Poles in Kaisers Army On the Front of the First World War
Описание книги
The book describes the fate of Poles in the German Imperial Army during the First World War. Poland did not exist for over a hundred years on the political map of Europe at that time, and the Poles had to fight for the opposite sides of the conflict: Germany, Austria, and Russia. In the German army, regiments recruited in Poznań, Upper Silesia, Masuria, and Eastern Pomerania were considered as “Polish.” They were sent to the Western front and participated in the great battles of Arras, Verdun, and the Somme. Poles were also present on the Eastern front, in the Balkans, on the Italian front, and even in the colonies. An important part of the forgotten history of Poles in the Kaiser’s army was the relationship between Polish soldiers and German officers. In regiments recruited on the Polish soil, it was common to use the Polish language, and from 1917 Poles deserted to the Polish Army formed in France.
Оглавление
Ryszard Kaczmarek. Poles in Kaisers Army On the Front of the First World War
About the author
About the book
This eBook can be cited
Table of Contents
I. Poles in Prussian Regiments Before the First World War. The Prussian Army
After the Unification of Germany
Poles in Prussian Regiments Before the First World War
The Recruit’s Training
II. First Fights in Autumn 1914. The Mobilization
Border Struggles
To the West
Baptism of Fire
Rossignol
Cutry
Baslieux
Always Marching
III. In the Trenches of the Western Front
A Soldier in the Trench
Assault and Defense
New Armaments
Losses
Beyond the Front
German Officers and Polish Soldiers
IV. Major Battles in the West
Verdun
The Battle of the Somme
Lorette
V. On the Eastern Front. Galicia and the Carpathians
Transylvania
In Northern Russia
The Eastern Front in the Eyes of a Pole in a German Uniform
VI. On the Italian Front
VII. 1918: Failed Spring Offensive and Retreat. Last German Offensive
The Retreat
Postwar Epilogue
Annex. Corps of the Imperial German Army in which Poles constituted the majority in Regiments during the First World War
Afterword to the English Edition
Index of Names
Отрывок из книги
Ryszard Kaczmarek
Poles in Kaiser’s Army On the
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Interestingly, this kind of rigorous training did not differ much from the training of one-year volunteers; the only difference was that the superiors did not use violence toward their subordinates in the latter case. However, all the emphasis was on the implementation of thoughtless automaticity of behavior on the battlefield, and this was achieved by repeating the same actions in constantly induced stress; through haste, screaming, and physical effort at the verge of human capability:
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