Austrian Army—1914
September 26, 1914
Having passed a four-week training[1], we are leaving[2] Plzeň [Pilsen] for Budějovice [Budweiss][3], Gmund, and Vienna[4] 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?
Josef Šrámek in 1914
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.
