MvR writes his mother

"...Manfred asks about him in every letter, with great brotherly concern. Côtes, 27 March 1915: "Dear Mum! I have had no news of Lothar for a month. His K-D has been captured and has suffered great losses. Hugo Freier fell from the 4th Dragoons. He was a good friend of mine. We had been in the same class in the cadet corps from sexta onwards. It always happens that the nice people die and fall first. But “weeds don't die”. After this saying you're probably thinking, well, then Manfred is immortal. - I feel like that too, after everything I've experienced. So many decent people fell around me, only I was miraculously spared from the enemy bullets.‘...’