Chapter I: Front Matter

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WITH THE GERMAN
ARMIES IN THE WEST

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| _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ |
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| THROUGH ASIA |
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| CENTRAL ASIA AND TIBET TOWARDS THE HOLY CITY OF LHASSA |
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| TRANS-HIMALAYA |
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WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST

: BY SVEN HEDIN :

AUTHORISED TRANSLATION FROM THE SWEDISH

BY H. G. de WALTERSTORFF

WITH 119 ILLUSTRATIONS AND 4 MAPS

LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD

NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXV

_SECOND EDITION_

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND

AUTHOR’S PREFACE
TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

Long before my book dealing with my personal recollections from the war theatres of France and Belgium had been translated into English, it was made the subject of a criticism in the _Daily Telegraph_ of February 15th.

The author, Mr. William Archer, complained that I have not once introduced into my narrative any harsh and condemnatory utterances regarding Germany’s conduct of the war. The fact is that I have had no occasion for such utterances. My self-imposed task was, as I have repeatedly made clear, merely to describe what I saw with my own eyes and as much as possible to refrain from citing the experience of others. During the two months that I spent on the German western front, I did not see _a single instance_ of cruelty to prisoners or wounded, let alone ill-treatment of the civil population and its goods and chattels. The Germans maintained the same incorruptibly severe and just discipline that existed, according to the testimony of history, in the Swedish armies which Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII. led to victory during the epic period of my own country.

But even in peace time not a day passes but that crime is committed even in the most civilised countries. How, then, can one expect that it shall disappear in a war? I therefore by no means deny that there have been isolated instances of offences and cruelty in an army of several million men. But I have not _seen_ them and need not therefore embark upon the subject. I have a shrewd suspicion that criminal statistics generally will testify in favour of the Germanic peoples--as compared, for instance, with the Slavs and the Latins.

Mr. William Archer has something to say about my “outspoken contempt for England.” Here he is mistaken. I have no feeling of hatred towards England and have never entertained any feelings of ill-will towards its great and admirable[1] people. It is only the part which England has played and plays in this world-wide crisis that I abhor and deplore. The earth is large enough to hold both England and Germany, and England would have gained more by keeping neutral in this war. The hatred of England which pervades Germany is new--it began on the 4th August, 1914. Prior to that date it did not exist. Whether England’s policy has gained the sympathy and approval of the neutral countries is not for me to judge. One can respect and admire a nation for its splendid qualities and for its colossal contribution to the advancement of the world, and yet not admire its policy at a given juncture. This is the nature of the feelings I now entertain for England, and I deeply regret that her guiding statesmen were not able to avert a situation which must inevitably bring misfortune upon their country. Did the English _people itself_ desire this war? That question will be answered in the early future.

[1] The more literal translation would be “excellent and admirable,” or “capital and admirable”; the term is difficult to render to a nicety.--Translator.

Mr. William Archer is surprised that I do not speak about the Battle of the Marne. Here I will remind him once more of what I say in the introduction to the book, to wit, that it was not my intention to write the history of the war. I have simply described the happenings at which I myself was present.

In conclusion Mr. William Archer says: “It would be curious to know whether Dr. Hedin now feels so confident of Germany’s triumph as he did in the golden prime....” As to that, after the events which have occurred _since_ “the golden prime,” especially on the eastern front, my faith in Germany’s victory is more unshakable than ever.

It is very kind of Mr. William Archer to say that German culture is not in danger. I really think that he is right. The Germans have shown that they are men, capable of defending their culture against I might almost say the whole world, and I pity those who thought that by their united forces they would be able to reduce Germany to a second or third rate power.

SVEN HEDIN

Stockholm

_25th February, 1915_

For the hospitality, the confidence and the comradeship which have been shown to me in the German armies at the Western Front, I tender my most heartfelt thanks.

SVEN HEDIN

Stockholm

_27th January, 1915_

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. On the Way to the Front 3

II. The Emperor William 44

III. On the Way to the Fifth Army 55

IV. A Day at Eclisfontaine 80

V. A Day at Dun 104

VI. Back at Main Headquarters 117

VII. To Sedan 125

VIII. In the Rear of the Fourth Army 145

IX. With the Fourth Army 161

X. Quiet Days 182

XI. To Belgium 196

XII. Antwerp the Day After Its Fall 217

XIII. More Days in Antwerp 233

XIV. Still in Antwerp 248

XV. _Via_ Ghent and Bruges to Ostend 263

XVI. Ostend Bombarded 275

XVII. Two More Days on the Channel Coast 284

XVIII. To Bapaume 296

XIX. An Excursion to the Front at Lille 306

XX. Trench Life 316

XXI. Sunday the First of November 332

XXII. English Prisoners from Ypres 348

XXIII. Farewell to Bapaume 362

XXIV. A Final Day on the Western Front 372

XXV. Home to Trelleborg 378

Index 391

ILLUSTRATIONS

Military policeman making notes _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE
21-cm. mortars firing at Septsarges 70

