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This week Sabine’s battlefield guide Saturday :

A German Medical officer about the life in the trenches

The master baker Clemens Bedbur (1883-1936) from Jülich was a soldier of the RIR 68 in the Champagne region. There are handwritten records of his experiences as a medic at the front. These were published at the suggestion of his granddaughter, Maria Bedbur, in 2012. The editor of these diary entries, is Franz-Joseph Kiegelmann

Clemens Bedbur was married and had three children. From the beginning of the World War until the end, he was employed as a medical orderly on the Western Front (Champagne), then in Russia and in Flanders, he was in torhout in Oktober 1918. He was assigned to the 6th Company, II Battalion of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 68, which was established in Jülich and Rheydt. Company commander was Captain Bressem from Jülich. RIR 68, which was deployed between 1914 and 1915 during the fighting in the Champagne region in the immediate vicinity of the tunnels. On 13.03.1915 Clemens Bedbur was awarded the Iron Cross II in recognition of his bravery as a medical soldier.

Clemens Bedbur described the position of his infantry regiment in the Champagne region:

“Our fighting position has the shape of a horseshoe and around it lies the French. Various trenches lead to the position, of which the Schmidtweg is the most frequented – but also the most dangerous. At the beginning, there is always a company in reserve in small shelters. Various machine gun nests secure the valley. When the Schmidtgraben ends, you come to the bypass trench on the right and left. Small trenches lead forward to the second position, called the pick-up position, if the first position is lost. From here one goes to the first position or fighting position. In the by-pass trench is the Battalions command post, a little further in a small trench is the medical shelter consisting of 3 shelters for the doctor, the orderlies and the wounded. These are connected by a tunnel. In our first aid post there is an operating table. Large quantities of dressing materials. An ingenious system of seepage ditches and shafts was used for drainage in the positions and shelters, more or less successfully. To prevent dripping water on ceilings and walls, corrugated iron sheets, tent sheets and insulating materials were installed in the bunkers and tunnels. Especially on the British side, soldiers suffered from the infamous “trench foot” in the winter of 1915 as a result of the damp and cold trenches. Colonel Arthur Lee (1868 – 1947), medical adviser to the British commander-in-chief, Lord Herbert Kitchener (1850 – 1916), said about 2,000 soldiers in a division who had to be replaced within a week with this disease.

RIR 68

21.08.14 – 28.08.1914

Weiterer Vormarsch im Zuge der 4. Armee Richtung Longvilly, Bastogne, Ardennen, Schlacht bei Neuf Château, Donchery, Bievre, anschließend Vormarsch Richtung Frankreich, Champagne, Souain, Gefecht bei Somme

23.01.15 – 31.03.1915 Winterschlacht in der Champagne

23.06.17 – 03.09.1917 Kämpfe bei Warneton / Flandern

28.09.17 – 18.10.1917 Schlacht bei Poelkapelle / Flandern

18.02.18 – 04.04.1918 Kämpfe bei Paschendaele

Now to make it complete I wanted to see the regimental history, I did find a website about RIR 68 where it said they cannot find the history, so far me neither.