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Towards Busendorf, Diedenhofen

Event ID: 93

Categories: 

Der rote Kampfflieger von Rittmeister Manfred Freiherrn von Richthofen, 1917, 351.000 - 400.000, Verlag Ullstein & Co, Berlin-Wien

13 August 1914

wir hatten erst acht Tage Krieg
49.29003766553522, 6.529122799951919
near Diedenhofen (Thionville)
Bouzonville
Busendorf

Source ID: 4

Der rote Kampfflieger von Rittmeister Manfred Freiherrn von Richthofen, 1917, 351.000 - 400.000, Verlag Ullstein & Co, Berlin-Wien p.  25 

‘To France. We were now loaded in my garrison town. Where to? – No idea whether west, east, south or north. There were a lot of rumours, but most of them were over. But in this case we probably had the right instinct: west. The four of us were allocated a second-class compartment. We had to stock up on provisions for a long train journey. Drinks were not missing, of course. But on the very first day we realised that a second-class compartment like that was pretty cramped for four young warriors, so we decided to spread out a bit more. I set up one half of a pack wagon as my living and sleeping quarters and had definitely done something good. I had air, light etc. I had procured straw from a station and the tent was covered on top of it. I slept as soundly in my sleeping car as if I were lying in my family bed in Ostrowo. The journey went on day and night, first through the whole of Silesia and Saxony, then more and more to the west. We seemed to be heading towards Metz; even the transport driver didn’t know where we were going. At every station, even where we didn’t stop, there was a sea of people who showered us with cheers and flowers. The German people were wildly enthusiastic about the war; you could tell. The Uhlans were particularly marvelled at. The platoon that had hurried through the station earlier must have spread the word that we had already been at the enemy – and we had only been at war for eight days – and my regiment had already been mentioned in the first army report: Uhlan Regiment 1 and Infantry Regiment 155 conquered Kalisch. So we were the celebrated heroes and felt like heroes. Wedel had found a Cossack sword and showed it to the astonished girls. It made a great impression. We claimed, of course, that there was blood on it, and made up a monstrous fairy tale about the peaceful sword of a gendarmerie chief. We were terribly exuberant. Until we were finally unloaded in Busendorf near Diedenhofen. Shortly before the train arrived, we stopped in a long tunnel. I have to say, it’s quite uncomfortable to stop suddenly in a tunnel in peacetime, but especially in wartime. Then an overconfident man took the liberty of joking and fired a shot. It didn’t take long before a wild shooting started in the tunnel. It is a miracle that nobody was injured. What caused it never came out.’

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