A service wagon at Stenay 71

Field-marshal General von Haeseler and General von Mudra at
Eclisfontaine 96

Wrecked houses at Dun on the bank of the Meuse 97

A food column composed of commandeered farmers’ carts 112

Bank clerk from Blois. Prisoner at Dun 113

Road across bridge at Dun 114

Landwehr soldier, gaoler at Dun 115

The Crown Prince’s headquarters at Stenay 116

Street in Longuyon 117

Wooded height between Sedan and Donchery 130

Houses wrecked by shells at Donchery 131

Diagram showing organisation on lines of communication 142

German infantry 143

Infantry reservists on the fringe of a wood at Rouvroy 146

A dressing wagon had halted behind a few dark pines 147

A dressing wagon with hood 148

Four doctors breakfasting under cover of a shelter tent 149

Soldiers under cover of a haystack at Rouvroy 150

Officers’ car at Grandpré } French prisoners carried wounded Germans to the railway station } 151

A chef de musique of the 11th Infantry Regiment, 17th Army Corps, taken prisoner on September 26th, south of Vouziers. Slightly wounded in the head 154

Chambon, thirty years old, French soldier from Perigueux in Dordogne (17th Army Corps). Slightly wounded south of Vouziers 155

Feeding the wounded (the second from the left is Major von Plato) 156

A seriously wounded man carried from the train to the hospital at Sedan } The Uhlans proceed on their way } 157

A squadron of Uhlans halt outside Captain von Behr’s house to await their baggage train 158

Protracted halt of an infantry ammunition column. Shelter tents have been pitched 159

Colonel Fischer at his tripod telescope 161

A field kitchen or _Erbsenkanone_ (“pea-shooter”) 162

“A hero’s death” 163

Ammunition column halting beside a barn 164

Camp scene on a farm at Séchault 165

An ammunition column at Cernay 166

A company ready to start out, receiving its marching instructions 167

Bivouacking food column with horses and covered wagons 170

A field hospital at Condé effectively screened from observation } Kitchen wagons “at work” near Condé } 171

Perot Julien, a 54-year-old peasant charged with plotting, but released through insufficient evidence 172

Saisac of Toulouse, 11th Infantry Regiment (33rd Inf. Div., 17th Army Corps). Prisoner at Vouziers 173

Olive, thirty years old. Infanterie Coloniale, 24ème (2nd Colonial Inf. Div.). Native of Perpignan, Eastern Pyrenees. Prisoner at Vouziers 174

Five Reservists from Bordeaux and Narbonne who fought in Alsace and Champagne, and were captured the 26th and 27th September south of Vouziers. They are busy peeling potatoes. At Vouziers the French prisoners were allowed to cook their soup themselves in order to get the proportion of meat and vegetables that they liked best 175

French prisoners at Vouziers waiting for their dinner 176

German airmen: Capt. Chamier, Lieutenants Count Rambaldi and Bürger, and a fourth. The Iron Cross can be seen on the underside of the left plane 177

A battery of light field howitzers in position 178

A salvo has just been fired. The guns are now being reloaded 179

Observer masked by twigs and branches 180

Scene on the road in front of the observation post 181

Pater Müller, Professor Zinsser and a Franciscan friar 188

French prisoners at Vouziers 189

French prisoners working at the railway station at Vouziers 196

Arms and knapsacks of dead and wounded--Vouziers 197

A doctor, Prof. Capt. Lepsius and a few _Sœurs de la Providence_ in the Convent grounds 205

A group of fugitives 212

On the way to Ghent and the Channel 213

Malines Cathedral, south aspect 220

A house at Malines “laid open” by shell fire 221

Marché aux Souliers a few days after Antwerp’s fall 224

Belgian prisoners at Malines 225

Food column on the way to the ferry, with the Cathedral tower in the background, flying the German flag over the cross 228

Food column crossing the Grand’ Place 229

Marines with a “field kitchen” and a couple of calves 230

Fugitives returning to Malines from the south 231

In front of the Town Hall at Antwerp 234

Infantry halting in front of Antwerp Town Hall 235

Horses and vehicles being brought on board one of the pontoon ferries. The vessels anchored in the fairway were used as pontoons for the bridge which the Anglo-Belgian army threw across for its retreat. When the last man had crossed, the bridge was blown up 236

The transport across the Scheldt } A Belgian gun in the harbour } 237

Louvain Town Hall 240

Some houses only have the walls left standing 241

The interior of Malines Cathedral before the removal of the débris 244

Destruction wrought by “fat Bertha” in Fort St. Catherine 245

The Dutch frontier station at Putten on the way to Bergen-op-Zoom 252

Fugitives returning to Antwerp from Holland 253

Outworks at Dryhoek, blown up by their commandant 260

A German marine on the pontoon ferry at Antwerp 261

A petty officer with a few marines at a street corner in Ostend 274

Military policemen inspecting the damage outside the Majestic Hotel 275

The western end of dining-room at the “Majestic” seen from the } street; one shell had crashed through the upper part of the window} 282 A Maubeuge gun doing duty at Middelkerke }

