We started at once to dig our trenches, half of my platoon stepping forward abreast, the men being placed an arm’s length apart. After laying their rifles down, barrels pointing to the enemy, a line was drawn behind the row of rifles and parallel to it. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
I saw a great many men die afterwards, some suffering horribly, but I do not recall any death that affected me quite so much as that of this first victim in my platoon. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
Life that only a few hours before had glowed with enthusiasm and exultation, suddenly paled and sickened. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
Human nerves quickly get accustomed to the most unusual conditions and circumstances and I noticed that quite a number of men actually fell asleep from sheer exhaustion in the trenches, in spite of the roaring of the cannon about us and the whizzing of shrapnel over our heads. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
Signs of fatigue soon manifested themselves more and more strongly, and slowly the men dropped out one by one, from sheer exhaustion. No murmur of complaint, however, would be heard. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
What impressed me particularly in Vienna was the strict order everywhere. No mob disturbances of any kind, in spite of the greatly increased liberty and relaxation of police regulations. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
My wife volunteered her services as Red Cross nurse, insisting upon being sent to the front, in order to be as near me as could be, but it developed later that no nurse was allowed to go farther than the large troop hospitals far in the rear of the actual operations. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
Genius is an overused word. The world has known only about a half dozen geniuses. I got only fairly near. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
IN trying to recall my impressions during my short war duty as an officer in the Austrian Army, I find that my recollections of this period are very uneven and confused. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
One gets into a strange psychological, almost hypnotic, state of mind while on the firing line which probably prevents the mind’s eye from observing and noticing things in a normal way. Fritz Kreisler Read Quote
