Transcription: We are all sitting in a dugout here, eight of us all smoking, laughing and talking, laughing at the moments we have passed through. My Sergeant major has been telling a story of how he was hung up in a barbed wire fence while a machine gun played on him - two bullets going through his pack, one through his haversack and another through his cap (I think with all respect that this is a bit of an exaggeration.) I pass away a great part of the day playing patience, as there is little to do and wel all spend our time prophesying when the war will be over, and lots put it down to weeks. Is it true that Turkey has declared war against us and that Portugal and Italy for us? I hope the latter is true and we shall deal with Turkey as we should have dealt with her some time ago. The German prisoners who we take seem to be very tired od the War and to be longong for peace and home, which I am not surprised at as they are figting a losing war and with God's help they will be finally defeated before Christmas. By the bye is there any news of Russian victories - we hear wild rumours, but a paer here and there is like a book which one picks up and read a chapter of. 23 Nov. 14   Last time I wrote I forgot to acknowledge your letter which I received two days ago and one from Dad yesterday + three parcels. The breeches fit like a glove and are the envy of my friends _ the pride of my soul. The caramels I am fast making myself ill on and there are hundreds of thinfs that are delighting me, the yellow sleeping cap - the green gloves (mitts), the belts, the mufflers etc. I try them all on and realizing that I cannot carry one half, give them away with sighs of regret. But you have no idea the delight with which one opens a parcel, the sardines are going to be done up as a savoury tonight as I cannot hope to carry the tim. The milk is going to be carried with one to the trenches, where it proves an absolute blessing.   Gen. Smith-Dorrien came and talked to the Regiment today and said some very flattering things about the Regiment. By the bye a photograph of all of us was published in the "Tatler" and I am in the group. I do not know the date, but it must be a couple of weeks ago. Isn't it bad luck or rather bad management - a wire was sent to the parents of two of our Subs reporting them killed when they were not even wounded but I suppose mistakes are wonderfully few. I wonder when the war will be over. I am afraid not much before the 1st Jan 915) if then, though that is the date the Russians give and perhaps they know. I got a paer of the 19th today and was very interested reading it 10

Transcription: glad to see that people in England seemed more cheerful. Lat night I dreamt that I was in a terrific thunderstorm and woke up to the tune of the French guns roaring away in the distance and the heavy guns of the Germans answering. I wish I could tell you our disposition here but it is impossible, the only thing I should like would be for you to send one "Land + Water" (the latest) when you receive this, as I should like to see what it says about things here. i wish the Germans would realize quickly that they were beaten or that they were going to be as it would finish the war and we could get back for Christmas. I may be sent back to the base when we move as I have strained a tendon in my leg which makes it painful to march but I have carried a tendon in my leg which makes it painful to march but I have carried on with it for three weeks now. I have just had luncheon and am feeling very strong, we do ourselves very well, yesterday we had roast duck and the day before roast chicken. Butter is not a luxury though we have to do without it for a few days sometimes. I should like it very much if you were to post me a tin of Nestles Condensed Milk once a week. Rumour has it that we are to be relieved this evening. 12 Nov.   Here we are still sitting on our chumps doing nothing very much except letting off a few rounds a day, next time you write do give me some news. We have the most awful rumours here of naval disasters - that Yarmouth has been bombarded, that four Cruisers have been sunk and that two Troopers were also sunk with four thousand men. We do not howeve put much confidence in these stories as friend German likes sendind littles stories through our lines. We spend our time here admiring the French. I had the opportunity of watching them advance through my glasses the other day - suddenly there was a burst of shrapnel and I put up my glasses and there under it walking in their red pantaloons and their blue coats as if it were but a pleasant stroll, came the French. Now and again you would see some fall and others carry them back. It all seemed like a little play enacted to pass away a half hour, if they had been running or crawling one might have realized that there was something more than a half hour's performance.   It really is wonderful this war, that a man's mind should be so controlled as to have desired it, one sees a pleasant little cottage, there is a terrific crash - a cloud of smoke and to a skeleton. Then there is a more cheerful side to it, the greatness as well as the awfulness and I think that this war has been such for one finds man turning towards God, more than ever before............

