Crossing the border
Event ID: 92
Categories:
03 August 1914
Source ID: 4
‘We border cavalrymen were familiar with the word ‘war’. Everyone knew exactly what to do and what not to do. But no one had any real idea what would happen next. Every active soldier was happy to finally be able to show his personality and skills. We young cavalry lieutenants were probably given the most interesting tasks: reconnaissance, getting into the enemy’s rear, destroying important installations; all tasks that demanded a whole man. With my mission in my pocket, the importance of which I had been convinced of through long study for a year, I rode at twelve o’clock at night at the head of my patrol for the first time against the enemy, the border was a river, and I could expect to receive fire there for the first time. I was quite astonished how I was able to pass the bridge without incident. The next morning, without further incident, we reached the church tower of the village of Kielcze, which I knew well from riding along the border. Everything had passed off without me noticing an enemy, or rather without being noticed myself. How was I supposed to ensure that the villagers didn’t notice much? My first thought was to put the popes under lock and key. So we took the completely surprised and highly perplexed man out of his house. I locked him in the belfry of the church tower, removed the ladder and let him sit at the top. I assured him that if even the slightest hostile behaviour on the part of the population should make itself felt, he would immediately be a child of death. A sentry kept a lookout from the tower and watched the area. I had to send daily reports by patrol riders. My small group of dispatch riders soon dispersed, so that I finally had to take over the last dispatch ride as the messenger myself. Everything remained quiet until the fifth night. On this night, the sentry suddenly came running to me at the church tower – I had stabled my horses near it – and called out to me: ‘Cossacks are here!’. It was pitch dark, a bit rainy, no stars. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your eyes. We led the horses through a breach that had been cut through the churchyard wall as a precaution into the open field. There, because of the darkness, we were completely safe after fifty metres. I myself went with the sentry, carbine in hand, to the designated place where the Cossacks were supposed to be. I crept along the wall of the churchyard and came to the road. That made me feel a bit uneasy, because the whole village was swarming with Cossacks. I looked over the wall behind which the guys had their horses. Most of them had blinding lanterns and were behaving very carelessly and loudly. I estimated there were about twenty to thirty of them. One had done his time and gone to the priest, whom I had released from prison the day before. Treason, of course! it flashed through my brain. So be doubly careful. I couldn’t let it come to a fight, because I didn’t have more than two carbines at my disposal. So I played ‘cops and robbers’. After a few hours’ rest, the visitors rode off again. The next morning, however, I decided to make a small change of quarters. On the seventh day I was back in my garrison and everyone stared at me as if I were a ghost. This was not because of my unshaven face, but rather because rumours had spread that Wedel and I had fallen near Kalisch. People knew the exact time, place and circumstances so well that the rumour had already spread throughout Silesia. Even my mother had already received visits of condolence. The only thing missing was a death notice in the newspaper. A funny story happened at the same time. A horse doctor was ordered to requisition horses from a farmstead with ten Uhlans. It was about three kilometres away. He returned from his mission quite excited and reported the following: ‘I was riding across a stubble field where the dolls were standing, when suddenly I recognised enemy infantry some distance away. Without further ado I draw my sabre and shout to my Uhlans: ‘Lance down, charge, march, march, hurrah! The men are enjoying themselves and a wild rush across the stubble begins. But the enemy infantry turn out to be a pack of deer that I had misjudged in my short-sightedness.’ The capable gentleman suffered from his attack for a long time.’
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