1914 Chapter 12

12.The Road to Ypres

Abel Langer

The Hauptmann stopped me to question me.

“Doctor, why are you in the front line?”

I gave him a weak excuse to find something and he believed me. I was trying to find Francois house as I remembered it near here, but when I came onto the landmark, I was taken aback by what was there then had no reference to compare to when it was a year ago. The rows of houses on the street had crumbled and the trees uprooted. I ran to the possible landmark where the house would be and fond only the dust and rubbles.

I then saw an old the lady sitting there.

"Madame, please tell me do you know the family who stayed here? Can you tell me where they are?" She looked at me and spat into my face.

"Boche, I would not have you said anything. You go back to your guns and do your worst but I am not telling you anything." I left her seated there and turned to walked back.

"Herr Doctor, if you must know. I would tell you." I looked at the man who spoke. He was an older man and chewing something in his mouth. He was always wearing an old uniform with his medals on it. "I am an old soldier and I would stay here in my country. I am not like them who run from their country."

"Please tell me, Sir," I asked of him.

"They already left some weeks back. I think they left for overseas. To America. That is all I know. Can you give me a gun now? I want to fight for my country." The old man lent out his hand to me.

"I am sorry, Sir. I have no gun, but I have is a ration bar. Please take it as a reward for your news. “The old man looked at my ration bar and then back at me.

"Son, I can't fight with that. I need a gun." And he walked away in search of his gun.

If it was true that Francois has left for America, then she would be safe there. I was glad the old man told me that. I turned to look at the street before proceeding back to my tent. I could do something for the war and that was to try to save more lives. I paused then to re-think my words; saving a life.

It’s ironic that at that stage, I was still trying to conserve life when they were actually throwing themselves in front of hailing bullets for glory. Maybe I should have had just left like Francois, and ignored this war.

Maybe so, but my the oath was to save a life that cannot be selective. Perhaps I was not suited to be a doctor after all with all these self-doubts.

Peter Weiner, Hauptmann

"Stop that!" I shouted at the soldier who was trying to club the old man. "He meant you no harm."

"Hauptmann, the man tried to snatch my rifle. He is also wearing a Belgian uniform." I shoved the soldier aside to reach down for the old man. His head was bleeding and coughing badly.

"Sir, let me attend to you." But the old man pushed my hand away. He got up and walked off on his own. Then the shot rang out and the old man dropped dead in front of me. I turned to face the shooter and it’s the Oberst-lieutenant.

"One less to concern on. Hauptmann, I need you to get me some intel. This is what I need of your expertise." He handed me the paper containing my orders and walked away.

My right hand was hovering at my Luger and wanted to shoot him if he was not an officer above me. Just then a shell from the Belgian came down near us, and the Oberst-lieutenant was seen to run for cover.

"Hauptmann, I need two men to guard me. And you too. Hurry up." The Oberst-lieutenant was shouting for my men and I was obliged to assist. I motioned two of them to follow the Oberst-lieutenant. I turned to the other men and asked them to do a burial detail for the dead old man. I followed the Oberst-lieutenant to the building next to the river bank.

"I want you to find out for me the strength of that fort. I need the answer by dawn tomorrow. Is that understood, Hauptmann?" I looked across the river to the fort and sighed. What he is asking is impossible. I wanted to protest but the Oberst-lieutenant was already walking away back to his own safe bunker.

"Hauptmann, let my squad do it. We would get the info for you." I looked at the Unteroffizier and nodded.

Erich Kroner, Oberst

I rejected the promotion as the idiot brought back a private like him. The man knew nothing and I lost one man for this engagement. I reprimanded the Hauptmann for taking such a risk without consulting me. I did it in front of the Oberst-lieutenant. The later did not offer any replies nor did he owned up to give the order. I knew the Hauptmann had acted on order. I gave the dressing down so it will create a rift between them.

"Oberst-lieutenant, please remind the Hauptmann of my rank and why he needs to consult me for any mission that may cause lives." The Oberst-lieutenant nodded and then shouted all the rules and regulations like a trainer in the Academy.

“Good, Oberst-lieutenant, please continue.” I left the two officers so that they can argue or agreed ion their next action but I had created the rift between them.

I was met with bad news outside.

