Life in a Garrison Town: The Military Novel Suppressed by the German Government

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Introduction

AT the beginning of the last century Prussia received a lesson and a chastisement from France. Profiting by experience, she reorganised her system of education, her civil service, and her army. In due time she became a great Power by obedience to the teachings of Stein, Hardenberg, and von Schamhorst. Compulsory military service, combined with compulsory education, brought Prussia by slow and imperceptible degrees to so high a standard of intellectual and moral development, that by 1871 the German nation had become the most enlightened and the most disciplined in Europe, having attained at a single stroke the highest place among the Continental Powers. For two decades after the victory of Sedan no one dreamed of disputing the place which Germany had won for herself among the armed nations of the world ; but prosperity and the riches which rewarded a century of self-denial slowly worked subtle changes in the social s)'stem of the German people. Indulgence in luxury, inseparable from commercial success, soon began to taint the army itself — a miracle of organisation and efficiency as a man-slaying machine when controlled by von Moltke and von Roon. When the Emperor William II. came to the throne in 1888, he brought to the execution of his difficult task rare qualities of intellect, imagination and will. The rigid discipline imposed on the army by his ancestors was maintained with a rigour unknown in England, and repugnant to democracy everywhere. The division of the German nation into two castes — those in the service of the Emperor and private citizens — became absolute. The officer caste enjoy privileges and social distinction denied to the civilian population, and thereby are partly remunerated for iron discipline and for scanty pay. Within the Icist ten years a large number of the officers of the German army, most of whom are poor men, have contracted debts on a scale which, in the opinion of military students of other nations, already impairs the efficiency of the army.

More thaa a generation has passed since the conquering German legions returned to their own firesides elated with the success they had won in the stricken field. Is the German, army to-day of the same quality as that which passed from victory to victory on the soil of France ?

The answer to this question is contained in Lieutenant Bilse's book, which is here translated with consummate skill for the benefit of English readers. Its publication in Germany was punished by arrest, a court-martial, and the imprisonment of its author for six months and his expulsion from the German army. It is impossible to exaggerate the sensation that has been caused by this book in Germany, while in Austria and France, where it has been published, and is known to the General St!^, revelations of d^;eneracy in the " invincible " German army have aroused the keenest interest.

When Lieutenant Bilse was consigned to prison the attention of the whole world was attracted to his book, because the public were convinced that, if the book had been in the main untrue, the chiefs of the German army would never have condescended to raise the storm that followed the conviction of its author.

The cruel truth of this book is both its merit and its demerit, for the author, with striking audacity, has exposed the crying evils of which he was a witness, and unconsciously — as he testifies in the court-martial — so faidifuUy limned the characters of his associates and superiors that each was promptly reccgnised in the living counterpart. The officers who unknowingly sat as models for Lieutenant Bilse's gallery of portraits have themselves paid the penalty for the cruelties, corruption and debauchery described in his disclosures. They have been retired from the service, and this action on the part of the authorities is a demonstration of the truth of Lieutenant Bilse's indictment of the military system and of the existence of the evils he has described.

Lieutenant Bilse's obvious aim is to expose the deterioration of the military system. It is true that he deals only with a little frontier garrison, where the monotony of a daily routine consumes only a fraction of the energies and a part of the time of the garrison, while cruelty and debauchery are the inevitable fruits of idleness and formalism. The great socialist party in Germany, and the thoughtful men of all parties who are not enamoured of Bismarckian militarism, acknowledge that the publication of this book in Germany is marked by an audacity of courage deserving the gratitude of the nation. A mere subaltern, this German David has laid violent hands on the Goliath of the army system idolised by German bureaucracy, womankind, and the Press. The idol is found to have feet of clay. The youth and the audacity of Lieutenant Bilse have procured for him the sobriquet of the enfant terrible of the German army. He has blurted out the naked truth, with consequences it is impossible to foresee. The Kaiser is a man who knows how to take occasion by the hand, who faces facts and shuns self-deception with a course and clear-sightedness that were not characteristic of all his predecessors. The Kaiser, moreover, as the present, writer can testify from personal knowledge, is the greatest apostle of efficiency on the European Continent. He knows that the divorce of military despotism from efficiency is the forerunner of military collapse and Imperial wreck. It is, therefore, certain that Lieutenant Bilse's revelations will, so far as the Kaiser can control events, be the cause of far-reaching changes in the administration of the German army. The Kaiser, however, confirmed the verdict

