October 1914 Lille: A Showdown With The English

It is the end of October 1914 and Felix Kiefer has just arrived in Lille. His company finds quarters in a small private school in the city and his French hosts are an elderly couple, the headmistress of the school and her husband. The relationship between the German soldiers boarding in their house and the couple is very pleasant, Felix reports, the couple take little interest in the politics of their country and wish more for a blessed peace than for a French victory. Felix thus spends his time with them in agreeable conversation despite the fact that the thunder of the canons in the background is a constant reminder of the reason for his presence in their house.

Felix quickly recognizes the poverty and hardship suffered by the people of Lille and arranges for food to find its way to his hosts' kitchen, for which the family is extremely grateful.

"Apparently we're going to set up quarters here; we will wait until the division has assembled and then there will be a showdown with the English. You see very few [French]men here. But many pale-faced women, who pursue our troops with desperate, worn-out - sometimes even vengeful - expressions.

I wasn't able to write my diary as my stay in Lille has been so busy and full of tasks from morning to evening. But we were able to finally find quarters for the company at 11 o'clock at night in the Ecole Sophie Germain, Rue de la Liberté, and after some well-timed wine tasting, I slept together with my sergeant on a mattress in one of the schoolrooms. Our hosts were an elderly couple, the headmistress of the girls' school and her husband, very concerned, nice people, who outwardly don't participate much in the politics of their country, and inwardly are perhaps more interested in a blessed peace than in a French victory.

Another teacher and her daughters also lived in the house, and I got on very well with all of them, enjoying many chats together, despite the fact that the ceaseless thunder of the canons was a constant reminder of the actual reason for our journey to France. A young lady, another teacher, also lived in the house, and I was able to expand my knowledge of French in conversation with her, as nobody spoke German.

Due to my knowledge of French I was entrusted with several tasks, including finding a stable for my Captain's horse, and pleasant quarters for him, as well as requisitions for all manner of possible and impossible things, including the constant negotiations with our hosts, who frequently cooked us up some meat or made us a salad or gave us some wine. But still, several things had to be discussed with them as a  matter of form, and these tasks fell to me. I quickly started to realize the poverty and hardship being suffered by the people of Lille, and even though our hosts did not beg at our field kitchens like other people, it didn't mean that they were suffering less. I therefore had meat and bread sent to their kitchen, for which they were extraordinarily grateful.

One evening, exhausted from walking around and speaking, I asked if I could sit down in the large kitchen, together with the entire household, ostensibly to write my diary. But after just five minutes, I found myself in keen conversation which only stopped when I really considered it time to withdraw. And even though feelings of almost friendship bound us to each other, it was ultimately on these evenings, and in these chats, that we always finished up by wishing for a speedy peace.

In the meantime, I had, with the consent of my sergeant, moved to the former quarters of my Captain, where I slept in a room in a saloon close by with two comrades. Although the bed could not be compared with my mattress, it was still much more comforable than the straw mattress in the school".

A7V Tank 562 Herkules

A few weeks ago, while researching the estate of Tor Kiefer held at the Landesbibliothek Rheinland-Pfalz in Speyer, I discovered two small envelopes of film, each containing around 20 negatives.

The individual negatives (not a roll) were in black and white format. Holding them up to the light, I could see that they were First World War photos. We already have several photos taken by Tor of his daily life at both the Western and the Eastern Fronts, which he sent home to his family. However, these negatives were of scenes that I had not yet seen.

I used a smartphone app and a light table to turn the negatives into positives, with very good results. The only drawback was that the photos gave very little indication of the time or the place where Tor had taken them.

Two of the photos were of the A7V "Herkules", tank number 562. The tank has apparently fallen into a ditch or hole. Researching on the Internet, I have been able to find out more about the accident that befell "Herkules", as well as similar photos of the accident, and am thus now able to identify when and where these photos were taken.

"Herkules", A7V 562 by Tor Kiefer
Copyright Landesbibliothek Rheinland-Pfalz

On June 9, 1918, "Herkules", a male tank of Panzerabteilung Nr. 1, toppled over and fell into a ditch between Rollot and Courcelles-Epayelles at the Western Front.

The mission of the tanks of this unit was to reach the road between Méry and Lataule.

If the tanks had been able to support the capture of Hill 110, the mission would have stopped, for the last tank, at the entrance to Mortemer. In the photo on the left, we can also see a soldier standing next to the tank at bottom right.

"Herkules", A7V 562 by Tor Kiefer
Copyright Landesbibliothek Rheinland-Pfalz
(Negative reversed for better scan quality)

The tank fell into the ditch in a wooded area during the morning of June 9, 1918. According to the Regimental History of the RIR 250, the regiment to which both Tor and the tank belonged, Herkules was not retrieved from the ditch until early or mid-July.

The male tank was a category of tank used in World War I. The female version of the Mark I tank had five machine guns, while the male version had a QF 6 pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss and three machine guns. By the end of the war, tank technology was advanced enough for tanks to be both male and female.

Robbed Heroes Of Their Motherland

Tor Kiefer's letter of November 6, 1916 from Galicia at the Eastern Front tells his family of a walk he takes in the fields while waiting for his dugout to be built. "There's always something beautiful to see here in Galicia", Tor writes. But then he happens on the bodies of several dead Russians, who have been left for so long that they have started to decay. As a doctor, Tor recognizes the need for the men to be cleared away and arranges for their burial. However, he also wishes to show the respect deserved by these men whom he calls "robbed and poorly shrouded heroes of their motherland".

I have turned Tor's German letter into a short poem in English below.


Robbed Heroes Of Their Motherland

Tor in the rubble at the Front, 1918

Yesterday, to our left,
A great battle was fought.
Through gaps and breaks I observed
The faint artillery fire.
The Turks had stormed, they said.
While we basked in profound peace.

Yesterday, in the fields,
I chanced on several dozen dead Russians.
Close to decay, with white teeth
Standing out so conspicuously
Against the black color
Of their Asian faces.

Yesterday, the sky still
Illuminated their rotting features,
Robbed and poorly shrouded
Heroes of their motherland;
For reasons of hygiene alone
I arranged for their appropriate burial.

Tor's letter, November 6, 1916

"Dabei war gestern links von uns das grösste Gefecht. In der Schere sah ich schwaches Artilleriefeuer. Die Türken sollen da gestürmt haben. Bei uns war tiefste Friede. Ich pendle den ganzen Tag mit meinem Spazierprügel in der Gegend herum. Teils weil mein Unterstand noch nicht fertig ist (ich habe Handwerker im Haus) teils weil es in diesem landschaftlich schönen Galizien immer was zu sehen gibt. Gestern fand ich einige zehn tote Russen im Gelände. Schon beinahe verwest mit weissen Zähnen, durch die schwarze Farbe des Gesichts besonders auffallend. Die asiatischen Gesichte gegen den Himmel, ausgeraubt und schlecht bedeckte Helden ihres Vaterlands; ich habe schon aus hygienischen Gründen veranlasst, dass sie begraben werden".