Poles in Kaisers Army On the Front of the First World War. Ryszard Kaczmarek
this Sunday to be a nationwide day of prayer. The officially designated day for common contemplation unexpectedly turned into a more profound reflection on the imminent tragedy and the possibility of losing close relatives. The mood at homes was often gloomy, particularly among the elderly. Józef Borzyszkowski follows various journals and diaries to describes this Sunday in Pomerania in the following way: “Today is ←50 | 51→Mobilmachung [mobilization]. Oh, Holy Virgin and Saint Joseph, intercede grace on our behalf so that we benefit from this Epiphany.”127 The bells rang in Pomeranian cities as people visited churches “with lamentation.” Many confessed their sins because they expected the worst. For the sake of their relatives, people often funded crosses and chapels for the benefit of the conscripted.128
The outbreak of the war resulted in the immediate mobilization of German first-line units; it looked similar in all regiments. The Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 157 received the order at 2.45 am on July 31. According to the mobilization plan, the first battalion and machine gun company had to prepare in six hours to moved out to the border. Horses arrived at the regiment already at 4 pm of the same day, while at 7.30 pm, the battalion and company were prepared to move to Kluczbork, which was the concentration site.129 The Field Artillery Regiment No. 21 – that belonged to the same Upper Silesian 12th Infantry Division – received the order about the imminent threat of war at 3 am. Immediately, each battery prepared four cannons with a team of horses, an ammunition carrier, an reconnaissance vehicle, one cart with provisions, and reserve horses to march out. The troop was accompanied by ammunition columns, each consisting of twenty-seven vehicles (twenty-four of them had a team of six horses!). From the very evening of July 31, confiscated horses arrived at the regiment – assigned earlier in the mobilization plan – in order to move this mass of equipment and wagons. Soldiers collected their combat uniforms while horses were fit with new harnesses. First batteries of the regiment were ready to depart at 6.30 pm, when they received a repeated order about the threat of war.130
Similarly, the Infantry Regiment No. 47 and the Infantry Reserve Regiment No. 37 mobilized in Śrem, Greater Poland:
Finally… mobilization! Loud posters announce to everyone: “Mobilization!!!” The youngest cohorts of reserve troops immediately [go] to regiments, levy in masses to man bridges, edifices etc. They will report on the second day, the older cohorts of reserve on the third, fourth, and fifth… July 31, 1914, is the first day of the mobilization. A true human migration… herds of horses. Patrols walk around the city. The bridge is blocked by on both sides by harrows…. Such mood dominated the first days of the mobilization ←51 | 52→in Śrem, a provincial town adorably located by the Warta River, where the second battalion of the forty-seventh Prusian infantry was stationed. Here, the mobilization to the Reserve Regiment No. 37 applied to young soldiers, mostly Poles. The order was… on the fourth day! There reports the local youth, supported with an ample battalion of reserve soldiers from Pleszew and the region, in order to fulfill their hard duty to – the invader. By the emperor’s order, [they are] to become victims of the Moloch of war. They answered the call! Summoned, they were incorporated into the company and assigned lodgings.131
The reserve soldiers spent August 1 preparing for railway travel. The arriving soldiers and volunteers received combat uniforms, arms, ammunition, satchels, and supplementary equipment.132 This thirty-kilogram equipment of an infantry man was very rich but – as they soon learned – it excessively constrained soldier’s mobility during fights. The uniform of a German infantryman of 1914 consisted of a masking field-grey jacket, according to models from 1907 and 1910 (Feldrock 07/10). However, in many regiments, the soldiers still wore the old blue uniforms, visible from afar due to their intensive color, which made them perfect targets for sharpshooters, just like the French and Belgian uniforms.133 The eight-button jackets fastened under the neck. Hannover-type regiments’ buttons were decorated with the royal crown (Kazimierz Wallis belonged to such a regiment). During the war, these were replaced by simplified combat shirts with covered buttons (Feldbluse 1915). The regiment’s number ornamented the epaulettes. In the case of Hannover-type regiments, they received an additional inscription “Gibraltar,” in memory of the fights against Napoleon: “We wear a cerulean band with the inscription “Gibraltar” on our left arm below the elbow. This signifies the remembrance of battles we fought in Gibraltar.… I sent my old shoulder straps with number 51, because I now wear number 79.”134 A red trimming ornamented long trousers (model of 1910), while the long leather shoes (Marschstiefel 66) enjoyed little popularity among the soldiers, despite their sturdiness. There were obviously solid but very rigid, and particularly the new pairs caused painful abrasions that were hard to heal, which often turned into bleeding wounds during long marches.135 German soldiers wore a leather belt with a brass buckle ornamented with the emblem of the land in the German Empire (model 1895). The belt had a leather pouch with sixty cartridges (model 1909), a bayonet ←52 | 53→sheath, and a defensive grenade (model 1913). The helmet (popular Pickelhaube) or, actually, a leather crash helmet with a characteristic brass tip, had a special masking plain weave cover in field-gray with a big red regiment number over the forehead. The soldiers in the rear wore a round cap (Mütze 10), according to the regulations, which forbid them to walk in the open without headgear. The red band of the cap included country colors and imperial colors above them. In 1915, the cap cut was simplified; it remained round but lacked the colorful band, only the trimming and two colorful symbols.136
A typical German infantryman carried on his back a satchel (Tornister 95); initially strengthened with cowhide but, later, produced from plain weave. There was a rolled-up raincoat strapped around the satchel and, below it, the food bag (Brotbeutel 87) with a belted canteen. In 1914, canteen were enamel (Feldflasche 93) but, later, aluminium (Feldflasche 07 and 10). It was all supplemented by the attached metal mess kit (Kochgeschirr 10).137 The satchel generally contained personal belongings and personal hygiene utensils (soap, comb, sometimes a little mustache comb) and often also a sewing kit in a special metal case, because the uniform had to always be clean, regardless the weather and length of service. Later, soldiers also received playing cards ornamented with military motifs (generally the Old Maid), and in the West they also received pictorial pocket German-French dictionaries. For identification, every soldier had a military identity card (Militärpass) and an identification badge in a leather case carried around the neck (Erkennungsmarke).138 Noteworthy, Kazimierz Wallis describes this baggage in a letter to his father: “I already wear boots, marching trousers, and a forage cap. Here we received: 1 pair of boots, 1 pair of hemp shoes, 2 pairs of stockings, 2 pairs of trousers (marching and white), 3 pairs of pants (underwear), 3 shirts, 2 neck bands, 1 Litewka modra (blue jacket), 1 pair of Pulswärmer, 1 Kopfschützer, 1 pair of gloves, 1 forage cap, 1 towel, 1 belt.”139
Not all regiments had the best uniforms and equipment. Everything happened in a rush, especially the preparation of soldier equipment, because time was of key importance when one hoped for victory. As a peasant of Greater Poland that joined the army recalls: “Everyone received necessary elements of military equipment [on the second day after the conscription], except for the bayonet and rifle. They did not hurry with handing out uniforms but only threw around ←53 | 54→the necessary number of stuff – and it was handled. No one cared if the uniform was much too bigger or too small. The same for the boots. The chamber non-commissioned officers tended to viciously put helmets on soldier heads: sometimes they put in normally but, sometimes, time they pressed it with all their might while holding the by the metal tip; after such a procedure, the helmet fit everyone, regardless if it reached the ears or remained on the top of the head. We received navy-blue uniforms