't be quite up to snuff compared to the previous translations.

Edited 26 March , 2021 by Ck Stuggi

[Ck Stuggi]

If interest remains I'll report back once I've heard from the provincial archives. Thanks for being a great "hookup occasion" to finally get me onto this project.