The Washington herald., 1918-09-25
Letters Found on
German Prisoners
Show Low Morale
Boys, Fathers of Families, Cnipples
Drafted for the Army. While
Disease and Famine Threaten
German Civilians.
BY WILLIAM J. BUTLER.

By WILLIAM J. BUTLER.
London. Sept. .A.-Germany is
weakening. Her army is dispirit-
ed. Famine and disease stalk
through the land. Civilians are he
ing steadily dislllusioned as 10 the
outcome of the great world con-
flict. A remarkable first hand
picture of internal conditions in
Germany Is contained in
more than two hundred letters
taken from German prisoners re-
Gently by one of the French arm
les. which have Just bean made
public here.
Nearly all these letters are dated
prior to the first o. the German
reverses On the 18th Of August.
They cover a variesy of topics, in
cluding civililn discomfort, ths
heavy losses in ntsnI powesSof The
Germans, economic condinons.
scarcity of food and rainment, the
morale of the troops. and other
points of the deepest interest to
the entente powc-s.
Morale Very Low.
Taking into consideration the
fact that most of these letters
were written before the big
French drive, they lend coIer to
the belief that the entente has but
to set an invading foot on German
soil and the Boche will be ready
for a Senator Lodge dictated
peace"
Again and again there are let
ters advising men in the field to
be taken prisoner. and there are
numerous references to the Span
ish fever in Germany as being
nothing more than hunger fever"
On July a color sergeant wrote:
1.-The cursed French have already
caused us heavy losses"
Boys Are Called Tn.
An Oesterweg woman, writing
on June %, explained how all the
1s-year-old class have gone, and
how on that day news had been
posted in the church of the 192d
Regiment dead.
A letter from an infantry reserve
regiment on July q states:
There are more than 5000 men
here, but only those of over 45 or
fathers of more than six children.
Those under s2 have had to go
west, but we don't know where"
A letter from Lenterode states:
"All males born in 1901 must now
enroll"
A convalescent soldier wrote.
ut is very doubtful whether ]
shall still be here when you come
OIL leave, for. all the time men are
being sent off. Even the company
Of convalescents has had to sup
ply 100 men because the other
companies could not supply any
reinforcements.'
A woman in Berlin on June IL
stated: They are now calling up
boys OF H. They were in tears as
they left here. What will happen
when they reach the front"
Even Crippies Taken.
4 letter from A divisional depot
read: Yesterday the 1900 class
had to leave. Even cripples are
taken"
A number of letters speak of
widespread death and sickness
through the German empire, due
to the Spanish fever. or famine
typus," they term it. A woman at
Dannstatt informs her sons:
I'm the factories everyone IS
III, and many OF the schools are
shut. Spanish influenza is rag
ing throughout the poorer popu-
lation. Do you know what il
really IS? 1t is famine. In or
der that no one should realize
that il is due to famine they call
1t Spanish influenza"
From Munich there Is a letter,
dated July 16. which says, In
speaking Of so many deaths due
to the diseases:
"All the dead can no longer
be buried in the East Cemetery.
There alone there were on Sun
day twenty-five burials. What
will the winter be hke7 The
future is very dark