{"id":509,"date":"2014-10-20T11:09:07","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T11:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/?p=509"},"modified":"2014-10-24T08:54:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T08:54:48","slug":"ehe-der-italiener-um-hilfe-schreien-kann-packen-ihn-nervige-faeuste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/10\/20\/ehe-der-italiener-um-hilfe-schreien-kann-packen-ihn-nervige-faeuste\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Ehe der Italiener um Hilfe schreien kann, packen ihn nervige F\u00e4uste&#8230;&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/cba.fro.at\/271508\/embed?&#038;socialmedia=true&#038;subscribe=true&#038;title=false&#038;series_link=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"250\" style=\"border:none; width:100%; height:250;\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In <strong>Stimmen aus den Sch\u00fctzengraben #16<\/strong> we deal once again with <strong>prisoners of war<\/strong> (see episode <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/09\/03\/der-nacht-hat-man-uns-noch-30-gefangene-serben-gebracht\/\">#9<\/a>). The first aspect discussed in this episode is the prisoner as a source of information. <strong>Prisoners were often interrogated<\/strong> to obtain useful<strong> intelligence<\/strong> not only on the strenght and number of the enemy, but also on the names and origins of their regiments (e.g. : usually Prussian regiments were more agressive than Bavarian regiments). Sometimes, when it wasn&#8217;t possible to capture men in battle or to rely on desertors, the order was given to<strong> find an enemy soldier<\/strong> and bring him to the headquarters. It was of course a very <strong>difficult and dangerous task<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_517\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-517\" style=\"width: 175px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/Fritz_Weber_Schriftsteller_Erster_Weltkrieg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-517 \" src=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/Fritz_Weber_Schriftsteller_Erster_Weltkrieg.jpg\" alt=\"Fritz Weber during the war (Wikipedia)\" width=\"175\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/Fritz_Weber_Schriftsteller_Erster_Weltkrieg.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/Fritz_Weber_Schriftsteller_Erster_Weltkrieg-192x300.jpg 192w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fritz Weber during the war (Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The first document of the week is an extract from the memories of<a href=\"http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fritz_Weber_%28Schriftsteller%29\"> <strong>Fritz Weber<\/strong><\/a>, an Austrian Lieutenant. These events took place in <strong>1916<\/strong> on <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monte_Cimone_di_Tonezza\"><strong>Monte Cimone<\/strong><\/a>, a mountain on the Alpine front (see episode<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/09\/09\/lassu-cera-solo-una-galleria-nel-ghiaccio\/\"> #10<\/a>). The Austrian headquarters were<strong> planning an assault<\/strong> to retake the summit, but they needed to know the strenght of the Italian defence. <strong>It was necessary to capture an enemy soldier<\/strong> and question him, and the task was carried on by two volunteers of the <a href=\"http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/K.u.k._Infanterieregiment_Nr._59\"><strong>59th<\/strong> Infantry Regiment &#8220;<strong>Erzherzog Rainer<\/strong>&#8220;<\/a>, made up of conscripts from the regions of <strong>Salzburg<\/strong> and <strong>Upper Austria<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The action was quick and well organised: one night the Italians were <strong>distracted with intense rifle fire<\/strong> and hand grenades while the two volunteers sneaked in <strong>no man&#8217;s land<\/strong>. They shoved a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bangalore_torpedo#In_World_War_I\"><strong>bangalore torpedo<\/strong><\/a> under the barbed wire and immediately broke into the gap, <strong>grabbed an Italian soldier out of his trench<\/strong> and carried him away so quickly, that he hadn&#8217;t time to shout for help.