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

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СКАЧАТЬ River – the Nida River – the Dunajec River.¹⁶⁹

      In August and September 1914, the immediate danger that menaced East Prussia caused it to assume extraordinary preventive measures. Apart from the mobilization of Landsturm in the eastern military districts, all men that could still serve in the field joined the ranks of first-line troops. The order also applied to the Poles of Warmia and Masuria who had to face fighting against their compatriots for the first time. The Poles that served in the Russian Army were recognized among the fallen Russians:

      A company [in Olsztyn], formed from the survivors and freed prisoners, was to maintain order and prospectively restrain the Russian offensive by blasting the bridges and destroying the railway line…. The company in which I served “retreated” from Olsztyn and wandered around the Warmia district and later the Szczytno district…. We heard the cannons pound, but we fortunately never encountered the enemy. Meanwhile, Hindenburg defeated the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg. The Russians were in Olsztyn only for a day. Unexpectedly, the Germans invaded there and organized a bloody wedding. Reportedly, among Russians corpses, people found Polish soldiers who they identified by their scapulars, holy medals, and prayer books. Where can’t you find Poles, after all.¹⁷⁰

      Such encounters between Poles became routine not only in East Prussia but also in Galicia and the fights in the Carpathian Mountains.

To the West

      Since August 8, the 12th Armored Infantry Division’s regiments successively moved toward the Western Front in trains. The dispatch procedure developed surprisingly well, despite the many military transports passing through the railway junctions of the Upper Silesian Industrial Region. As many as sixty-four trains passed in eight hours through the medium-sized railway junction in Żory, already during the fights in the Eastern Front; that is, at the peak of military transportation needs. It means that individual trains passed the station every seven-and-a-half minute. All of them passed through Żory without delays or ←63 | 64→jams, which only testified to the precision of German mobilization plan developed over the years.¹⁷¹

      Most of the military transports headed west, toward the already ongoing German offensive conducted according to the Schlieffen Plan. The Belgian border was the target. This was where the entire Upper Silesian division was sent. As a rule, the soldiers did not know where the concentration place; however, close to Wrocław, they already guessed that they headed towards the Rhine.¹⁷²

      The Upper Silesian regiments headed to the frontline in separate transports. The 62nd Infantry Regiment was one of the first regiments to arrive at the Belgian border. Having departed on August 7 in Racibórz, the full transport with reserve soldiers then comprised eighty-four officers, 3307 soldiers and non-commissioned officers (three battalions of about 1000 soldiers each), and 236 horses. Furthermore, it consisted of wagons, field kitchens, sanitary wagons, victualer wagons, and ammunition.¹⁷³ The scorching summer strongly heated the transport wagons, decorated with flowers and yellow branches, but numerous civilians gathered at every station offered beverages to the soldiers. Upper Silesians treated alcohol prohibition of soldiers as an excessive precaution. After all, the former used to drink beer every day, so they could not understand why they were not allowed to make use of the well-equipped Bavarian station buffets. The extraordinary enthusiasm of civilians in 1914 only partially compensated for the prohibition. The civilians zealously provided the soldiers with food, small gifts, and flowers. Welcoming committees hastily started to form at individual localities, which were to exclusively care for military transports. After four days, the 62nd Infantry Regiment arrived at Mettlach near Saarbrücken, from which it marched through the Saar Basin and Luxembourg to reach the Belgian border on August 19.¹⁷⁴

      On the other hand, the 22nd Infantry Regiment departed toward the west a few days later, between August 11 and 12. Before that, the soldiers attended masses at garrisons and the listened to speeches by battalion commanders, who delivered them in front of soldier ranks already with weapons, satchels, and full military kits on their backs. Afterward, columns of soldiers marched through city streets, packed with people, to the railway station. There was a huge enthusiasm at every Upper Silesian station where the train stopped, but also at German stations. ←64 | 65→Boisterous propaganda and anticipation of imminent victory drowned out the initial anxiety of the Germans. The power of military transports created an illusory sense of grandiose strength and superiority of Kaiser’s troops.¹⁷⁵ The train traveled through Wrocław, Legnica, Zgorzelec, Bautzen, Dresden, Bamberg, and Worms. It unloaded in Saarbrücken, beyond the Rhine, on August 13.¹⁷⁶ Later, the 22nd Infantry Regiment marched for four days, to the Belgian border near French Lorraine, to the concentration place. In Luxembourg and Walloon Belgium, the marching soldiers already encountered hostile reactions from the locals, particularly after crossing the Meuse, where they quartered near Esch. The same situation occurred by the Belgian border, when the division turned towards the huge fortress of Longwy.¹⁷⁷

      The transport route of the Infantry Regiment No. 157 was different. Eighty-five officers, 3292 soldiers and non-commissioned officers, and 236 horses set out from the garrison.¹⁷⁸ From Dresden, the train headed south to Heilbronn, but it eventually arrived at Saarland. The sense of anticipation for imminent victory dominated the German railway stations. No one doubted the scenario of a darting success and the return of soldiers at the very latest for Christmas. People chorally sang patriotic songs on platforms. Frequently, enemy caricatures decorated train cars. There appeared a writing on one car that bellicosely declared: “Here you can declare even more wars!” After all, during the Regiment’s journey south, Japan declared war on Germany.¹⁷⁹ However, the most frequent were the incredibly popular sayings and rhymes, such as “Every shot a Russian,/Every bayonet stab a Frenchman,/Every kick a Briton,/Every slap a Jap.” Or, “Your Lordship journey directly to Paris” (Herrentour direkt auf Paris). Beside the common saying, “God punish England!” (Gott strafe England!), there frequently appeared and addition, “He will punish it” (Er strafe es!).¹⁸⁰ Later, when the situation required the use of cattle wagons in trains, the soldiers themselves self-mockingly replaced these writings with other, like “Nine horses or forty-six soldiers” (9 Pferde oder 46 Mann).¹⁸¹

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      Like the Upper Silesians, the soldiers from Greater Poland also traveled west. However, the dominance of the Polish element played a significant role here. Some of the transports were more Polish than German, and only after supplementation in German lands, the ethnic ratio evened:

      The entire journey [to the Western Front] lasted five days and four night. It was the best opportunity to get to know our bedfellows. Shared plight made us all into devoted brothers. There was Stachu Mikołajczak, Wojtek Magnuszewski, Szyszka, Cwojdziński, Bartkowiak, Szczepaniak, Kostański, Łazanowski, Skrzycki, Tomczak from the Bińkow neighbourhood, Roźmiarek from Ludwikowo, Dubert from the Kórnik area, Górczak and Kolendowicz from Mchy, the postman Konarkowski from Chwałkowo, and many, many others. We fraternized similarly with folks from Pleszew: Ulichnowski, Sikorski, Antczak, Nowak, and others. There was not a more ideal community around the world than ours. Polish language was the omnipotent ruler in our transport, while the thought or judgment of one applied СКАЧАТЬ