A “direct hit” on a house near the Hôtel Littoral 283

Half of Capt.-Lieut. Bess and the whole of the author on the way to Blankenberghe 286

A self-igniting mine explodes 287

Dr. Schönfelder and the author on the dunes at Ostend 288

A traverse at Dorpfeld 289

Group beside one of the guns of Lieut. Haak’s battery. (Furthest to the left are Capt.-Lieut. Bess and Lieut. Haak) 292

Gun crew getting ready to fire on a British destroyer 293

Hole made by a 42-cm. shell in Fort Talaert 300

At the entrance to Fort Talaert 301

The interior of Fort Lierre 304

Privy Councillor von Lumm beside the hole made by a 42-cm. shell 305

Streets at the Porte Douai which have suffered through the bombardment 306

Hereditary Prince Friedrich of Hohenzollern and Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg 307

A 15-cm. howitzer battery 310

Of some houses there is only the skeleton left 311

Well-masked guns 314

Gunners studying the news 315

Soldiers reading the latest number of the _Bapaumer Zeitung am Mittag_ 318

Two young ladies are the only civilians to be seen 319

Band playing beside Faidherbe’s statue 340

German soldiers beside the French general’s memorial 341

Tommy Atkins at Roubaix 348

The French waitress and her English customers 349

They were clothed in neat and practical field uniforms 352

Here and there was a slightly wounded soldier 353

The last houses of Kruiseik } A shell crater in the road is being filled in by engineers } 354

Hussar patrol riding through Kruiseik 355

First came a German soldier with an English colonel on his left 358

Then came the convoy 359

The convoy halted just outside the village 362

An English officer on a stretcher placed across a cart 363

Group of officers at Bapaume: The Duke, the Prince, the Chief of Military Police, Cleving, Baron Fleming and others 368

An enormous ammunition column had come to a stop at Barbas 369

Kitchen wagons 374

On the fore-carriage of a gun sits a soldier fast asleep 375

A group of soldiers with the Divisional Pastor in the centre 378

The last picture from the Western Front 379

MAPS

The country round Eclisfontaine and Varennes _between_ pp. 86 and 87

The country between Somme Py and Rouvroy _between_ pp. 152 and 153

The Belgian coast between Blankenberghe and Neuport _face_ p. 266

The country round Lille and Ypres 312

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

As I have been publicly criticized for undertaking the issue of the English edition of this book, for the most part by people who have not read it, I am taking the somewhat unusual course of giving a brief explanation of my point of view.

In the first place, Dr. Sven Hedin’s book is essentially a record of facts as he saw them. He is a trained observer, and there can be no question of his veracity. Hitherto, for facts with regard to the German Armies and their organisation we have had to rely on such accounts as the German official communiqués chose to give us, which nobody believes; or, as an alternative, on the accounts published in our own press, which, owing to the strictness of the censorship, were mostly gathered from accounts furnished by prisoners or our own soldiers. The prisoners were naturally pessimistic and our men optimistic. Hence the general impression formed has been that the German organisation had gone to pieces, that their troops were short of food and clothes and that their ammunition was poor.

How far this is from the truth these pages will show, and it is surely desirable to publish a book that for the first time gives us a comprehensive idea of the wonderful organisation against which we are fighting. To my mind it is one of the things chiefly needed to stimulate both our workers and our recruiting.

Again, is it not well to let the English nation know, for instance, that those 600,000 troops which our gallant 120,000 successfully withstood at Ypres were not ill-clad, ill-fed levies, but magnificently equipped troops with a machine-like organisation behind them?

There is also the question of Dr. Sven Hedin’s anti-English opinions, which are quite distinct from his record of facts. But why should these not appear in this country where those of Bernhardi, Nietzsche, Treitschke and Cramb have been universally read and their publication applauded? His reflections are of course intensely irritating to any British subject, but they cannot possibly affect the British cause. On the contrary, their publication will probably do good, for there is nothing like a little tail-twisting to rouse the British Lion!

They afford only one more example of the truth that Lord Rosebery enunciated the other day that “foreigners have never understood Englishmen and Englishmen have never understood foreigners.”

These opinions, however, though evidently accepted from official Germany without question or examination, do not lessen the value of Dr. Sven Hedin’s record of personal experiences. For he is so obviously honest. Indeed, again and again he naively records little facts which really tell against his case.

Dr. Hedin’s personal position is not for me to discuss, but I give his book intact, omitting only, at his own request, a few passages dealing with Swedish politics of purely local interest, and the British public can form its own judgment both of the author and of his views.

If that judgment is unfavourable I hope it will not prevent them from taking his facts to heart.

JOHN LANE

WITH THE GERMAN
ARMIES IN THE WEST