<\/p>\n<p>The selected passage is at cap.6 of the book &#8220;<strong>Granaten und Lawinen<\/strong>&#8220;, first part of Fritz Weber&#8217;s memories. It was published together with other three parts in 1933 and 1938 with the title &#8220;Das Ende einer Armee&#8221;, then republished in 1959 with the title &#8220;<strong>Das Ende der alten Armee<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>The early involvement of Weber with the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nazi_Party\">NSDAP<\/a> might explain why his works are <strong>extremely hard to find in Austria<\/strong>, not only in book stores but also in the libraries. Despite the fact that Fritz Weber later moved to Salzburg (1962), there is <strong>no record<\/strong> of his many books and novels in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buch.stadt-salzburg.at\/\">Stadtbibliothek Salzburg<\/a>. For this episode of Stimmen aus den Sch\u00fctzengr\u00e4ben we relied on a (rare) 1996 edition published by the \u00d6sterreichischer Milizverlag under the title &#8220;<strong>Der Alpenkrieg<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>In <strong>Italy<\/strong> Fritz Weber is mentioned in <strong>most anthologies, bibliographies and websites<\/strong> related to WWI and especially to the Italian front. His many books of war memories have been translated, published and republished by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mursia.com\/index.php?page=shop.product_details&amp;flypage=flypage.tpl&amp;product_id=1825&amp;category_id=17&amp;keyword=weber&amp;option=com_virtuemart&amp;Itemid=58\">Mursia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_520\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-520\" style=\"width: 568px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-tedeschi-spring-offensive-31-marzo-1918.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-520\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-tedeschi-spring-offensive-31-marzo-1918.jpg\" alt=\"German prisoners on the Western front, 31 March 1918\" width=\"568\" height=\"231\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">German prisoners on the Western front, 31 March 1918<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>second document of this week<\/strong> is an original recording of Captain <strong>Howard B. Ward<\/strong> (see episodes <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/07\/09\/just-see-top-tower-sticking-ground\/\">#2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/10\/01\/01\/\">#14<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/10\/08\/die-lebensmittel-immer-knapper-werden\/\">#15<\/a>). He mostly talks about British generals and other high-ranking officers, stating how much they were hated by their soldiers, because of the orders they gave (&#8220;<strong>we had two enemies<\/strong>: one was the Germans, and the second one our <strong>own generals<\/strong>&#8220;). A visit of those officers in the trenches was always a <strong>bad omen<\/strong>. They usually ordered costly and uneffective assaults, but sometimes they also asked the men to &#8220;go out&#8221; and <strong>try to capture a German<\/strong> to interrogate him. These prisoners were well treated, and they were usually offered a cigarette or sometimes a drop of rum as soon as they arrived to the British lines. The full The full tape is available at: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/portal\/record\/2020601\/attachments_66347_4980_66347_original_66347_mp3.html?\">http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/portal\/record\/2020601\/attachments_66347_4980_66347_original_66347_mp3.html?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_528\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-528\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/tedeschi-prigionieri-vimy-ridge-1917.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-528 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/tedeschi-prigionieri-vimy-ridge-1917.jpg\" alt=\"tedeschi prigionieri vimy ridge 1917\" width=\"760\" height=\"603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/tedeschi-prigionieri-vimy-ridge-1917.jpg 760w, https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/tedeschi-prigionieri-vimy-ridge-1917-300x238.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-528\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">German prisoners helping Canadian soldiers near Vimy Ridge (http:\/\/collectionscanada.gc.ca)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>third document<\/strong> of the week is an extract from the memories of French soldier <strong>Jean D\u00e9mariaux<\/strong>. He was captured at the end of may <strong>1918<\/strong> and sent to a<strong> prison camp<\/strong> in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ramecourt,_Vosges\">Ramecourt<\/a>, in northeastern France. The hardest part of the detention was the <strong>lack of proper food<\/strong> to sustain the men during the <strong>forced labour<\/strong>. In 1918 the Central Powers were already starving (see episode <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/10\/08\/die-lebensmittel-immer-knapper-werden\/\">#15<\/a>), and the prisoners were mostly fed with soups and a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_War_I_prisoners_of_war_in_Germany#Food\">bad-quality bread<\/a>, in which the flour was partially replaced by <strong>sawdust and potatoes<\/strong>. D\u00e9mariaux relates that the prisoners were used to carry artillery shells or <strong>build roads and railroads<\/strong>. A transcription of his memories is available at the URL: <a href=\"http:\/\/forezhistoire.free.fr\/jean-demariaux.html\">http:\/\/forezhistoire.free.fr\/jean-demariaux.