tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768259291370607121.post2282705549955389810..comments2023-03-29T23:36:52.482+02:00Comments on The war diaries of Dieter Finzen in both world wars: 22. März 1918Dieter Finzenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06564917834898528473noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768259291370607121.post-44149643953458582732011-03-29T08:34:54.844+02:002011-03-29T08:34:54.844+02:00When we awake in the morning, Tommy arbitrarily sh...When we awake in the morning, Tommy arbitrarily shells the terrain surrounding us. Shivering from the bitter cold, we get up and first of move out of the shelled area. <br /><br />We receive orders to build lines starting from the quarry, but not to let ourselves get shot dead. A delicate matter! We luckily manage to get to the quarry, which is wildly being shelled by the Englishmen. We stop our construction trailer at the road next to the quarry. <br /><br />Picture:<br />The road from Hargicourt to Templaux le Guérard leading up to the quarry as seen today.<br /><br />In front of and behind the road the big ones detonate in the terrain. We lie flat on the roadside. Splinters are hurling across our heads, some smash into our trailer. We fetch cables and tools from the construction trailer and wiggle through the empty trenches to the quarry. Every now and then we stumble on the bodies of fallen soldiers. Here lies a German, there some Englishmen. Often you see dreadfully blemished faces. <br />From the quarry, where we first of all savage the english cookies and canned meat, we are to build a phone line to the regimental command post. We are shown the direction in which it is believed to be; but no one can tell us more precisely. We wiggle off by thorwing the cable as fast as can be across the road. Not long, and we are back in the shellfire. We work hard to get out of this hell as quickly as possible. <br /><br />Unfortunately I am forced to stop every now and then to isolate defective pieces of the cable. The man carrying the cable barrow on his back hurries forward as fast as possible. Shortly after, we are shelled with gas and finally stumble into the enemy machinegun fire. <br />Ahead of us there lie burning tanks of our opponent. Finally, we luckily reach back to the command post sought for and connect the cable. From the terrain behind our first trench line we fetch some english leather jackets, that we take back with us. Scattered everywhere, there lay all kinds of equipments: coats, jackets, caps, trench gear, but also shaving knives, corned beef, white bread and cookies. Some of these things are very welcome to us. <br /><br />Picture:<br />The quarry as seen today.<br /><br />After our return we advance up to Villers-Faucon. Every now and then we find barracks of the Tommies made of corrugated iron, sometimes forming whole camps with heaps of laundry and other things. We leave everything behind. Neither are we interested in the heaps of ammunition that are scattered everywhere. <br /><br />It has to be added, that our divisional commander, Major General Block von Blottnitz, has fallen in the quarry of Hargicourt in the morning. While grenades were wildly exploding all around, he had ignored the warning shouts of his staff officers to lie down. He was very popular amongst all soldiers of his division, and each end everyone held a photograph of him in a post card format.Thomasnoreply@blogger.com