Tags
Brauer, Bröselmeier, Hörstmann, Jur Alexiew, Kragujewatzer, Leibig, Müller, Schick, Schulz, Seybold, Slabow, Stabstisch, von Puttkammer, Wolf, Zieselmann
In the casino we some 60 officers ate, about 10 of them were German. Those were the first lieutenant Zieselmann, a very amiable gentleman, but he was a great hunter of medals and liked to turn up in the full splendour with the broad medals buckle. We used to make fun of him behind his back. Once Turkish officers were invited, but they cancelled just before dinner. But the First Lieutenant nevertheless appeared in resplendent decoration, two Turkish medals shone particularly. His adjutant was Captain von Puttkammer, who was since a few weeks for the first time in the field. He was very polite, very prissy and behaved like a teenager. He could involve one, on the road, in an hour long conversation, especially if my Captain joined us, who had the same habit. Saying good bye we shook hands half a dozen times and there was always something else to be said and the conversation seemed never to end.Both died not too long after, in Macedonia. There was also Captain Schulz, a sixty, who had volunteered and worked often as a collection officer. He owned of a large estate in the north of Germany, had a head like Bismarck and liked to drink a drop of wine: good, but also plentiful. With the captain and the first lieutenant I had to play a lot of Skat; we were usually the last ones who left the casino. Later a major Seybold joined us, who was “a very good-natured Bavarian”, when he had a beer, cheese and a drink, he was happy especially since he had almost nothing to do. These gentlemen ate, at the so-called “Stabstisch”. The other officers were sitting 10 to 15 at small tables. My dinner party was always jolly.
It was the lieutenant Schick, who led the Bavarian country platoon, and his physician, Dr. Leibig. I joined these two mostly. We went horse ridding together, went to the movies together and did other tomfoolery. The next day Warrant officer Hörstmann was at the table, he was with the group companies; he had a quiet and a pleasing nature and was nice company.
Another German was Brauer, the clothing First Lieutenant, quite a quarrel devil, and then the officer’s deputy Müller a schoolteacher. Beside me sat a Hungarian assistant physician Dr. Wolf, who had appalling dirty fingers, always smeared with ink, but who amused the whole table with his jokes, that we often roared laughing, highly unmilitary, and had the attention of the whole casinos. A German-Austrian captain and a First lieutenant, Bröselmeier were the final corona.
The Austrian officers were usually from the Kragujewatzer k. u. k. District Command, set up in northern Serbia, the Austrian administration. There were nearly all the tribes of Austria represented: German-Austrians, Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks, etc. The chair was held by a Croatian colonel, who had much sympathy for the Germans. Food did not interest him at all, he loved a so-called Spartan lifestyle that meant, we got beef every day and as dessert plums, which Serbia has no shortage of. The slaughtered cattle were tough on top of it, and we soon had enough of all this beef and plums eating. Therefore several times we held a “German Evening” in Schicks apartment, to which we invited some k. u. k. comrades. I still remember with joy the wonderful suckling pig, which we ate there. Once we had crabs as well. They were beautiful crabs; just as the crabs should be, it turned out that some were spoiled and the whole dish smelled beastly; everything had to be thrown away. Thus, instead of a crab dinner we had a beer evening, which was very entertaining.
For a long time Major Slabow was the representative of Bulgaria at the war booty Commission, who also ate at the casino. His interpreter was Dr. Jur Alexiew. He was at my table as well. On closer acquaintance he revealed that he had studied in Leipzig and knew my home town well. Both were quite popular and when they had to leave Kragujewatz, there was a festive dinner and a farewell drink. Finally at dawn some bottles of excellent Slibovitz (Yugoslavia schnapps) appeared which were finishing off as well. Inside you did not notice much of the strong drink, but when we went outside, the effect was horrible. No one knew how he got home and the doctor Alexiew was so sick that he dropped down on his doorsteps and only many hours later was taken by his landlady to his room. At noon the next day hardly half of the casino guests turned up and only on the third day all were back in full strength.