Transcription: it today. i expect a week in England you will have some very good news, I do not know if I should tell you this much but then what is the good of having a son at the wars if he does not tell you something? I am leaving the Trenches tonight and am looking forward to a shave and a wash - a luxury which I have not enjoyed for some days. Well darling I am going to have a snooze now, by the bye there is a man in the trench who snores just like you and I often creep up and listen to him. I have only had three letters since I have been here (at the war) but I expect there will be quite a few waiting for me when I get away tonight. last night I slept in luxury as I borrowed a blanket from a deserted and smashed up house and kept myself fairly warm in it. I have only seen my thirty pounds kit once and then I had only time to give it a hurried kiss. I don't believe that Kitchener's army will ever see service . By the bye would you mind sending out a very small face towel and some more of those malted milk tablets. 10 Nov.14   We have now been in the firing line for eight days and during this time although I have received letters from you and Father it has been impossible for me to send any, so I am afraid you will all be very anxious, but you must not worry if sometimes for a week you do not hear from me. Now I am out here you at home know more about the general situation, than I do. We are all very optimistic about an early finish to the war, though why I do not know - still more so as the English papers do not seem so cheerful as perhaps they might be. We are a most awfully cheerful party here living under a good pile of earth and on clean straw and nothing but a Jack Johnson could touch us. We vie with one another to compse dishes. I tried to make some porridge today by chopping some wheat and boiling it but although I have boiled it for a good hour it fails to resemble anything as yet. We are on short rations today as last night while our men were carrying up the rations a couple of shells burst nearby and they dropped our bread and fled!! Of course another Regiment picked it up and so we have none!!! But biscuits and jam dished up when one is hungry is nearly as good as fillet of beef. I received your parcel today with the belts, air cushion, milk tablets, peppermints etc - and thanks awfully. Next time you send anything, send one some nice sticky caramels - the idea makes my mouth water! Tell Dad the pipe is an excellent one.   I wish you could see us sitting in this shelter all laughing and talking by the light of a lamp which we borrowed from a house (no one 7

Transcription: Captain Arthur Gibbs                                                     357 No. 35 General Hospital [Calais] April 12, 1918 Dear Dada and all, It is simply lovely to get a mail again: than you very much for your letters of the 10th, Dada's and Win's, which I have just received. I have never wanted a letter so badly before, but I knew that I cou;dn't possible get one, and I am surprised that they have arrived today: I didn't expect one until tomorrow at the earliest.   I only wrote one letter to Mother at menton as I thought she was on her way home now: but I see that she is not due homw until the 15th. I hope you have been opening the letters that I wrote to her at home.   Thanks too for your letters, Dada's of the 24th and Win's of the 2nd which had been sent back from the battalion. Best of love to all Godfrey

Description: Postkarten an Cäcilia Schweiger (Teil 3)

Description: Shelfmark: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg | Cod. Pal. germ. 231

Description: Der Soldat M. Rabenschlag befand sich seit ca. 1916 im Kriegsgefangenenlager Stobs (Grafschaft Roxburgshire in Schottland) in englischer Kriegsgefangenschaft. In dem Album haben sich zahlreiche seiner Mitgefangenen in den Jahren 1916/17 mit kurzen Eintragungen sowie ihren Heimatadressen handschriftlich verewigt. Das Lager in Stobs wurde 1903 südlich von Hawick errichtet. Bei Kriegsausbruch diente es noch als Lager für heimische Truppen. Zeitweise waren dort bis zu 5000 Soldaten stationiert. Im Oktober 1914 wurde das Lager in ein Kriegsgefangenenlager umgewandelt und 200 Holzbaracken für etwa 6000 Gefangene gebaut. Unter diesen befanden sich auch die überlebenden Besatzungsmitglieder des Kriegsschiffes SMS Blücher. Die Gefangenen wurden zu verschiedenen Arbeiten eingesetzt, u.a. bei Bauarbeiten im Lager, in der Feldarbeit oder beim Bau eines Abwassersystems. Zudem brachten sie ihre eigene Zeitung heraus und entwickelten ein lebendiges Theaterleben. Die letzten Gefangenen wurden Ende 1919 entlassen. || Zahlreiche Informationsblätter zu Theateraufführungen im Kriegsgefangenenlager Stobs in Schottland.

Description: Destinataire non identifié : Monsieur Elkan, habitant 2 rue Royale à Bruxelles. Elkan semble avoir été à la fois l'ami du marquis de Caux et une sorte d'agent pour les tournées de la Patti. - Comprend 200 lettres, 52 télégrammes, 1 carte de visite. - Comprend également 5 programmes et diverses coupures de presse. - Monogramme en relief du marquis de Caux : HC surmonté d'une couronne || Correspondance || || Correspondance || Destinataire non identifié : Monsieur Elkan, habitant 2 rue Royale à Bruxelles. Elkan semble avoir été à la fois l'ami du marquis de Caux et une sorte d'agent pour les tournées de la Patti. - Comprend 200 lettres, 52 télégrammes, 1 carte de visite. - Comprend également 5 programmes et diverses coupures de presse. - Monogramme en relief du marquis de Caux : HC surmonté d'une couronne

Description:

Description:

Description:

Description: