Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-10-02
CROWN PRINCE WRITES
To His Dad After He Bumped Up
Against American Soldiers.

- ZIG ioiloWiH6 Wdo IdhSH llOHl u
newspaper published in France and is
republished by request:
ION the Run, Somewhere in France"
Everywhere in France
"AlI the Time
Dead Fadder:
I am writing on der run, as der
brave and glorius soldiers under my
command have not seen the Rhine
for so long dat dey have started back
dat way, and of course 1 am going
NIT dem. Oh, ladder, dere has been
some offel dings happening here in
France. First, / started in by big
offensive which was to crush de fool
Americans but dey know so little
about military tactics dat dey will
not be crushed just like I want 'em
sent my men, in der fight in big
waves, and ven dey got to de Ameri-
cans dey all said boo" as loud as
they could holler. Veil, according
to what you have always told me, de
Americans have turned and run like
blazes. But vat do you tink! Dem
fool Americans don't kno anything
about war, and instead of running
der adderway, dey came right
toward us. Some Of dem vas sing
ing about we won't come back till
it's over, over dere,' or some odder
foolish song, and some of dem were
laffing like fools. Dey are so ignor-
ant. But der are so offel reckless
nit dere guns, and ven dey come
toward us it vas dat my men took a
notion dey wanted to go back to der
dear old Rhine. We don't like de
little dirty Marine river, anyhow.
And, oh, ladder, dem Americans use
such offel language. Dey know not
ting OF kultur, and say such offel
dings right before us. And dey talk
blasphemy, too. Vot you tink dey
said right in front of my face? One
big husky from blaze dey call Mis-
souri,, he said-oh, ladder, / hate to
tell you vat an offel ting he said
but / can't help it; he said, ITO he'll
nit the kaiser!" Did you ever hear
anything so offel! / didn't tink any
body would say such an offel ting.
1t made me so mad. voulnn't
stand and hear such an offel ting so
/ turned around and run NIT de
odder boys. Vos right? Vat? And
oh, ladder, you know dem breast
plates vot you sent us-you can send
some to put on our backs? You
know We are going the odder way
now, and breast plates are no good.
for the cowardly Americans the
shooting us right in der back
Some of our boys took off der breast
plates and put 'em behind, but de
fool Americans are playing DE Star
Spangled Banner" nit machine guns
on dem plates. Can't you help u.s.?
You remember in your speech you
said nothing could stand before the
brave German soldiers? On, fadder,
| don't believe desc. ignorant Ameri-
cans ever read your speech, for dey
run after us just like We vas lot OF
rabbits. Vot you tink of dot? Can't
YOU send dem some of your speeches
right away? Dey don't know how
terrible We are. Can't you move my
army back to Belgium, we're We voa
all our glory? My men can vip all
the vimmen and children vot dem
IBelgians can bring us. But desc
Americans are so rough and ignor'
ant. We can't make 'em understand
that we are the greatest soldiers on
earth, and ven we try to sing "Deutc-
bland Uber Allies dey laugh like q
lot of monkeys. But We are getting
the best of the Americans. We can
outrun dem. Fadder, If We are not
de best fighters on earth We are sure
de best runners. Nobody can keep
up NIT us ven We tink of der dear
old Rhine, and my army never did
tink so much of dot dear old river.
Let me know right away vot to do by
return post office.
July times.