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_527\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-527\" style=\"width: 1680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-italiani-altipiano-lavarone-maggio-1916.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-527\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-italiani-altipiano-lavarone-maggio-1916.jpg\" alt=\"German prisoners helping Canadian soldiers near Vimy Ridge (http:\/\/collectionscanada.gc.ca)\" width=\"1680\" height=\"1239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-italiani-altipiano-lavarone-maggio-1916.jpg 1680w, https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-italiani-altipiano-lavarone-maggio-1916-300x221.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/files\/2014\/10\/prigionieri-italiani-altipiano-lavarone-maggio-1916-1024x755.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1680px) 100vw, 1680px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-527\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">German prisoners helping Canadian soldiers near Vimy Ridge (http:\/\/collectionscanada.gc.ca)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>last document<\/strong> is an extract of a letter written by an Italian soldier of which we only know the first name (<strong>Ernesto<\/strong>). In the letter, written from the prison camp of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Theresienstadt_concentration_camp#History\"><strong>Theresienstadt<\/strong><\/a> on the 24th of October 1915, Ernesto relates to his brother the reasons and circumstances of his<strong> desertion<\/strong>. He was <strong>fed-up with the war<\/strong>, and he casually met two other soldiers who also wanted to\u00a0 escape. One night they walked towards the first lines with their full equipment, pretending that\u00a0 they were on duty. They <strong>sneaked<\/strong> into no man&#8217;s land and crawled until they came in sight of the enemy lines. When daylight came they<strong> hoisted a white flag<\/strong> and surrendered.<\/p>\n<p>After the war the Italian prisoners were released by Austria and sent to Italy, but <strong>most of them couldn&#8217;t go home immediately<\/strong>. Thousands of them were held for weeks in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.storiaememoriadibologna.it\/il-rientro-degli-ex-prigionieri-italiani-e-i-campi-493-evento\">concentration camps<\/a> near Reggio Emilia, waiting to be interrogated. Trials were started to establish wether the soldiers were captured or they deserted. In the summer of 1919 there were still <strong>60.000 soldiers serving jail time<\/strong>. On the 2nd of September the government granted amnesty to 40.000 of them, i.e. those who committed minor felonies. <strong>The rest was &#8220;forgotten&#8221;<\/strong>, and only in recent years some researches have been done to cast some light on their obscure fate.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>-Credits-<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Editing: Romana St\u00fccklschweiger, Matteo Coletta.<br \/>\nCommentary: Romana St\u00fccklschweiger.<\/p>\n<p>Voices in this episode: Norbert K. Hund as Fritz Weber,\u00a0 Matteo Coletta as\u00a0Jean D\u00e9mariaux\u00a0 and Ernesto, Howard B. Ward as himself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jingle:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Music: Gregoire Lourme, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamendo.com\/de\/track\/1063185\/fire-arrows-and-shields\">Fire arrows and shields<\/a>\u201d<br \/>\nConcept: Matteo Coletta<br \/>\nVoices: Hannes Hochwasser, Matteo Coletta, Roman Reischl, L.J. Ounsworth, Norbert K. Hund.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; In Stimmen aus den Sch\u00fctzengraben #16 we deal once again with prisoners of war (see episode #9). The first aspect discussed in this episode is the prisoner as a source of information. Prisoners were often interrogated to obtain useful intelligence not only on the strenght and number of the enemy, but also on the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/2014\/10\/20\/ehe-der-italiener-um-hilfe-schreien-kann-packen-ihn-nervige-faeuste\/\" class=\"more-link\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;Ehe der Italiener um Hilfe schreien kann, packen ihn nervige F\u00e4uste&#8230;&#8221;<\/span> weiterlesen <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4UhV1-8d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.radiofabrik.at\/stimmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}