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

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СКАЧАТЬ brass tip, had a special masking plain weave cover in field-gray with a big red regiment number over the forehead. The soldiers in the rear wore a round cap (Mütze 10), according to the regulations, which forbid them to walk in the open without headgear. The red band of the cap included country colors and imperial colors above them. In 1915, the cap cut was simplified; it remained round but lacked the colorful band, only the trimming and two colorful symbols.¹³⁶

      A typical German infantryman carried on his back a satchel (Tornister 95); initially strengthened with cowhide but, later, produced from plain weave. There was a rolled-up raincoat strapped around the satchel and, below it, the food bag (Brotbeutel 87) with a belted canteen. In 1914, canteen were enamel (Feldflasche 93) but, later, aluminium (Feldflasche 07 and 10). It was all supplemented by the attached metal mess kit (Kochgeschirr 10).¹³⁷ The satchel generally contained personal belongings and personal hygiene utensils (soap, comb, sometimes a little mustache comb) and often also a sewing kit in a special metal case, because the uniform had to always be clean, regardless the weather and length of service. Later, soldiers also received playing cards ornamented with military motifs (generally the Old Maid), and in the West they also received pictorial pocket German-French dictionaries. For identification, every soldier had a military identity card (Militärpass) and an identification badge in a leather case carried around the neck (Erkennungsmarke).¹³⁸ Noteworthy, Kazimierz Wallis describes this baggage in a letter to his father: “I already wear boots, marching trousers, and a forage cap. Here we received: 1 pair of boots, 1 pair of hemp shoes, 2 pairs of stockings, 2 pairs of trousers (marching and white), 3 pairs of pants (underwear), 3 shirts, 2 neck bands, 1 Litewka modra (blue jacket), 1 pair of Pulswärmer, 1 Kopfschützer, 1 pair of gloves, 1 forage cap, 1 towel, 1 belt.”¹³⁹

      Not all regiments had the best uniforms and equipment. Everything happened in a rush, especially the preparation of soldier equipment, because time was of key importance when one hoped for victory. As a peasant of Greater Poland that joined the army recalls: “Everyone received necessary elements of military equipment [on the second day after the conscription], except for the bayonet and rifle. They did not hurry with handing out uniforms but only threw around ←53 | 54→the necessary number of stuff – and it was handled. No one cared if the uniform was much too bigger or too small. The same for the boots. The chamber non-commissioned officers tended to viciously put helmets on soldier heads: sometimes they put in normally but, sometimes, time they pressed it with all their might while holding the by the metal tip; after such a procedure, the helmet fit everyone, regardless if it reached the ears or remained on the top of the head. We received navy-blue uniforms with grenadiers’ badges and white facings; besides that, various trousers, black pre-war trousers, or grey field ones; all of them had one thing in common: they were raggedy.”¹⁴⁰

      Of course, each infantryman received a rifle. It was the famous Gewehr 98 (caliber 7.92 mm); a perfect rifle, produced until the very end of the war, loaded with stripper clips (with box magazines that held five cartridges). Gewehr 98 weighed 4.14 kilograms, barrel measured 740 mm. It was a precise and reliable weapon with the range of an effective gunshot that amounted to 1000 meters. A true novelty was the gun sight that allowed soldiers to conduct very precise fire.¹⁴¹ The second a soldier started to fight, he put a bayonet on the gun barrel; a bayonet with a flat edge (Seitengewehr 98/05) carried by the soldiers in a special etui on the belt (model 1898). During the war, the more popular bayonet was a similar one but with serrated edge, 50-centimeter-long (the serrated edge was 36.8 centimeters long). It was initially produced for sappers and soldiers of train subunits, mainly for wood cutting. However, it was ill-famed; it is easy to imagine how terrible wounds it could inflict by stabbing. The rumor had it that the French and the British lynched German soldiers who carried that particular type of bayonet. Therefore, its use gradually declined.¹⁴²

      An artilleryman’s hand weapon looked differently. Apart from the classic uniform, his equipment consisted of a helmet with different artillery tips and a short cavalry rifle with a cartridge belt for fifty sharp cartridges in place of a Gewehr.¹⁴³

      While filling the satchel with prescribed supplies was not difficult, it was almost impossible to carry more things during the long march or train journey, when one had to always hold a rifle, as Wallis writes: “When we depart, we will be able to take as few things as possible because it is horribly difficult to carry so much military stuff. I can only take smoked bacon that you sent me, a can ←54 | 55→of sugar, a jar of marmalade, powdered soup, and Formamint tablets [to heal inflammations of the oral cavity]. We will receive bread before departure.”¹⁴⁴

      It was a real challenge for quartermaster units to hand out all the equipment to dozens of thousands of soldiers. Before receiving a uniform, each soldier had to undergo examination. Next, he received soldier’s pay from the regimental paymaster. The paymaster also regulated the payments for confiscated horses. The authorities especially strictly supervised the handing out of identification badges with special lanyards. Furthermore, the officers could use the stand for sharpening sabers and sharp-edged side-weaponry. In the end, the individual gun squads and ammunition columns in artillery regiments collected live ammunition for the cannons.¹⁴⁵

      The barracks of the regiments, whose combat units immediately went to the front line, were quickly populated by the reserve soldiers. Garrison cities cheerfully greeted new arrivals at railway stations, as they immediately transferred to their old barracks, often accompanied by the reserve officers who greeted them. After collecting uniforms and equipment under the command of reserve officers – under whom they most often previously served during active duty – they soldiers sent to the company with which they participated in the annual exercises in the military training area.¹⁴⁶ In the first stage of the supposedly fast mobilization, such a way of conscription resulted in situations, in which the soldiers and officers recruited at the beginning of the war mostly came from the garrison’s vicinity. For example, the Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 62 partly comprised soldiers from Saxony and Silesia in active duty, but the reserve soldiers that quartered there on August 1 stemmed exclusively from Upper Silesia.¹⁴⁷

      Adhering to the instructions on posters and in press, young men came in the scheduled day and hour from garrison cities and surrounding villages. Special decrees determined how the conscripts had to look when arriving to the military unit. They had to arrive on time, sober, after thorough washing, and in clean clothes. The conscripts who did not report in the place of conscription, were late, or did not obey the instructions were subject to a significant penalty payment (up to thirty marks) or five-day arrest.¹⁴⁸ Paweł Nowak recalls his conscription ←55 | 56→to Landwehr’s Silesian corpus in the following way: “After a short simple parting with wife and two kids, I left my home on August 2, 1914, at 5 am, and, according to the mobilization plan, I responded to my homeland’s summon in Bytom, at the scheduled place and time so as to be enlisted to feldgrau.”¹⁴⁹

      Before leaving the barracks, soldiers participated in a mandatory march through the city’s streets, which aimed at convincing non-believers that the German Army is strong and efficient. This is how the send-off of the Infantry Regiment No. 22 looked like: “Equipped with military tools, there stand the companies in perfect order, tightly together. These marvelous healthy men from Saxony and Silesia, but also the Upper Silesian reserve soldiers.”¹⁵⁰ СКАЧАТЬ