Orderly officer of the 18th Infantry Brigade

‘Dear Mum! I have already sent you a short message to let you know that I have joined the 18th Inf. I have become an orderly officer. Here one experiences a little more than in Bechamp with our regiment. In mobile warfare it would be the other way round, of course. So I'm quite happy with my post. The last few days have been quite busy up on the Cote. On the night of the 27th to the 28th we, Grenadier Reg. 7, took a trench from the French. In the night of the 29th to the 30th the French tried to take it back, but were brilliantly smeared. Thank God, the losses were relatively low. Every bloke here in the trenches is a hero, and as one poet rightly said: ‘There is not as much iron as you heroes are out there.’ Every single one deserves the iron; everyone who sees our good men fighting must say that. Farewell, best wishes to Papa, Ilse and ‘Germany's future ’*. *"His youngest brother Karl Bolko’