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.As a boy and as a young man, I often longed for the occasion to prove that my national enthusiasm was notmere vapouring.Hurrahing sometimes seemed to me to be a kind of sinful indulgence, though I could not93 Mein Kampfgive any justification for that feeling; for, after all, who has the right to shout that triumphant word if he hasnot won the right to it there where there is no play-acting and where the hand of the Goddess of Destiny putsthe truth and sincerity of nations and men through her inexorable test? Just as millions of others, I felt a proudjoy in being permitted to go through this test.I had so often sung Deutschland über Alles and so often roared Heil that I now thought it was as a kind of retro-active grace that I was granted the right of appearingbefore the Court of Eternal Justice to testify to the truth of those sentiments.One thing was clear to me from the very beginning, namely, that in the event of war, which now seemedinevitable, my books would have to be thrown aside forthwith.I also realized that my place would have to bethere where the inner voice of conscience called me.I had left Austria principally for political reasons.What therefore could be more rational than that I shouldput into practice the logical consequences of my political opinions, now that the war had begun.I had nodesire to fight for the Habsburg cause, but I was prepared to die at any time for my own kinsfolk and theEmpire to which they really belonged.On August 3rd, 1914, I presented an urgent petition to His Majesty, King Ludwig III, requesting to beallowed to serve in a Bavarian regiment.In those days the Chancellery had its hands quite full and therefore Iwas all the more pleased when I received the answer a day later, that my request had been granted.I openedthe document with trembling hands; and no words of mine could now describe the satisfaction I felt onreading that I was instructed to report to a Bavarian regiment.Within a few days I was wearing that uniformwhich I was not to put oft again for nearly six years.For me, as for every German, the most memorable period of my life now began.Face to face with that mightystruggle, all the past fell away into oblivion.With a wistful pride I look back on those days, especiallybecause we are now approaching the tenth anniversary of that memorable happening.I recall those earlyweeks of war when kind fortune permitted me to take my place in that heroic struggle among the nations.As the scene unfolds itself before my mind, it seems only like yesterday.I see myself among my youngcomrades on our first parade drill, and so on until at last the day came on which we were to leave for thefront.In common with the others, I had one worry during those days.This was a fear that we might arrive too latefor the fighting at the front.Time and again that thought disturbed me and every announcement of avictorious engagement left a bitter taste, which increased as the news of further victories arrived.At long last the day came when we left Munich on war service.For the first time in my life I saw the Rhine,as we journeyed westwards to stand guard before that historic German river against its traditional andgrasping enemy.As the first soft rays of the morning sun broke through the light mist and disclosed to us theNiederwald Statue, with one accord the whole troop train broke into the strains of Die Wacht am Rhein.Ithen felt as if my heart could not contain its spirit.And then followed a damp, cold night in Flanders.We marched in silence throughout the night and as themorning sun came through the mist an iron greeting suddenly burst above our heads.Shrapnel exploded inour midst and spluttered in the damp ground.But before the smoke of the explosion disappeared a wild Hurrah was shouted from two hundred throats, in response to this first greeting of Death.Then began thewhistling of bullets and the booming of cannons, the shouting and singing of the combatants.With eyesstraining feverishly, we pressed forward, quicker and quicker, until we finally came to close-quarter fighting,there beyond the beet-fields and the meadows.Soon the strains of a song reached us from afar.Nearer andnearer, from company to company, it came.And while Death began to make havoc in our ranks we passedthe song on to those beside us: Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles, über Alles in der Welt.After four days in the trenches we came back.Even our step was no longer what it had been.Boys ofseventeen looked now like grown men.The rank and file of the List Regiment 11) had not been properly94 Mein Kampftrained in the art of warfare, but they knew how to die like old soldiers.That was the beginning.And thus we carried on from year to year.A feeling of horror replaced the romanticfighting spirit.Enthusiasm cooled down gradually and exuberant spirits were quelled by the fear of theever-present Death.A time came when there arose within each one of us a conflict between the urge toself-preservation and the call of duty.And I had to go through that conflict too.As Death sought its preyeverywhere and unrelentingly a nameless Something rebelled within the weak body and tried to introduceitself under the name of Common Sense; but in reality it was Fear, which had taken on this cloak in order toimpose itself on the individual.But the more the voice which advised prudence increased its efforts and themore clear and persuasive became its appeal, resistance became all the stronger; until finally the internalstrife was over and the call of duty was triumphant.Already in the winter of 1915 16 I had come through thatinner struggle.The will had asserted its incontestable mastery.Whereas in the early days I went into the fightwith a cheer and a laugh, I was now habitually calm and resolute.And that frame of mind endured.Fatemight now put me through the final test without my nerves or reason giving way.The young volunteer hadbecome an old soldier.This same transformation took place throughout the whole army.Constant fighting had aged and toughened itand hardened it, so that it stood firm and dauntless against every assault.Only now was it possible to judge that army.After two and three years of continuous fighting, having beenthrown into one battle after another, standing up stoutly against superior numbers and superior armament,suffering hunger and privation, the time had come when one could assess the value of that singular fightingforce.For a thousand years to come nobody will dare to speak of heroism without recalling the German Army of theWorld War.And then from the dim past will emerge the immortal vision of those solid ranks of steel helmetsthat never flinched and never faltered.And as long as Germans live they will be proud to remember that thesemen were the sons of their forefathers.I was then a soldier and did not wish to meddle in politics, all the more so because the time was inopportune.I still believe that the most modest stable-boy of those days served his country better than the best of, let ussay, the parliamentary deputies [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |
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