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This week Sabine’s battlefield guide Saturday

Kurt Zemisch 1917 explosive extracts

We are saying good bye to Kurt, my last blog , Not only will Kurt experience how it feels when mines explode , what happens on the 31 of July when the British attack but his heart will endure even more.

05.06.1917

Between 3 and 3.30 a.m. I am relieved with my company by 10/134 LT. Denk. We backtrack via Bethlehem Ferme, Nesselhof to Krauthof, where the company bivouacs in hedges. We officers take a sunbath in the meadow in front of our barracks, in spite of the grenades and splinters flying around all the time. In the evening, a battalion of the Bavarian Regiment 18 comes to replace our batl in the front line the next night.

07.06.1917

At 4.15 a.m., while I was still half-awake in bed, I heard about five earthquake-like explosions, each time causing the whole house to shake and tremble for seconds. Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire at the front intensified again into a tremendous barrage. At 6.30 a.m. the following order comes: “After heavy blasting, the enemy has penetrated near Messines. Section VI is lost. This is our regimental section, in which until yesterday morning and yesterday evening commandos and men of our regiment were still lying. Missing in action during this enemy attack, also according to Wiedemann and Füllkruss.

From 7 o’clock in the morning we are on the alert. Numerous fierce fights take place in the air, and some are shot down or forced to land. In the course of the morning, the Weimar 94 Regiment arrives, as well as cavalry and much artillery. At about 9 o’clock in the morning the following divisional order comes:

1. enemy penetrated in the whole Wytschate area, but apparently still in our hands, Messines fallen.

2. Division Messines 40 I D) and assault division (1 GRD°) will enter under the command of excellenz von Wenninger.

3. The attacking division goes from the line Blauweport Bachgrund Burghof Schwalbenhof to the attack from Messines and Hohengelande north and south. Objective of the attack: recapture of the I position and push into the enemy starting positions.

From a high factory I can see over the battlefield at Messines. 3 o’clock in the afternoon I suddenly receive the order that our I Battalion is to move forward and occupy the 3 (now 2) position as a reserve for Wenninger’s group. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon we march from Linselles via La montagne, wervicq( France since there is also a Wervik in Belgium). There we take up some ammunition and hand grenades. We move on via Comines, Mai Cornet, krauthof to the 3rd position (obviously the 2nd position). I lie with my company directly west of the burghof. I am in a cellar of the burghof, which is of course always heavily shelled. The men lie unprotected in the wide trench and grenade holes and under hedges.

By the 13th of June Kurt is in Koolkerke, mid-July the area of Diksmuide, Merkem, he even goes fishing in the Blanckaert lake.

When all hell breaks loose early morning on the start of the 3rd battle of Ieper, this is what he writes :

31.07.1917

At 3 a.m. the company is alerted and has to advance to a hedge a few hundred metres behind the Draaibank position. Our battalion staff is also at this position. III/181 is still lying in front of Draaibank. The hedge where my company is lying is not being shelled at the moment, but shells are always hitting nearby. From 3.30 a.m. the whole area is strewn with gas shells and other heavy shells. The whole area is heavily gassed. We have to wear our gas masks from 3.30 a.m. onwards. The artillery fire became more and more intense, the gas denser and denser. We see red flares rising from it. Our artillery then fires barrages, after having fired destructive fire before. So the enemy attacks have begun. At about 6.30 a.m. I received orders to come to the battalion command post with a ‘Säbeltragenden’ and three men. In addition to my orderly, Gefreiter Kaufmann, I took with me: Vizefeldwebel Freytag, Unteroffizier Manig and 2 men. On the way, we help to pull out a gun still harnessed with 4 horses, which has driven into a ditch with one wheel. Meanwhile, gas shells are hitting next to us. Especially in the hollow about 150 metres behind the Draaibank position we come into heavy gas shell fire. In front of the battalion command post, VZfW Freytag, with NCO Manig and the 2 men, receive the order to make a patrol in the direction of Bikschote, where the English are supposed to have penetrated IR 146 (Allenstein). I myself receive the order from Hptm. V Hausen to return and bring my company further up and make it ready for the counterattack. Now I have to go back through the completely gassed hollow and through the heavy artillery fire. Arriving at the rear of the hedge, I lead my company forward through the terrain after checking everything again. As we come through the gas , exploding grenades and gas shells hit in front and to the side of me. It is a real feat to get the whole company through such an unearthly fire. Thank God I succeed in this . I bring my company into position behind the’ draaibank’ at a hedge that has not yet been fired upon very much and report this to my battalion. But now I am completely exhausted, and I have swallowed a lot of gas, my nerves fail, I get a crying fit, a severe nerve spasm and a severe headache. In this state I lay down for about 1 hour or longer, I don’t know, in the battalion quarters with Hptm v Hausen and Lt Leimbach. They wanted to carry me back on a stretcher, but I refused, as I wanted to stay with the company. In the meantime Lt. Ebert has already had to take over the company, as the battalion has realised that I am completely exhausted. I am therefore ordered to go back to the regimental command post and report to Lieutenant Kunze. I am led back by my orderly Gefr Kaufmann and Private Paul. Gas grenades are fired when we arrive at the heavily shelled Mücke Bridge, which leads across the Martje Canal. Then we come to the position where 4 Company is lying. Heavy shells are hitting all around us. We don’t take any more cover and yet, miraculously, none of the many splinters that are always whistling around us hit us. I saw a small artillery ammunition depot fly up in the air with a high flame at a distance of about 150 metres. There I meet Lt. Klengel, who has returned from the machine gun course, and the company food collectors who were left behind early today………….