The life-history of Lieutenant Oswald Fritz Bilse does not differ from that of tens of thousands of his late brother-officers. He was bom in Kim on the River Nahe, a branch of the Rhine, on March 31st, 1878. His father is headmaster of a school in Thiiringen, where his son was educated until the time came for his transfer to the gymnasium at Eisenach. In 1896 he expressed a desire to enter the army, as he had formed a taste for military life. Two years later Bilse was appointed Lieutenant. From Cassel, where he was first stationed, he was sent to Forbach, which is the little garrison he has immortalised in his novel. In Forbach Lieutenant Bilse seems to have been left much to his own resources, and here his most intimate friend was Captain Bandel, the Captain K5nig of the novel. Although Bilse entered on a military career with bright confidence and the high hopes of youth, disillusion soon followed the experiences of his soldier life. In 1903, having completed his novel, he sent in his resignation just before its publication. Being a young man of talent and active mind, he then decided to study painting at the Beaux-Arts in Berlin. It was rumoured that he had to leave the

3,„i,i=dbvGdogle* army because of his debts, but that was not true, for the charges of extravagance brought against him were dispelled by the facts of the case. He is a lover of books, with an artistic temperament and the modem taste for old furniture. Like all young soldiers, he was sometimes inclined to rebel against the iron discipline to which he was subjected. Several records of small punishments appear against his name in the regimental books. Short arrests — on one occasion for a disrespectful reply to a superior officer, and at another time for spending six weeks in London without leave — are the black marks against his name In a report signed by Major Fuchs, his commanding officer, with whom he was no favourite, and whom he has called in the novel Colonel Kronau. Bilse is described by his Colonel as pretentious, and with a taste for extravagance unbefitting his rank. Colonel Kronau, however, admits that with all his defects Bilse is a good, active and intelligent officer.

Had the Lieutenant's resignation been accepted before the book appeared, the authorities would have been powerless against him. But as he was still on the books of the army, he was arrested for disobeying the stringent military order that no officer is permitted to publish any work without the consent of the authorities, and further, that he had infringed military discipline by libelling his superiors and comrades.

In due time he was brought up for trial by court-martial, which lasted from the gth to the nth November, 1903. A lad of twenty-five was confronted by all the forces of the Imperial Government for describing in his book the sordid debauchery and senseless tyranny of garrison life in the provinces. The importance of the trial arose from the fact that the military life of Forbach differed in no way from innumerable other small towns of the same kind. The isolated life of military detachments is apt to produce deterioration not only in Germany, but in other countries. In the British army, for example, the tone of the isolated garrisons, as' in St. Helena and other coaling-stations, is absolutely dependent upon the good sense and high principle of the commanding officer. The Boer War and the subsequent Royal Commission revealed enough to show that it is unwise for critics who live in the English glass-house to throw stones at their German neighbours.

Bilse's defence was that his novel was only a work of imagination. He contended that he had simply tried to describe definite existing evils of military life without having any intention of being personal in any of his descriptions of officers at Forbach, and that he had only made use of his undoubted right as an author to describe such events as came under his notice and such traits as helped him in the delineation of his characters. He further stated that if he had written anything that was libellous he was innocent of intent, and that although he had written his book while still in the army, he had sent in his resignation before its publication.

Within recent years the description of military life had inspired the genius of many of the most powerful writers in Germany. The subject, indeed, had actually created a school of dramatists and novelists, and the result had been a large addition both to the drama and to literature. The difference between the book of Lieutenant Bilse and those of other German writers Is that, while their works were the product of imagination, Germany was thrilled throughout by this book because the melancholy and sordid facts recorded therein were narrated by a man who had lived his life in the atmosphere he described, and who was himself an actor in a tragedy the like of which exists in every German military station.

It is impossible for Englishmen to grasp the immense effect of Lieutenant Bilse's book, because compulsory military service renders every youth and every parent in Germany personally and directly interested in the facts related by Bilse. The knowledge that every healthy male in Germany must submit to the military conditions and breathe the atmosphere described as existing in the town of Forbach stirred Germany to its depths, because family life, which is still the dominant note throughout the Kaiser's dominions, was touched in its tenderest spot by this recital of tyranny, debauchery, and crime.

