Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-12-17

one, and each time one of us fell, the
sentrfes would yell. "Nicht krankI"
and give US the rifle butt. We had
our choice of standing up and dying
or falling down and being killed, and
1T was fine choice to have to make.
! The cars finally pulled in. and as
usual. the windows were smashed, the
doors open, and the compartments just
| packed with snow. When we saw this,
we knew we were going to get worse
treatment. even, than we had been
| getting, and many of US wanted TO die.
1t had not been unusual for some of
| the men to tell the Germans TO shoot
them too, and it seems as though 1t
was always man who wanted to live
who did get it and went west.
However, all of US nearly got killed
when we reached Wittenberg. When
the train stopped there, we saw big
wagonload of sliced bread on the sta
ton platform and we all stared at it.
We stood it as long as we could, and
then we made a rush for it. But when
we got nearer. we saw that there were
/
women issuing it out to the German
soldiers. They would not give US any.
/ of course
So We stood around and watched the
| Huns eat it, while they and the women
laughed at US, and pretended that
they were starving and would groan
and rub their stomachs and say,
NIGHTS zu essen" to each other, and
then grab big hunk of bread and
eat 1t. What we did not say to them
was very little indeed. We were GER
tainly wild if any men ever were.
| Then some of us said we were go
| ing to get some of that bread If we
went west for it. So we started a
fight, and while they were attending to
some of US, the others grabbed and hid
all the bread they could. They rousted
| us back into the cars and we were
| just starting to divide up the bread
when they caught Us with it and took
| it away. We were wilder than ever
then, but we could not do anything.
1t got colder after we left Witten-
! berg, and the snow blew into the cars
through the windows AMI doors until
| we were afraid to sleep for fear of
freezing. 1t was the worst night /
| have ever seen, and the coal bunkers
| on the Yarrowdale seemed like a pal
ace compared to the compartments,
| because we could at least move around
| in the ship, while in the train we could
| not move at all, and were packed so
| close that we could not even stretch
| our legs and arms Some of the men
! did die, but not in my compartment.
| though most of US were frost-bitten
about the face.
We thought that night would never
end, but day came finally, and though
it seemed to get colder and colder, we
| did not mind Ii SO much. At about
eleven that morning, we arrived at a
place called Minden and saw prison
| camp there-just a stockade near the
| tracks with the boys out in the open.
We waved to them, and they waved
| back and gave a cheer-oh or two. We
! felt sorrS for them, because we knew
we were not going to that camp and
| from what little we saw, we knew we
could not be going TO worse place
than they were in. l shall never for
/ get Minden, because it was here that /
received the only cigarette had while
l was in Germany.
Minden is quite a railway center, /
| guess, and when we pulled into the
| depot, we saw many troops going TO
| the front or coming back AS at all
| important German railway stations,
there was Red Cross booth on the
| platform, with German girls handing
| out barley coffee and other things to
! the German soldiers. | saw large
| shanty on the platform, with a Red
Cross painted over the door. l saw
the girls giving barley coffee to the
| soldiers, ard l thought l would have
! try at it and at least be polite
enough to give the girls a chance of
refusing me. / was refused all right,
| but they were so nasty about it that l
{ put down my head and let something
| slip. l do not remember just what it
was, but it was not very compliment
| airy, guess. Anyhow, did not think
| anyone near there understood Eng
! lish, but evidently some one heard
who did, for l got an awful boot that
landed me ten or twelve feet away.
/ | fell on my hands and knees, and
about a yard away | saw a cigarette
stub. l Owed for it like a man falling
| on a football, and when l came up
that stub was safely in my pocket.
And it stayed there until l reached
! Dulmen and had a chance to light it
behind the barracks. If any of the
other men had smelled real tobacco,
they would probably have murdered
me, and could not have blamed them
for 1t.
That was the first and last cigarette