Free Strange Intelligence: Memoirs of Naval Secret Service by Hector C. Bywater, H. C. Ferraby Page B

one of Körner’s own countrymen:
    Du Schwert an meiner Linken,
    Was soll dein heitres Blinken?
    Schaust mich so freundlich an,
    Hab’ meine Freud daran,
    Hurra! Hurra! Hurra!
    O, seliges Umfangen,
    Ich harre mit Verlangen.
    Du, Bräutgam, hole mich,
    Mein Kränzchen bleibt für Dich.
    Hurra! Hurra! Hurra!
    The song is greeted with rapturous applause, which is, perhaps, less of a tribute to the quality of the rendering than to the singer himself for entering so heartily into the spirit of the thing.
    Wunderbar! Ausgezeichnet! Dass ist ja etwas eigenartig, nicht wahr? An Englishman singing our Vaterland’s Lieder. Bitte, lieber Kamerad, singen Sie doch weiter. Kennen Sie ‘Die Wacht am Rhein’, Der Gott Der Eisen wachsen liess, ‘Deutschland über Alles’, oder sowas?
    To refuse would be a churlish return for the kindly, spontaneous hospitality of his hosts, so the guest obliges to the best of his ability. And his fervour is genuine enough, for music and poetry should know no frontiers, and these German war songs are among the best ever written:
    Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall,
    Und hunderttausend Männerschall:
    Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen Rhein,
    Wer will des Strömes Hüter sein?
    Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein,
    Fest steht und treu die Wacht,
    Die Wacht am Rhein!
    After this the singer was hailed as good comrade and brother. Polite enough before, his hosts now vied with each other infriendly demonstration. His health was drunk with acclamation, and he was not sorry when the enthusiasm died down and he was left in peace to listen to the general conversation.
    It had turned, as was but natural, on the prospects of war, for in 1913 thunderclouds were already lowering on the political horizon of Europe. Ordinarily the presence of a stranger would have enjoined reticence, but the beer had circulated merrily, the atmosphere was convivial, and Mr Brown’s vocal efforts had made him free of the fold.
    That war was not only inevitable, but near at hand, was the unanimous opinion, openly expressed. There was much talk of King Edward’s Einkreisungs-Politik , the ‘encirclement of Germany’ legend, which had been sedulously fostered by every means of publicity at the command of the government. But to these soldiers Great Britain was only a vague and contingent enemy. They saw in France the star villain of the piece, with Russia as her close confederate. They exhibited an unbridled hatred and contempt for die Franzosen , whom all agreed must be taught such a lesson as would purge them, once and for all, of their bellicose fever.
    They despised the Russians, too, and it was noticeable that those of the company who hailed from the eastern marches of Prussia were foremost in breathing fire and thunder against the Tsarist Empire – probably because of their own partly Slav extraction.
    But despite their martial ardour, one and all were alive to the dangers of a war on two fronts. Supremely confident of their ability to crush either France or Russia single-handed, they were less positive as to the issue if both powers had to be fought simultaneously. They attached little value to the military cooperationof their Austrian allies, and some of those present deplored the tendency of the German Foreign Office to give unquestioning support to the devious policy that Austria-Hungary was then, as always, pursuing in the Balkans – the European powder magazine that the fates had timed to explode only twelve months later.
    ‘Of course we shall have to fight on both fronts,’ declared an Infantry Major. ‘The only question is, Where shall we mass our main strength and deal the heaviest blows? My view is that we ought to keep strictly on the defensive in the East and concentrate on a tremendous drive into France. We must smash right through them’ – emphasising his point with a vigorous sweep of the arm – ‘hammering our way to Paris, and beyond if necessary, until all the fight is beaten out of them. We should get to