It is too early to say whether the Kaiser and his General Staff will succeed in reforming the evils described by Lieutenant Bilse. That his Majesty will use every effort to do so may be assumed, for the German people who give their sons to their country are highly -educated and reflecting people, and their claim on the Emperor that the young men shall not be sent back to their parents physically and morally degenerate is irresistible. The gratitude of these fathers and mothers to Lieutenant Bilse for speaking the truth and for undergoing imprisonment is real, but it cannot be expressed. I have reason to know that even his own relations are unable to evince the sympathy or express the feelings which naturally arise. The imprisonment and punishment of Bilse is an exemplification of the Spanish proverb — "Who would be a Christ must expect crucifixion." The prophet who laments when he is punished for striking a blow for the commonwealth in the public service scarcely deserves the name of a prophet, for the people who do the greatest service to the human race and who bring about widespread and lasting reform are those who in their lifetimes must endure the opposition and earn the hatred of all who profit by the existing system.

This book of Lieutenant Bilse has had its parallel both in France and in England. In France the novel, " Les Maritimes," exposed the life of naval society at Toulon in precisely the same manner as the life in Forbach is revealed by Lieutenant Bilse. The English equivalent to the German novel, " Life in a

Garrison Town," and to the French novel, " Les Maritimes," is it not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Royal Commission on the War ?

Arnold White.

Chapter I

THERE was an air both of comfort and elegance in the spacious room where Frau Clara Konig was awaiting her guests, and putting last, deft touches to the preparations.

It was the evening of the weekly "musicale," to which such of her intimate friends who loved music were always invited. To-night a few outside the circle had been asked to witness, as it were, the triumphant success of the "artists."

She moved about the room looking at everything with critical eyes. Here she changed the position o( a chair, or there, with light hand, she smoothed some delicate piece of embroidery, her own work and design. She examined the lamps to see how long they would bum, opened the piano and

I B the harmonium, and threw a last fond glance at the flowers to see if the vases displayed their fragrant contents from the best point of view. This was her delight, and even in the depths of winter there were always a few flowers, or at least a small plant, on the chimney-piece or in the window.

Of medium height, and with a graceful figure, Frau Clara was a woman of about thirty. Her pretty fresh face, sunny blue eyes and fair hair tastefully arranged, made her look very young and attractive.

She sank into an arm-chair now that everything was in order, though indeed everything always was in order.

At this moment the curtain of the door into the next room was flung aside and her husband, a tall man with a black moustache, came in to do his share of the work, for it was his duty to light the chandelier. He usually reckoned in the proportion of one jet for each guest, but to-night he lighted the whole chandelier, for many were expected, and there were only five burners in all. So he lighted them with a taper that stood handy in the chimney-comer, grumbled about the extortionate gas bills, and then emptying the coal-scuttle on the fire, flung in a piece of paper after to prevent its smoking ; then he also dropped into a chair.

Herr Albert Konlg was an excellent type of a cavalry officer. He kept his squadron in the best order, and devoted to it the greatest zeal and the most unremitting care. If he happened to have time and leisure he read Die Deutsche Zeitung, or studied the columns of the financial news, or worked in his wellkept garden, or watched over his poultry yard, for he sold the eggs that came from there to his wife at a high price. If he had nothing else to do he planned and fought battles with his nine year old son, or sampled wines, being an excellent judge, or he practised the piano, which he really played like a master.

A noise in the ante-room announced the first guest. They heard a long halting step and a violent puffing. The door opened and in came Landrat von Konradi, a portly gentleman, his aristocratic nose surmounted by eye-glasses, above which his eyes searched for his hostess. His hair \vas evidently by nature grey, but was dyed black ; a concession, spiteful tongues declared, to the fair sex. Be it added, the Herr Landrat was a bachelor. His ideal in life had taken the pleasant shape of good dinners and the finest wines, and as both could be found at the Captain's he was glad to come ; he was also considered quite a gentleman. Just as he was describing to his hostess with great indignation how a pheasant, which he had himself ordered, was sent to him in a perfectly uneatable condition, the door again opened and Frau Rittmeister Kahle came in. With a slight graceful figure and a face like a naughty boy's, she was on the whole very fetching, though there was an eternal smile about her rather large mouth, and when she spoke her voice was singularly harsh and shrill.

She was followed by three young men, the first of whom was Lieutenant Pommer. He was very much liked becajise of his frank, straightforward manners ; if these sometimes made him seem rather rude, no one took offence, for all knew how it was meant. He greeted Frau Kahle with especial cordiality, and the contrast between the big burly man and the little Dresden China figure was very amusing.

The second was Lieutenant Muller. Though one might not know that he was the Adjutant of the regiment, one could not but suspect it, for so self-satisfied was his face and so stiff his bearing. He was the terror of all hostesses, for he had an insatiable appetite, and he devoured with the greatest equanimity three times as much , as any ordinary mortal. Even when his neighbours at table had laid down their knives and forks, he would go on helping himself for the third time with the interesting announcement that this was something he particularly liked to eat.