Just when we thought we were going to win, the British sent more reinforcement to Antwerp. They also brought their bigger guns. They may be a standoff where we were staying on. I was trying to discuss the options with my officers before I was sidetracked by more messengers.

The High Command was thinking of moving four battalions across the Nete, by using a hastily-constructed trestle bridge. A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. Each supporting frame was bent. 

The High Command was hoping to make a breakthrough to the main city of Antwerp. But we were not part of it. We were moved out of Antwerp to the northern coastal town of Aras.

Abel Langer

They told us we have to move for the Belgians to have opened up the sluice gates to release the seawater into the plains. It was a crazy move by the Belgians but it worked for the retreat command came to our lines. I was in the middle of removing a bullet from the patient's chest when the nurses spoke of the retreat.

“Nurse, get back to your post. We are not moving anyway for now.” I was in a dicey operation and if I make a wrong incision, the man will die.

“We need to pack.” The nurse was frantic. I stopped my work and glared at her.

"Ignore the order." I told the nurse, "this man needs to be saved."

"Herr doctor, he is a private and they all die every day. But we...." The nurse was concerned about the coming flood which may make things to difficult. She was starting to panic for unfounded reasons.

"Stop your bickering. Give me the clamps now." I shouted at her.

It was then an an officer walked in and looked at the operation table. He looked at me and then the nurse.

"You have gotten minutes to complete it, or I would have your patient shot. I can afford to lose him but not you, Herr Doctor."

The officer then walked out of the tent to supervise the evacuation of the hospital. I looked at the patient and then back at the nurse.

"Close it up. He is dead." I threw away my gloves and walked out of the tent. For the second time in my life, I truly regretted coming here. I wished I was in Berlin, or maybe far south to the Dark Continent where I do not have to contend with such condition.

"Nurse, hurry it up there." I shouted when I saw the water seeping in my shoes. Damned it, it was only that morning when I shined it.

Dieter Luther, Gefreiter

We were told that they are a ragtag army formed by the French as the Tenth Army but they fought well. We were there for two days now and we're sitting right in our trenches to stay alive despite the flooding by the Belgians. The French had reinforced the Belgian and were proved to be a tough opponent compared to the Belgian but the French had been fighting longer than the Belgian. The French have been preparing for war since 1880. They had prepared the battle plans in the case of a war. That was how the French armies learned to use the transportation mode to mobilizes their men fast in the affected region.

"Unteroffizier, when I joined they told me the war would end in three months? Do you think they are wrong or I am just stupid to believe them?"

"Soldier, you are right on both but now get back on the line. You are in my squad and you do as I say." He did and I went on my rounds to get my men to stay at the line. I lost my fragging promotion because I grabbed a lowly ranked soldier. I risked my life and they tell me I frag up. But this time I won't frag up anymore. I would get my promotion and climbed out of this trench.

"Unteroffizier, Hauptmann looking for you."

I got my new orders and I picked up five more men again. This time we were not grabbing any Belgian but doing a recon in the area of Lens ahead of a major push.

The six of us made a good time and soon we reached the town. It was a mining and also a railway junction for the northern routes. Most of the buildings were reduced to rubble by the constant bombardment of the German artillery. I pushed the men to move from cover to cover while we moved behind enemy lines. We stopped a few times on encountering patrols or groups of them but our orders were clear; no unnecessary contact.

I saw the French Army mobilizing there and they seem to be fortifying the line to the coast with loads of wagon and carts to move men and supplies. We did our recon and I signaled them to move back. We used the same route which we came in but there were no patrols this time. I told the men to relaxed and we strolled on casually. We did not expect to bump into a French patrol who was also returning from their recon mission. We literally bumped into each other coming out to the road.

"Germans!" The point man of the French Army patrol shouted and we also reached for our rifles. There were eight of them and five of us but we shot first. We hit two of them before we jumped into cover at the side of the road. We exchanged fire with them and we got another two more French before they decided to retreat. We gave chase as we do not want them to sound the alarm but they were quick to disappear. However, we got one more on their retreat before we called it off.

I told the men to walked back to the ambush point and searched the dead French soldier. There was one who was still alive and he was a Capitani.

"Bring him along and make sure he does not die." He did not die and he told us a lot on the defense at Lens. I got my promotion to Sergeant.