journey. I am looking for the battalion. I have plenty of time.
November 21
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.
November 27
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[1] near us have bags full of meat.
- ↑ Their allies within the Hungaro-Austrian empire
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