Poles in Kaisers Army On the Front of the First World War. Ryszard Kaczmarek

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СКАЧАТЬ Pomerania, Masuria, but also Upper Silesia.¹²² The Prussian authorities did not doubt Polish loyalty and even emphasized the fact that the Poles act like most of German citizens. The position of Polish national leaders further reinforced this conviction, even the National Democrats in Greater Poland emphasized in 1914 the necessity of Polish loyalty toward the German authorities, despite the internment of Polish activists and the ban on publishing or strict censorship of the Polish press.¹²³ Such appeals appeared in Pomeranian Gazeta Toruńska (Toruń Daily: “Let us not delude ourselves! Let us keep calm and caution, we must fulfill our duty, we cannot help it”)¹²⁴ and in Upper Silesian Katolik (The Catholic: “The one who cares for his head must avoid any hassle with the authorities and behave as quietly as he can, he must care both for his and another’s discipline, for order”).¹²⁵

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      On August 1, the news about the mobilization initially spread by word of mouth, but the announcements started to appear already in the afternoon, also the one about Landsturm mobilization. A peculiar placard regarding this mobilization preserved to this day was prepared by the German military in bizarre Polish to exclusively address the Polish-speaking inhabitants of the eastern provinces of Upper Silesia. The aim was probably to make it understandable for the older generation, who never partook in the advantages of the universal mandatory German education. With its peculiar language in the Upper Silesian dialect with many Germanisms, this document is today hardly understandable even for Poles. The legible translation reads:

      Immediately today, after the publication of this announcement, [one must] report without waiting for an order. [This refers to] all non-commissioned officers and men with military training moved to Landsturm – including those moved from guard units, i.e. all non-commissioned officers and men moved to Landwehr II or Navy Landwehr (Seelandwehr) – who are below forty-five years old, of the following types of arms and units: infantry, naval infantry, marksmen, cavalry, railway troops, stretcher carriers, all naval non-commissioned officers, feldshers, sanitary non-commissioned officers who served at least for half a year, military treasurers, gunsmiths, gunsmith assistants, all sailors trained in gunfight, craftsmen, and tailors. Moreover, those who do not belong to Landsturm and who voluntarily want to join…. Those from the Rybnik province [should report] to Rybnik.¹²⁶

      Masses of worshippers appeared at church services all over Germany on the next day, on Sunday. The emperor ordered this Sunday to be a nationwide day of prayer. The officially designated day for common contemplation unexpectedly turned into a more profound reflection on the imminent tragedy and the possibility of losing close relatives. The mood at homes was often gloomy, particularly among the elderly. Józef Borzyszkowski follows various journals and diaries to describes this Sunday in Pomerania in the following way: “Today is ←50 | 51→Mobilmachung [mobilization]. Oh, Holy Virgin and Saint Joseph, intercede grace on our behalf so that we benefit from this Epiphany.”¹²⁷ The bells rang in Pomeranian cities as people visited churches “with lamentation.” Many confessed their sins because they expected the worst. For the sake of their relatives, people often funded crosses and chapels for the benefit of the conscripted.¹²⁸

      The outbreak of the war resulted in the immediate mobilization of German first-line units; it looked similar in all regiments. The Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 157 received the order at 2.45 am on July 31. According to the mobilization plan, the first battalion and machine gun company had to prepare in six hours to moved out to the border. Horses arrived at the regiment already at 4 pm of the same day, while at 7.30 pm, the battalion and company were prepared to move to Kluczbork, which was the concentration site.¹²⁹ The Field Artillery Regiment No. 21 – that belonged to the same Upper Silesian 12th Infantry Division – received the order about the imminent threat of war at 3 am. Immediately, each battery prepared four cannons with a team of horses, an ammunition carrier, an reconnaissance vehicle, one cart with provisions, and reserve horses to march out. The troop was accompanied by ammunition columns, each consisting of twenty-seven vehicles (twenty-four of them had a team of six horses!). From the very evening of July 31, confiscated horses arrived at the regiment – assigned earlier in the mobilization plan – in order to move this mass of equipment and wagons. Soldiers collected their combat uniforms while horses were fit with new harnesses. First batteries of the regiment were ready to depart at 6.30 pm, when they received a repeated order about the threat of war.¹³⁰

      Similarly, the Infantry Regiment No. 47 and the Infantry Reserve Regiment No. 37 mobilized in Śrem, Greater Poland:

      Finally… mobilization! Loud posters announce to everyone: “Mobilization!!!” The youngest cohorts of reserve troops immediately [go] to regiments, levy in masses to man bridges, edifices etc. They will report on the second day, the older cohorts of reserve on the third, fourth, and fifth… July 31, 1914, is the first day of the mobilization. A true human migration… herds of horses. Patrols walk around the city. The bridge is blocked by on both sides by harrows…. Such mood dominated the first days of the mobilization ←51 | 52→in Śrem, a provincial town adorably located by the Warta River, where the second battalion of the forty-seventh Prusian infantry was stationed. Here, the mobilization to the Reserve Regiment No. 37 applied to young soldiers, mostly Poles. The order was… on the fourth day! There reports the local youth, supported with an ample battalion of reserve soldiers from Pleszew and the region, in order to fulfill their hard duty to – the invader. By the emperor’s order, [they are] to become victims of the Moloch of war. They answered the call! Summoned, they were incorporated into the company and assigned lodgings.¹³¹

      The reserve soldiers spent August 1 preparing for railway travel. The arriving soldiers and volunteers received combat uniforms, arms, ammunition, satchels, and supplementary equipment.¹³² This thirty-kilogram equipment of an infantry man was very rich but – as they soon learned – it excessively constrained soldier’s mobility during fights. The uniform of a German infantryman of 1914 consisted of a masking field-grey jacket, according to models from 1907 and 1910 (Feldrock 07/10). However, in many regiments, the soldiers still wore the old blue uniforms, visible from afar due to their intensive color, which made them perfect targets for sharpshooters, just like the French and Belgian uniforms.¹³³ The eight-button jackets fastened under the neck. Hannover-type regiments’ buttons were decorated with the royal crown (Kazimierz Wallis belonged to such a regiment). During the war, these were replaced by simplified combat shirts with covered buttons (Feldbluse 1915). The regiment’s number ornamented the epaulettes. In the case of Hannover-type regiments, they received an additional inscription “Gibraltar,” in memory of the fights against Napoleon: “We wear a cerulean band with the inscription “Gibraltar” on our left arm below the elbow. This signifies the remembrance of battles we fought in Gibraltar.… I sent my old shoulder straps with number 51, because I now wear number 79.”¹³⁴ A red trimming ornamented long trousers (model of 1910), while the long leather shoes (Marschstiefel 66) enjoyed little popularity among the soldiers, despite their sturdiness. There were obviously solid but very rigid, and particularly the new pairs caused painful abrasions that were hard to heal, which often turned into bleeding wounds during long marches.¹³⁵ German soldiers wore a leather belt with a brass buckle ornamented with the emblem of the land in the German Empire (model 1895). The belt had a leather pouch with sixty cartridges (model 1909), a bayonet ←52 | 53→sheath, and a defensive grenade (model 1913). The helmet (popular Pickelhaube) СКАЧАТЬ