German soldiers posing for a photograph with their equipment in the snow, Winter 1916.

 German soldiers posing for a photograph with their equipment in the snow, Winter 1916.

 Photograph belonging to 'Wooway1' on Flickr.

The following is excerpts of Danish-German soldier Søren P. Petersen's account of his experiences on the Western Front near Loretto in November 1915. Translated by myself:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

"After two days we were ordered to the railway line. While we stayed her we had to carry supplies to the front. Two trips each night. It was almost worse than being in the frontlines. We pushed forward through the churned earth in pitch-black darkness, with barbed wire, planks, ammunition, bags with more.

We had strapped our boots to our legs, but then they got stuck in the slush, and it was hopeless to get them out of there.

It was favourable to have a strong and labour-seasoned comrade for these trips. For some time I had a comrade who was a doctor. He was a marvelous human being, but not at all used to the intensive labour. He was killed later on. 

One evening, when we arrived at the frontlines with supplies, we were advised to stay there. There were signs of a French attack on the horizon, and if we left we could easily be caught out by their barrage artillery. I wasn't much excited by the prospects of having to repulse an attack, so me and half a dozen of comrades took the chance.

However, we had only traveled a few hundred meters when all hell broke loose. Showers of shells hammered down among us. The slush went high into the air and fell down again with a loud splash. We jumped for our lives into the mud and out again.

I knew there had to be an old trench ahead, which I reached and ducked into right as a shell struck the parapet above my head, not half a meter away from me. Luckily it was a dud.

Once the bombardment ceased I went looking for my comrades. Unfortunately we didn't know how many we were in total, but we later found out everyone had made it out alive, however two were wounded. We took them to the field hospital.

"One day I was sent to Angres to fetch a map of our position from the pioneers. The trenches were full of water and slush, so I took the chance and ran across the fields, but soon one shrapnel exploded after the other among me. Once again I had to seek refuge in the mud.

The will to survive is wonderfully strong and often turns our actions into reflexes, but often I've thought that none of it matters in the end, one day destiny will catch up with you.

One night the first snow fell and when it became daytime, the earth was white as a sheet. But soon the shells tore up large black spots in the white carpet so that it almost hurt to look at. No, here was nothing sacred, only death and destruction.

That is only a short chapter of the many nightmarish days which took its toll on the nerves. It was concentrated human suffering and insanity. With 250 men we had entered the position, and now 6 weeks later we were barely 90 men left in our Company..."

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