Der Musikwagen

We can see it in their smiles.
It was a bond of friendship
born of war
but made through music.

The men wear the regulation uniforms
of the Imperial German Army
with the curious brimless soft cap
for enlisted men.
But on their shoulders they also have
the distinctive "Swallow's nest" epaulets
of a German military bandsman.

Only the tuba, next to the band's Musikmeister, is visible.
The other musicians clutch their instruments,
wrapped in soft leather cases,
as they perch precariously
atop a farmer's hay wagon
being pulled by two heavy horses,
who patiently wait for a tap of the driver's whip.

The 18 German army bandsmen
loaded into farm wagon are outside a farm or inn
decorated with a wonderful pierced wood gallery.
The image comes from an unmarked postcard,
but is almost certainly from
the war years of 1914-1918.

It's a serene photo with a rustic charm
that carries little of the horror
and tragedy that was the Great War.
But there are little elements that provoke questions.

This was just one band of the Imperial German Army.
How many bands served?

I have not yet found a clear answer,
but in 1914 Germany mobilized 435 infantry regiments
and finished the war with 700 regiments,
and that's without counting artillery and cavalry regiments.
Not every regiment had a band,
but it seems safe to say that the Kaiser's army
deployed several hundred musicians
who served as bandsmen
on both the Western and Eastern Fronts.

How did soldiers move around
along the very long lines of battle in the Great War?

Of course there were trains
and some under-powered motor cars
and small lorries too,
but the principal means of transportation in 1914
was walking.

It was good fortune to ride in a wagon
because most of the time bandsmen marched,
as did all ordinary soldiers.
It was the main purpose
of a band or drum and bugle corps
to play music that kept the troops moving at a steady cadence.
It's a concept that Napoleon understood well.

Notice too that the music master
and one other musician
have swords at their side.
Perhaps only for show
but it's a detail little different from the soldiers
of Napoleon or Charlemagne's time. 

The horse drawn wagon was also
no different from wagons in those ancient wars.
So how many horses were used in the war?

I found the answer at an excellent website
on military history, The KaisersCross.com.

One and a half million horses served in the German army during the Great War. According to veterinary reports over one million died - approximately sixty-eight percent. More died of starvation, exhaustion and exposure to the elements than due to enemy action. Seven million horses were treated for ailments (i.e. each horse approximately five or six times). One and a half million serious sickness cases were treated at one of the 478 special horse hospitals. By contrast, the French lost approximately eighty-five percent of their horses, the British seventy percent.

The statistics of the Great War beggars belief.
But I think simple photos like this
which illustrate just a small portion
of unimaginably large numbers,
can sometimes better tell the story.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone's on the wagon this weekend.