Part 21

"He can keep his cigars--he doesn't have to lie in shell holes for days on end."

"War's no good," said a small man with a protruding forehead and keen eyes and wearing a red-cross on his arm. "Ich danke meinem Gott--I thank my God that I've never taken up a rifle during the whole war, and I've been in it since the beginning. No human being has lost his life through me, thank God."

"Was fuer'n Zweck hat es--What's the good of shooting each other like this? The heads ought to come and fight it out amongst themselves."

"It's good for politicians and profiteers--fuer die ist's gut."

"Ask them what they think of the submarines."

A Lieutenant of the Prussian Guard answered contemptuously that he didn't think much of them. He didn't believe stories of food-shortage in England, he didn't believe anything the papers said, they were all full of lies.

"Ask them if they're satisfied with their treatment."

Yes, they were all satisfied. The Lieutenant pronounced it "blendend" (dazzling). They had not eaten so much and such good food for months and months. Oh it was good to be out of the fighting. Yes, their treatment was perfect--except for the thieving. Why were British soldiers allowed to steal the buttons, caps, rings, and watches belonging to their prisoners?

A German private, a tall thin man with bushy eyebrows, who had not spoken hitherto, said he didn't mind losing a few buttons--but to rob a man of his marriage ring, that was very mean--eine Gemeinheit--his marriage ring had been taken from him: he would have lost anything rather than that, for it always reminded him of home.

The boy from East Prussia said he didn't care what they took from him as long as they didn't take his life. He was safe now and nothing else mattered. He spoke with a Polish accent.

I asked him what town he came from.

"Allenstein."

"Did you see anything of the Russians in 1914?"

"Jawohl"--he had seen plenty of Russian troops. They behaved very well. "Die sind besser als die Deutschen--They're better than the Germans...."

But the theatre orderly interrupted us and asked us to "send two or three across."

I went to the Prep. to see if there were any new arrivals. It was full once again and the wounded were streaming into the station.

It was quite dark outside. The duckboards were lit up by rows of hurricane lamps. The bombardment was still going on.

When I got back to the waiting-room all the prisoners were gone and English wounded were taking their places. Soon the benches round the stove were crowded with dark figures whose hands and faces were lit up by the glow.

A man with haggard features and a bandage round his head began to talk in a mournful voice:

"Oh, it's 'ard ter lose yer mates. There was three of us--we was always together--we couldn't bear the idea o' separatin'. One of us copped a packet [got wounded] about three months ago an' went inter dock [hospital]--'e wasn't 'alf upset when 'e left us, though 'e was a sure Blighty--'e was afeard they'd send 'im to another mob when 'e got well agin. But 'e came back to us arter all--we didn't 'alf 'ave a bust up that evenin'. The two of us was absolutely canned to the wide [dead drunk]--'e wasn't though, 'e didn' drink much--'e was better'n what we was--well-spoken like--didn' go arter no tarts--didn' do no swearin'. Yer never came acrorst a better mate'n what 'e was! We was goin' over the top when a shell busted in front of us. It blinded me for a moment and then when I could see agin--gorblimy--it must 'a' copped 'im in the stomach an' ripped it open--ugh!--'e was rollin' over wi' all 'is guts 'angin' out--ugh!--yer should 'a' 'eard 'im groan. 'Me own mate,' I says ter 'im, but 'e didn't rekkernize nothin' and then we 'ad to go on--yer can't stop when yer goin' over! Soon arter me other mate copped it too. Somethin' bowled 'im clean over, but 'e gets up again an' shows me 'is arm. 'There's a bastard,' 'e says, as cool as yer like--'is 'and was blown clean orf at the wrist! He just turned round an' was walkin' orf to the dressin' station when a shell busted atween us. It copped me in the 'ead an' knocked me senseless. Arterwards I 'eard me mate 'ad bin blowed ter bits. Oh, it's 'ard when yer've bin together all the time an' shared everythink."

He buried his face in his hands and made no further sound except an occasional sniff and a hasty drawing in of the breath through trembling lips.

"It's bloody murder up the line," said a full Corporal. "We were in a trench four feet deep and up to our waist in water. A Jerry sniper spotted us and one man got biffed, [killed] and then the next, and then the next all along the trench. We were packed together like sardines and had no cover at all for our heads and shoulders. I got the wind up terribly 'cause I knew my turn was coming. He only gave me a Blighty though--I reckon I'm bloody lucky!"

"We was ready for to go over the top an' waitin' for the whistle to blow. We didn't 'alf 'ave the wind up. You could 'ear the teeth chatterin' all along the trench. I was shiverin' all over, I...."

"Next man!" The conversation stopped while the next man went across, but having once begun to tell their experiences, the men would not stop altogether, and after a brief silence an elderly little man with a bandaged foot said:

"What I couldn't get over was insomnia. I could never sleep at the right time and I was always dead tired on duty. Once I worked forty-three hours at a stretch and after that I had to do a guard in our trench. I felt sleepy all of a sudden. I pinched myself and banged the butt of my rifle on my toes, but everything seemed to swim round me. Then, I don't know how, I went off to sleep. I was awakened by an officer who shook me and swore at me. I was a bit dazed at first and then suddenly it struck me what had happened. I never had the wind up so much in all my life and I implored him not to report me. I don't remember what happened next, I was in such a state. But he did report me. I got a court martial and was sentenced to death for sleeping at my post. They put me into the guard-room and I expected to be shot the next day. It was a rotten feeling, I can tell you. I didn't think about myself so much as about the wife and the little boy. I wouldn't go through a night like that again for anything. But I went to sleep all the same. I woke up the next morning when someone came into the guard-room. I didn't know where I was for a second or two, and then in a flash I realized I'd got to die. I don't mind admitting that I rested my face against the wall and blubbered like a kid. Anyone would have done the same, I don't care what you say. But the man who'd just come in said:

"'Pull yourself together, old chap--you're all right for to-day, anyhow.' I sat bolt upright and stared at him.

"'They're not going to shoot me?'

"'Not to-day,' he answered. 'Cheer up, all sorts of things might happen before to-morrow.'