Perhaps the best index as to what the Germans are thinking of the war and its developments on the Somme is to be had in the letters they write to friends at home and the diaries they keep.
Here are some extracts from the personal papers of German prisoners written during recent weeks : —
“Trenches quite fallen in,” writes a member of the 14th Bavarian Regiment in his diary. “Plenty of dead buried. On the way to the 6th Company we lost our way, and arrived at our 3rd Battalion.
Dead and half buried were to be seen in masses in and out of the trenches. Heads were sticking out in the middle of the trenches. Six or eight men were lying piled on top of one another. On the way to our 6th Company, which we found after 20½ hours, there were just as many corpses and men buried and half-buried by shell. We saw some terrible sights.
What have we to eat? Fifty grammes cheese, 25 grammes butter, coffee in service bottles not fit to drink. Water would have been better. The day before yesterday we had tinned meat that stank.
From morning till evening today heavy artillery fire. Our position always under fire enfiladed on the right. We can thank God if we come through this. Every moment one thinks they will attack.”
A soldier in the 66th Infantry Regiment writes : —
“For almost a week this awful heavy artillery has been bombarding our back lines. The dugout shakes, creaks, and trembles; now the entrance has just again been destroyed. Always this nerve-racking anxiety. Now you are going to be buried under the wreck of the dugout.
The company to the right of us has just had two dugouts destroyed; again several dead. One is prostrated by the terrible suspense of waiting for this awful fire to cease. In this way one becomes a nervous wreck.”
As to the war in general here are some striking comments. “The war is a low, scoundrelly affair, ”writes a member of the 3rd Ersatz Regiment.” The German Government deceives the people. One sees it very clearly in this wholesale murder. One can hardly help being ashamed of being a German since we put up with this. We must turn our rifles round and destroy the whole government. That gang have caused us to be killed. Remember this if I don’t come back, dear Greta. It is already quite clear that Germany is losing and getting into a horrible state.”
A letter from home to a man in the 153rd Regiment : —
“It is clear that we have not successes to register everywhere. How will it end for us? Do you believe in victory for the Germans? Today men of 47 and 48 years went off.
Yes, those damned English have got the devil in them. They want to pay our beautiful country a visit, and they mean to do it by force.”
