The great Winter battle in the Champagne in 1915 resulted in a
brilliant victory, which I witnessed with my own eyes.
The past has already begun busily to weave her heavy veil, and side
by side with the past walks her sister--oblivion! But we--we must
not, we dare not forget. Not only because the war in the Champagne
was the greatest and longest defensive battle in the history of the
world and resulted in a magnificent victory for ourselves; not only
out of gratitude for our heroic leaders and soldiers who accomplished
the superhuman, endured the unspeakable, and yet, undaunted, fought
on to victory; there is another deeper, more salient reason why we
must not forget. I refer to our hero dead, who, with incomparable
self-abnegation, gave their lives for king and country, for Emperor and
empire, for home and nation.
As a child which one of us has not stood at the grave of some unknown
hero of forgotten days, thrilling with rapturous, fearsome awe? On the
heights north of le Mesnil in the Champagne there is now a grave of
this sort which should be dear to every German heart, but it is not
the grave of an unknown hero of bygone days. Many brave men of our
own glorious army, much noble blood of our beloved German nation have
found their last resting place there on French soil. Our own brothers,
sons and husbands are interred there. Many thousands of heroes, who
have entered the last long silence, slumbering there under the very
sod which they themselves, dauntless, fearless, reckless of danger,
defended to the last breath, cry to us from beyond the grave, "Do not
forget the cause for which we died, for which we gladly and willingly
gave our lives."
We, the living, who know what these dead heroes accomplished and how
they furthered our cause, lower the sword in memory of them, and, in
spirit, lay a laurel wreath upon that hill, vowing that we will go and
do likewise.
In order to comprehend thoroughly the significance of the war in the
Champagne and to appreciate the magnitude of the achievements of our
troops we must briefly summarize the circumstances which made the
campaign imperative, the end which it was intended the titanic struggle
should compass, and the conditions which made this victory such an
important one to us. A few sentences will suffice to make all this
clear. It was necessary to crush the first large aggressive movement on
the part of the French, who, by hurling their finest army corps and an
enormous artillery force against us in the Champagne, tried for weeks
and months, at whatever cost, to force a wedge into our lines in order
to break one link in the steel chain with which the German army had
encircled their land.
If, as intended, they had succeeded in breaking through our lines with
a strong contingent, it can readily be seen how disastrous this would
have been for us. As regards consequences, our success in the Champagne
was at least of as great importance as the victories of Tannenberg, the
Masurian Lakes, near Augustow and on the San; but when we take into
consideration the demands which were made upon individual endurance and
courage in the face of the most harrowing conditions imaginable, it is
doubtful whether the work done in the Champagne by our troops has ever
been equalled.