The last of the three was Lieutenant Kolberg, a strikingly pale young man with a boldly turned-up moustache. He led a very irregular life and boasted of an exceedingly dissipated past.

While waiting for the rest of the guests, the company gathered in groups. Lieutenant Kolberg joined Frau Kahle and measured her approvingly from head to foot. The Adjutant inquired of Frau Konig what she proposed giving them to eat, and, on being told, assured her that these were all his favourite dishes. The Landrat chatted with the Rittmeister about a wine-tasting trip they were planning together for the purpose of refilling their wine cellars with new treasures.

Again the door opened and in darted a great, fat lady, most outrageously powdered, and whose badly-fitting bljick and yellow dress was made in the worst possible taste.

She rushed up to Frau Clara, squeezed her hand with her round, fat fingers, and thanked her effusively for her invitation, then turning to the gentlemen held her big, fleshy hand so close under their noses that there was no escape for them, and they were forced to imprint on it the customary kiss.

This wjis Frau Rlttmeister Stark, the bride of the regiment, so to speak, though more than fifty summers had passed over her head. She was followed by an equally fat husband who tripped in behind her. He wore a black " imperial," and his little finger was decorated by an enormously long nail, the care of which occupied much of his leisure time. To judge from his voice he was not a prejudiced total abstainer.

Behind this couple there presently appeared the figure of the Commander. All bowed low, and deferentially made way for him to pass as he strode towards Rittmeister KOnig and his wife. Colonel von Kronau's crooked legs and harsh face could hardly be said to give to him the appearance of distinction which one expects in the commander of a 6 regiment ; in mufti he might have been mistaken for a small farmer, a station with which his language was quite in keeping.

Then, too, he always had a tear gathering in his eye, and it was his habit when it reached a suitable size, with an automatic shake of his head, to flick it to the feet or on the clothes of the person with whom he was talking. The lady who followed him with a forbidding face and an ill-fitting grey dress, trimmed with a red velvet collar, was his wife.

The rest of the company now arrived, headed by First Lieutenant Borgert. He rarely looked anyone whom he favoured with his conversation straight in the face. Though rather stout, his figure was supple and well made. Behind him stood First Lieutenant Leimann, a small, rather mis-shapen man, with a pear-shaped head wedged in between two high shoulders. His little pig's eyes glanced furtively about or were so contracted together that they quite disappeared from view. The single eyeglass, which swung from a cord, he did not dare to use for fear of making himself ridiculous.

These two gentlemen lived in the same house and were very intimate, and the fact 1 of both being perennially and chronically hard up was possibly the bond of sympathy, though it must be confessed that it did not prevent their gratifying every whim ; and, indeed, they lived as if heirs to great riches.

" I hope you will excuse my wife, gnadige Frau," Leimann said to Frau Konig, "but she is suffering from her usual trouble, a nervous headache." ' As he said this, he looked as if he doubted his own excuse. "Of course she will come later on as soon as she feels better."

" I am so sorry," Frau Clara answered pleasantly, " and I hope the headache will not last long. I shall be so glad to see your wife."

Now that little Lieutenant Bleibtreu, the closest friend of the family and the only subaltern who belonged to Rittmeister Konig's squadron, had also arrived, dinner was announced, and the guests passed into the dining-room and sat down at the prettily decorated table.

The silence was at first rather oppressive, but no sooner were the plates filled than conversation became more animated.

" The weather has been so beautiful these last days that we really can soon begin tennis," said the wife of Colonel von Kronau.

" Certainly," replied the Colonel, his mouth full ; " I shall call a meeting of the Club next week, and then we can go ahead."

" How perfectly delightful ! " Frau Stark cried in ecstasy. " I adore tennis ! I do hope you all do ! You used to be so keen about it, dear little Frau Kahle. What do you think, Frau Kcinig ? "

" I let it alone ; it doesn't suit me."

" And your husband?"

" I never play tennis," the Rittmeister replied ; " I don't understand the game, but I rather like to look on when the women who play are graceful."

Frau Stark's lips came together with a snap, and she glanced furiously across at the Captain. What did he mean by his " graceful women " ? Was it an impertinent allusion to her ? It really served her right, for it was perfectly ridiculous to see how this elderly person put on the airs and graces of a young girl. In her old age she had even mounted an old regimental hack in order, to learn to ride because the other ladies did.

" I dare say a good many civilians will join," the Colonel continued. " I will send the list round."

The guests looked incredulously at each other, for the Colonel was on the worst conceivable terms with the civilians for many reasons, and was always avoided by them on every possible occasion.

