MvR flies to HQ to meet Kaiser Wilhelm II, Ludendorff and Hindenburg
Event ID: 207
Categories:
01 May 1917
Source ID: 4
‘Flight home Fifty are shot down. I thought fifty-two was better. That’s why I shot down two more on the same day. It actually went against the agreement. I had actually only been allowed forty-one; anyone can guess why the number forty-one came out, but that’s precisely why I wanted to avoid it. I’m not a record-breaker; in fact, we don’t set any records in the flying squad. You just fulfil your duty. Boelcke would have shot down a hundred if the accident hadn’t happened to him. And many other of the good fallen comrades could have reached a completely different number if his sudden death had not prevented him from doing so. But half a hundred is fun after all. Now I had finally managed to get fifty before I went on leave. I hope I can still celebrate my second fifty. In the evening of the same day, the doorbell rang and nothing less than the ‘Grand Headquarters’ wanted to speak to me. I thought it was great fun to be connected to the ‘Big House’ in this way. Among other things, I received the pleasant news that His Majesty had expressed the wish to speak to me personally, and the day was immediately announced: 2 May. However, this took place on 30 April at nine o’clock in the evening. It would no longer have been possible to fulfil the Most High Warlord’s wish by train. So I preferred to make the journey by air, which is also much nicer. We took off the next morning, not in my single-seater ‘Le petit rouge’, but in a big, fat two-seater. I sat in the back, i.e. not at the ‘stick’. In this case, Lieutenant Krefft, also one of the gentlemen in my fighter squadron, had to work. He was about to go on leave, so it was a perfect fit. It also meant he got home more quickly. He didn’t dislike it. My departure was a bit of a headache. I couldn’t take anything but my toothbrush with me on the aeroplane, so I had to dress as I would have to present myself at headquarters. And a military soldier in the field doesn’t have much in the way of nice clothes, at least not a poor front-line pig like me. My brother took over the leadership of the squadron. I said goodbye briefly, as I hoped to be able to resume my duties soon in the company of these dear people. The flight now went over Liège, Namur to Aachen and Cologne. It was nice to sail through the sea of air without any thoughts of war. The weather was marvellous, something we hadn’t had for a long time. There was certainly a lot to do at the front today. Soon our own tethered balloons will no longer be visible. Further and further away from the thunder of the battles of Arras. Below us, images of peace. Travelling steamers. A D-train whizzes through the terrain, we overtake it with ease. The wind is in our favour. The earth seems as flat as a threshing floor. The beautiful Meuse mountains are unrecognisable as mountains. You can’t even recognise them by their shadows, because the sun is almost vertical. You only know that they are there, and with a little imagination you can even crawl into their cool gorges. It was getting a bit late, and so we arrived at midday. A layer of cloud gathered below us and completely covered the earth. Orientating ourselves by the sun and compass, we flew on. However, we were beginning to dislike the proximity of Holland, and so we preferred to make contact with the ground again. We go under the cloud and are currently over Namur. Now we continue on to Aachen. We skip Aachen and reach Cologne at lunchtime. The mood in our aircraft was buoyant. We had a long holiday ahead of us, as well as the beautiful weather, the success of having at least reached Cologne, and the certainty that, even if something happened to us now, we could still reach the Grand Headquarters. We had been announced in Cologne by telegraph, so we were expected there. The day before, my fifty-second aerial victory had appeared in the newspaper. The reception was the same afterwards. The three-hour flight left me with a bit of a headache, so I preferred to take a little nap before arriving at the Grand Headquarters. We now flew a long way along the Rhine from Cologne. I knew the route. I’d travelled it many times, by steamer, car and train, and now by plane. What was the best part? It’s difficult to say. Of course, you can see certain details better from the steamer. But the overall view from the aeroplane is not to be sneezed at either. The Rhine has a special charm, even from above. We didn’t fly too high so as not to completely lose the feeling of the mountains, because that’s probably the most beautiful thing about the Rhine, the huge, wooded heights, the castles, etc. We couldn’t see the individual houses, of course. Of course we couldn’t see the individual houses. It’s a pity that you can’t fly fast or slow. I would certainly have chosen the slowest gear. One beautiful picture after another disappeared all too quickly. When you fly higher, you don’t have the feeling that you’re travelling very fast. In a car or a D-train, for example, the speed seems tremendous, whereas in an aeroplane it always feels slow once you have reached a certain altitude. You only really notice it when you haven’t looked out for five minutes and then suddenly regain your bearings. The image you had in your head just a moment before is suddenly completely changed. What you saw below you, you suddenly see at an angle that is completely unrecognisable. That’s why you can get disorientated so quickly if you don’t pay attention for a moment. So we arrived at the big headquarters in the afternoon and were warmly welcomed by a few comrades I knew who had to work there in the ‘big room’. I feel really sorry for them, the ink spies. They only have half the fun of war. First I reported to the commanding general of the air force. The next morning was the big moment when I was to be introduced to Hindenburg and Ludendorff. I had to wait quite a while. I can’t really describe the details of the greeting. First I reported to Hindenburg, then to Ludendorff. It is an eerie feeling in the room where the fate of the world is decided. So I was quite happy when I had the ‘Große Bude’ behind me again and was ordered to breakfast with His Majesty at noon. It was my birthday today, and someone had probably told His Majesty, so he congratulated me. Firstly on my success and then on my twenty-fifth birthday. I was also surprised by a small birthday present. In the past I would never have dreamed that on my twenty-fifth birthday I would be sitting to the right of Hindenburg and be mentioned in a speech by the Field Marshal.’
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