The Washington herald., 1917-06-17

Erich Erichsen fpaints vivid pic
ture OF the horrors Of life Ntn the
trenches during the long hours OF
night when nightmares more awful
than the scenes actually experienced
in battle harass the minds Of dream
ing soldiers. Forced to Fight Is the
title OF his tragic story OF a Schleswtg
Dane who was conscripted into the
German army. 1t Is the first authen-
tic account OF how Germany makes
What then. was the worst Of the
life in the trenches" the soldier Is
asked. HIS reply follows:
Those hours were the worst In
which we tried to get rest and could
not; or when we lay dreaming, or
saw how the others were tormented
by nightmare.
"It was a scene that was repeated
time after time, and 1t was always
equally distressing and gruesome, be-
cause most of us knew what Il was
to suffer these torments.
You would suddenly see two com
rades, who had UP till then been
sleeping quietly side by side, become
restless and begin to toss about Then
You would hear some abrupt shouts,
that quickly turned into hoarse
shrieks, and In a short time you would
see them roll over and fight with their
fists at/each others eyes, or mouth
or temples, wherever the blow might
happen to fall, You would gee them
a passionate strangfing clutch. and
hear them groaning and gasping until
at last you succeeded IN waking and
parting them.
Eyes of Malice and Hate.
THE last was often difficult mat
ter. Even in a semi-wakened condi-
ton they often continued the assaults
with a brutality and rage for which
a peaceable third party had to suffer
when intervening to prevent them from
doing each other serious injury.
For II happened sometimes that a man
was choked by the frenzied clutch of
another at his throat.
In their dreams they would imagine
that they were lying on the field,
waiting for the ambulance. Then sud-
denly they caught sight OF an enemy
Ills eyes were full Of malice and hate,
and they could see his fingers, in spite
OF his agony, fumbling for his re-
Yolver. Even as a fellow-sufferer on
the battlefield he could not control
his hate. There was no other resource
then but to throw oneself upon him
and render him powerless to do harm.
II one Of the two had to lose his
low.
That. in its bare outline, is the story
OF the dream. It was terrible. / have
had that dream myself and have often
been In its grip, and every time
have painted with excitement for a
long time after and felt as IL the
valves Of my heart were going to
burst, and as II singing blows were
being struck on the nape OF my neck
Now imagine having this dream, this
horrible nightmare, two or three
times, perhaps, ip the course of a
night and you will understand that
we were always in a state of uneasi-
ness and misgiving when seeking sleep
and rest, and that we would do any
thing to keep ourselves awake rather
than fall into the horror of such
dreams.
Impossible to Shake on.
There was another dream, though.
that taunted many of us and which
In its weirdness and mercilessness
must have ruined the nerves OF many
for the rest Of their lives. You see.
when some dream vision or other had
once established itself in ones con-
sctousness it would keep on returning
night after night for a long, long
time: and OF course matters were not
improved by our telling our dreams to
each other. They often dominated our
minds even when awake with a Vio-
lence impossible to shake of. Besides,
what is there to talk about in a trench
through the long night watches IL you
don't talk about the very things that
haunt you more than anything else
that happens?