My War Memories, 1914-1918
at hand, and when the good times they anticipated did not materialize, owing to the cruel exigencies of war, t7iey became suspicious once more, and turned against us. The Poles were hostile as they feared, quite justifiably, a pro-Lithuanian policy on our part. The White Ruthenians were of no account, as the Poles had robbed them of their nationality and given nothing in return. In the autumn of 1915 I thought I would like to obtain some idea of the distribution of this race. At first they were, literally, not to be found. Subsequently we discovered they were a widely-scattered people, apparently of Polish origin, but with such a low standard of civilization that it would be a long time before we could do anything for them. The Jew did not know what attitude to adopt, but he gave us no trouble, and we were at least able to converse with him, which was hardly ever possible with the Poles, Lithuanians and Letts. The language difficulties weighed heavily against us, and cannot be over-estimated. Owing to the dearth of German works of reference on the subject, we knew very little about the country or the people, and found ourselves in a strange world.
In a region as large as East and West Prussia, Pomerania and Posen together, we were faced with an appalling task. We had to construct and organize everything afresh. The first thing to be done was to secure peace and order behind the army and put an end to espionage. The country had to be made self-supporting, so that it might supply the army and our people at home. It had also to contribute to the equipment of troops and our requirements in war material. Our economic conditions, due to the enemy blockade, made this course an imperative duty.
Agriculture had to be taken in hand as soon as possible. The time for the solution of political problems had not yet arrived These matters were handed over to the Inspectors of the Lines-of-Communication, who were primarily concerned with the administration of the occupied territories.
Keeping order in the country was a military duty of the L. of C. Commandants. The Hnes-of-communication troops were at their disposal for this purpose, and they had the assistance of tfre military police in the work of counter-espionage*
188