Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - I. On the Way to the Front
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
40 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
away a couple of his fingers. He said he had a sort of re-
collection of having the wound dressed on the battlefield by
German Red Cross men or doctors who had done all they
could to check the flow of blood. Afterwards he had been
taken to a dressing station, where his wounds had received
further treatment. As he was classed amongst the com-
paratively slightly wounded, he had been taken to Luxemburg
and now at length to Treves. He was probably aware that
when discharged as convalescent he would remain a prisoner
with all the privileges to which his rank entitled him, receiving,
besides, half the pay he had been getting at home. There he
lay, the poor Captain, with his jovial face, aquiline nose and
heavy beard. He was cheerful and good-tempered, and assured
us that he had absolutely nothing to grumble about—apart
from the fate which denied him the honour to continue fighting
for his country. But it was evident that he was a bit of a
philosopher and he bore his unkind fate like a man. He lay
there with a smile on his lips and was grateful for anything
that was done for him and for the interest taken in him by
the unknown visitors. During the long lonely hours of the
night he often heard his comrades stiuggling and wrestling
with death, whilst his own thoughts wandered to the palm
trees on the desert fringe, and he seemed to hear the drome-
daries’ swishing steps over the sand and the desert winds
calling " come home, come home !
"
The young doctors who accompanied us told us that the
German soldiers always and without exception longed to be
back at the front, unless their condition was such that they
had not strength enough to desire anything. Among the
French the feeling was different :
" Whatever you like, any-
thing but the fire at the front." But this is, on psychological
grounds, quite natural and cannot well be otherwise. There
is nothing that depresses and demoralises the soldier as much
as being a prisoner. He feels that he is playing the part of
the weaker, that he is entirely at the mercy of others, that
his strength is gone, his initiative taken from him and his
fighting spirit rendered unavailing. In such a situation, to
gain personal advantages and to make the best of a bad job,
he will say much that he would never have dreamt of uttering
on his own side of the fighting line. It is therefore unfair to
judge the fighting value of an army by the remarks of prisoners
detached from it
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