" I'll join," Landrat von Konradi interposed, " unless it gets too hot. But I can't play next week. I have no time. I must stick my peas, or it will be too late."

" To be sure," Rittmeister Kdnig acquiesced, " or they will not ripen."

" What ! Peas won't ripen ? Peas always ripen if they are properly planted," the Colonel's wife retorted in some heat.

" But, dear lady, you can't be positively sure. So many things have to be taken into account."

" No, not at all, Herr Rittmeister. I have a method by which they always must ripen."

" I shall be curious to know what it is, for last year nearly all my peas were spoilt."

" They have to be planted by moonshine, and not a word must be spoken ; then they always do well. Mine do. I am not a bit superstitious, but you can believe what I tell you."

When the Colonel's wife made an assertion it took some courage to contradict her, but Lieutenant Bleibtreu ventured to say with a smile :

" I suppose, then, if someone were to plant pork in between in the sunshine, the result would be pork and peas."

"You think yourself very clever, Lieutenant Bleibtreu, and you can make all the fun you please, but it is true all the same," the Colonel's wife retorted spitefully. " Besides, I have no time next week, for my pcli^s defoisgras are not done."

"You cook them yourself, do you?" the Adjutant asked, deeply interested.

" Of course. I always put up six jars. My husband simply adores the stuff."

" From whom do you buy your truffles ? I am myself trying to find a reliable source."

"What — truffles! It tastes just as good without truffles. That is only imagination."

" But, dear lady, the truffles are the most important part of all."

" Nonsense ! I never use truffles."

" Goose livers," Lieutenant Bleibtreu interposed banteringly, "should be cooked during an eclipse of the moon, and that will turn them a beautiful brown."

"You may laugh if you wish, but it is true all the same."

And so it seemed, for no one ventured on further contradiction. But the Colonel's wife had to put a curb on her eloquence, for all now rose to greet the wife of Lieutenant Leimann. She stood in the doorway of the dining-room, an enchanting smile on her fresh young face.

"You must not be angry, Frau Konig. I really did have such important letters to write. But do, pray, all be seated again,"

" We thought you had a headache," everybody exclaimed.

" Headache ? Of course — so I had. But one forgets when one has them so often."

She wzis very young, only twenty-five, and very beautiful, and she was dressed in exquisite taste. She seated herself opposite Lieutenant Borgert.

Conversation now became more general ; everybody talked and did justice to the good things set before them, especially to Labskatts, a dish of stewed tripe, for which Frau Clara'^ cook was famous.

The Adjutant had only opened his mouth to stuff in huge lumps, and an occasional unintelligible grunt testified to his complete satisfaction. He was still eating when the hostess finally rose. There was a general wishing of " Gesegnete Mahlzeit," and then everybody strolled into the adjoining rooms, where coffee was served to the ladies, and liqueurs, beer and cigars to the gentlemen.

The guests again gathered in groups, and the Colonel seemed to think the occasion favourable for an official discussion with his adjutant. He thereupon strolled into the next room, where he engaged in a very animated conversation with Frau Stark, but, as it was carried on in rather low tones, only an occasional sentence could reach Lieutenant Borgert's ears, who was listening.

" You must succeed ! " he heard the lady whisper.

" I hope the inspection will prove satisfactory," the Colonel replied, " but since last time the inspecting officers are on the look-out for your husband ; they began in the stables by being dissatisfied with the condition of the straw."

" I go through the stable every morning, and I tell you I make 'em step lively there ! But of course I can't help it if my husband loses his head during mspection. Last time I watched the whole thing through fieldglasses, and all went well to almost the end, when the line broke in wheeling. Besides, he gave the wrong word of command."

" Well, we will hope for the best ! But, you see, if one wishes to become a Major, it means redoubled attention and care, for if anything goes wrong, one's superiors are down on one at once."

" I don't care, Colonel ; my husband has got to be made a Major, and if you drop us — why "

" There, don't worry, dear lady ! Without any justification whatever I have written him a good conduct report, which is simply brilliant. So you see I am doing my best."

" But you owe me that, Colonel, for without me you might not be — never mind, but you know."

Here Captain Konig came towards them.

" Shall you join our wine-sampUng trip down the Moselle next week, Colonel ? Landrat von Konradi is going, and I hear that some wonderful vintages are to be for sale."

"Of course, my dear Kdnig, you know I am always ready for anything of the kind. Besides, I enjoy a wine trip with you ; you have proved to-night, not for the first time, that you are indeed a connoisseur."