(The civilian bows and leaves.)
(Change of scene.)
Scene 29
Innsbruck. A restaurant. At one table, three ladies speaking Swedish. From a table nearby a colonel storms over to them, his face flushed with anger.
COLONEL I forbid you to speak English here! (His wife tries to pull him back to his seat.) Permit me — as the brother-in-law of the Chief of the General Staff—
COLONEL’S WIFE But they’re only speaking Swedish!
COLONEL Aha — (he sits down.)
Scene 30
Market square in Grodno, Belarus. The population has gathered, at the front a group of young girls.
TOWN HALL OFFICIAL (makes an announcement) In accordance with a request made by the head of the German administration in response to the wish of the Commander in Chief of the XII Army and with regard to the latter’s decree of 29th April 1916, no. 6106, the captain of the town militia hereby issues the order that young girls be instructed to greet the German officers as well as the dignitaries of the town by curtseying. (The girls curtsey. Dignitaries pass by.) Curtsey! (The girls curtsey. German officials pass by.) Curtsey lower! (The girls curtsey lower. German officers appear.) Now curtsey as low as you can! (The girls curtsey as low as they can.)
(Change of scene.)
Scene 31
Censorship at a German front unit.
OFFICER IN CHARGE OF CENSORSHIP Phew, talk about busy today! Since nine o’clock I’ve censored 1,286 postcards and 519 letters, and most of them were to Otto Ernst. Whoever else is on reading duty today can spare me the addressee and signature. My poor eyes have just about had it. (They read out excerpts from fan mail to the folksy author, which receives the censor’s stamp of approval.)
A CAPTAIN Your work is a real God-given gift, an inestimable blessing for us Germans in these hard times. For me it signifies the confirmation, indeed the incarnation, of faith in our German manliness today. That’s why I can’t help myself, I simply must pour out my heart to you and you alone.
AN AIRMAN I don’t want to indulge in mere platitudes, but your book was the most beautiful, the most profound, and the most inspiring that I’ve read in years.
A SENIOR NCO Heartfelt thanks for The Blessed Storm, which reinvigorated and revived me. To hell with all defeatists and moaning minnies! That book expressed my innermost thoughts, and those of all the Boys in Grey!
A SERGEANT Today is Easter Sunday. This afternoon, comrades from the next dugout are to pay us a visit, and to mark the occasion there will be a reading of “A German Sunday.” Your work will replace the most beautiful Easter festivities!
A TERRITORIAL RESERVE In off-duty hours we read as if we’re competing with each other. Everyone wants to be first to read one or other of your books, and since we’ve only received three of them so far, there’s quite a waiting time till a comrade has finished the book.
GUN CREW OF 9-CM CANNON, NAMED “ASSAULT COLUMN” (in unison) Our job doesn’t always allow us to work together, so we prefer reading your novel individually.
SIXTEEN DRIVERS Sixteen drivers of the 10th Army read your “Open Letter to d’Annunzio” with rapture. It put in words just how we feel!
A LIEUTENANT Every one of your audacious lines bursts on the ear like a grenade exploding right on time.
A RECONNAISSANCE AIRMAN As someone who embodies all that is life-affirming, you are our redeemer from the tedium of our humdrum existence.
A SECOND-LIEUTENANT Once again your humour has given me heartfelt pleasure, and I hope its effect will continue unabated under shellfire.
A MILITARY BANDSMAN Your wonderfully healing and consoling works shall help sustain my poor, dear, unhappy fiancée through the time we are apart.
A LANCE-CORPORAL Wielding your divinely inspired pen, you are of more use to the Fatherland than with a bayonet.
A SOLDIER Your poems which stir all loyal hearts shall last as long as the world can distinguish German loyalty from English duplicity.
A CAPTAIN IN THE MEDICAL CORPS I read your open letter to d’Annunzio. That’s just how I feel! I fight with the scalpel, you with the pen, each of us to the best of our ability. The main thing is that we win through. Gott strafe England!
A GUNNER I’ve racked my brains over how I might thank you with deeds.
A JUNIOR COMPANY COMMANDER Your splendid humour often helped us through times of trouble and stimulated a spirit of enterprise.
AN ACTING OFFICER We were in a trench. Whether or not another attack was expected, no one knew, but we were keeping a sharp lookout. Our nerves had been put through the mill yet again, and to calm them we crept into the dugout, where I was obliged to read something aloud as a distraction. I chose your sketch “On Time-Twisters”, which went down very well. I was just about to start on “Anna Menzel” when we were recalled to our platoons on the news that enemy riflemen had been spotted at the edge of the wood. Talk about an Introduction to the Waltz! More and more attackers emerge from the wood. And now our machine gun, situated between the first platoon and mine, joins in too. Our artillery was likewise on alert and began bombarding the enemy with clusters of shrapnel shells. I noticed my men were uneasy, some of the enemy had already reached the barbed-wire entanglements. A lot of my chaps were very young, and this was their baptism of fire. As platoon leader, what else could I do but give them the order to stay calm and fire? That was the moment I remembered those warning words of yours from “On Time-Twisters”: “Caaalm-ly, now, caaalm-ly does it!” Ducking from man to man, from group to group, I repeated this injunction. You could soon see the effect it had. The enemy, about to break through our barbed wire, were picked off by our riflemen, who were plainly now taking aim and firing calmly. The attack was easily beaten off; we had only a handful of casualties. So once again we managed to give the enemy a bloody nose, thanks to our alertness and the calm firing of our riflemen, for which your story can claim most of the credit. It had an unimaginable effect!
A SAPPER From the battlefield I offer you, great maestro and friend of the young, my most heartfelt greetings! May we soon be privileged to see the enemy, already bleeding from multiple wounds, under our heel. Hail the artist whose fiery spirit fights for the honour of his people!