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CHAPTER X
QUIET DAYS
ON October 2nd I made an excursion to Sedan to
replenish a few items of my equipment. I was
offered a seat in Lieutenant Kollmann’s covered car,
which made this journey daily, and we tore along northward
through the thin veil of mist which floated over fields and
meadows.
As we reached the bridge at Le Chesnes, a Landsturm man
stepped into the road, swinging a white flag. We stopped,
and an officer stepped forward, saluted courteously and asked
to see our pass. This is curious, I thought, this car ought to
be pretty well known, and is manned besides by an officer
and two chauffeurs, all in uniform. However, when our
papers had been examined, he explained that the watch had
been made stricter, as it had been found that there were so
many spies about, who were even bold enough to dress up in
German uniforms, so that one could not be too careful.
The railway to Vouziers was clearly not yet equipped with
sufficient rolling-stock to meet the demands made upon it, for
the great road on the lines of communication to the 4th
Army were still encumbered with endless transport trains.
" What do the letters E.K.K. mean, that I see on all these
cars ? " I asked my travelling companion.
" Etappen Kraftwagen Kolonne " (Mechanical transport
trains for lines of communication), he replied. " They carry
food and ammunition like all the others."
Thereupon we chatted awhile about this wonderful life
which goes on behind the front, about all these threads by
which an army hangs in an occupied country, and about
the many types of armed wayfarers on foot, on horseback,
and in wagons. We talked about the villages, crops, herds of
cattle, and the wretched humans wandering about like strangers
and prisoners in their own land. They are utterly cut off from
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