From the Rhenish mines it went to the North Sea, from
Upper Silesia to the Baltic. Ammunition and heavy projectiles were
transported from the central part of the empire to the borders. And
everywhere these operations had to be carried on with haste. One can
thus say that the German mobilization was the greatest movement of men
and materials that the world has ever seen.
And how was it carried on? No one could have wondered if there had been
hundreds of unforeseen incidents, if military trains had arrived at
their stations with great delays, if there had resulted in many places a
wild hugger-mugger from the tremendous problems on hand. But there was
not a trace of this. On the Monday evening of the first week of
mobilization a high officer of the General Staff said: "It had to go
well today, but how about tomorrow, the main day?" Tuesday evening saw
no reason for complaint, no delay, no requests for instructions. All had
moved with the regularity of clockwork. Regiments that had been ordered
to mobilize in the forenoon left in the evening for the field, fully
equipped. Not a man was lacking. There were no deserters, no shirkers,
no cowards. Instead, there were volunteers whose numbers far exceeded
the number that could be used.
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