Page:Diary of a Prisoner in World War I by Josef Šrámek.pdf/16

 journey. I am looking for the battalion. I have plenty of time.

After 3 days I finally caught my battalion in Valyevo. I didn't have a bad time on my way there. When the night was about to come, we [the batallion] found a kutcha, killed a sheep, and roasted it. When we left Valyevo, it was freezing and snowing. We slept in the fields—hungry, freezing, exhausted. Going on patrol, I was caught in a rain of grenades. Miraculously I survived.

We are pretty near the Serbs who occupy the hills. Scrambles on patrol are our daily job. No bread—there is one portion for ten men. We stay without meals for 3 days, and the soup has not been salted for a month. Searching for food all around—anything goes, mostly apples and plums.

Progressing in snow that is up to our knees. We reached the hills that the Serbs defended so tenaciously. A dead Serb is in every trench; they are frozen. Repeated scrambles. We progress as well as retreat every day. We are hungry while the Hungarian soldiers near us have bags full of meat.