MvR writes his mother

‘Manfred writes under the immediate impression of a battle: ’Dear Mum! I am writing these lines to you during a terrible cannonade. I can see everything from my window. The French are attacking from a very commanding height. The whole mountain is one big cloud of smoke. Those poor blokes lying in the trenches! Yesterday we were called in to help, we had already marched there, but then we were no longer needed and came back at night. The French, the English and whatever else is hanging around on the Western Front are getting very cheeky again. They probably think now is the best time to attack us again because we have everything in the east. They're right about that. But they always miscalculate by thinking that a German will run out of his position - like them. It's in our blood: we stay where we're put and let ourselves be beaten to death before we give way. - But unfortunately the Englishman has the same blood.‘’