The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-09-28
Women in the War
FRAU RErMER, oHAUFFEUsE:
Nv G. KAY SPENCER.

FRAU REIMER, CHAUFFEUSE:
Ont of the little East Prussian town
re gTaDiau has come the first and only
woman TO actually perform stat1- as
patch work with a motor under nre'
Frau Reimcr, the young wire OF an
army surgeon. mas taken hci 80
through the seven hells or modern
battle and has successfully performed
her tasks under the extremely on
ncllt and dangerous conditions ob-
tanning in East Prussia and Russian
Poland. during the headlong retreat
of the Russian armies, subsequent 10
the MaZurian Lakes debacle.
Ouite unaffectedly she narrates her
exneriences of thrilling rides at ter
rife speed. with shrapnel spattering
her machine and Russian snipers cut
ting the air around her; of hardships
sufficIent to break a strong man; gay
Christmas festivals in the field with
staff officers. and presentation 10
the emperor,
Her military career was precfpi- !
tated hz rather too efficient service
rendered to a young lieutenant in
great hurry, TO get TO 1nsterburg from
Tapiau He had asked for votun-
teer chauffeur and she had responded
| Her cool ability to stay with the
car and hang on to the wheel through
the heaviest fire OF hostile batteries
900
tent that she soon was attached 10
the staff Of General Won Clausius.
| Then, in the solemn presence of
major, a formal contract was drawn
/ up between the Imperial German gov
| eminent, party of the first part, and
Anne Marie Reiner, party OF the sec
| ond part. whereby she was officially
Iappofnted volunteer automobile
driver in the German army. After
| few hours leave, TO send her little
! daughter off to friends in Berlin. she
| Graf ked up her Mercedes, leaped to
| the wheel and drove off to the thick
/ Of the fighting.
| In the fighting near T1lsit this
fdauntless woman advanced with the
/ troops. continuously under fire, coolly
observing the odd pastures assumed
! by dying men, She comments on it
! in her memoirs of the day.
| As the army drove forward over
| the frontier, Fran Reimer carried her
cargo Of corpulent staff officers along
! with the advance--sometimes too near
/ the advance for the ease of these mas
! get on the ground after their pawns
had had sufficient time TO make things
/ REASONABLE safe.
When the actual dividing line was
reached between the German crown
land and Russian Poland she turned
her hooded head and facetiously re-
marked. Gentlemen, your passports,
please"
The joke had Just faded on her lips
when a murderous shrapnel fire open~
| ed on the car from n nearby Russian
emplacement- Mudguards. radiator
and chassis were bent and hammered
| by the wicked steel, but Anne Marie
| Reirner coaxed that machine through
sIoughs Of Russian mud and over
SitnylaTEy lynn1an he
finally dashed into Schirwindt Hike a
tyoung typhoou, with her cargo shaken
up and grovelling in undignified pos
lures all over the big leather cush-
ions Otherwise, she had brought
them through safely. AS the big Mer-
rushing forward. saying in horror
struck tones, do you mean to tell
me that YOU have escaped from hell
all safe and sound ?"
} Adventures OF the kind were plen-
ttfut in the days that followed. es-
pecially rs Frau Reimer was always
within an hour of the advanced pa
, trolls in rolling into captured terri
tory.
|. Ones Wflfle She was seated 1T 7ur-
, cheon IN a little village a Russian
shell exploded outside in the street
, killing foar men and eleven horses
{ and wouuding five men, A chip of
sneH carried cup from her hands,
That was only annoying. She would
have another cup. Then she coolly
; rendered medical attention to the
= wounded, while six shells in success
sion rained down IN the vicinity
At the village. Immediately behind
: the advance, Frau Reimers duties
carried her into rnaze of dead and
dying horses and men. There had
! been street and house-to~house fight
! ing and things We're mussed up n bit
. Abuliet whizZed past her ear and
= lodged in stone wall behind her.
o The most natural thing to do, OF
!, course, WAS to go after the would-be
\ donor of the little souvenir She got
V him--bY the nape Of the neck-but
= he emptied his shell-clip while she
= coolly walked up to him.
:. But, plucky as she was, nature as
G serted herself. and soon the little
chauffeuse was in Konigsherg hospi-
tai with raging fever, engendered
1 by exposure in the frozen lake re-
e gion. Her rugged constitution soon
v overpowered the invading disease and
= several weeks time saw her up and
= about.
y She wanted TO return to her work,
Y But she was to meet disappointment
- Tor the German war ministry had de-
cided In the meantime that voluntes r
chauffeurs should not be employed
: with the army, Influence with friends
= and officers was of no avail and she
i finally had TO reconcile herself to the
n fact that her soldering was over.