Page:Diary of a Prisoner in World War I by Josef Šrámek.pdf/11

 Austrian Army—1914

September 26, 1914

Having passed a four-week training, we are leaving Plzeň [Pilsen] for Budějovice [Budweiss] , Gmund, and Vienna to the Serb front. We are going to kill people who have done us no wrong. "It is God's will," said the army chaplain in his sermon!

Passing through Salzburg, Semmering, I am leaving this charming sight of a foreign country unnoticed. It is hard for me to part with our beautiful homeland. I am thinking of my parents and feeling sad. Shall we ever see each other again? Will I come back alive?

September 30

We passed Slovenia, then Bosnia, and now we are getting off in Doleni Tuzla. Two days' rest, then we marched to Zvornik. We walked to the mountains in terrible heat for 2 days. When we approached Zvornik we heard the guns' salutes. We crossed the Drina River.