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"This diary is not just a recollection of experiences written down after the war, but literally the experiences I wrote down every day. […] I have intentionally changed nothing, as these reports are intended to reflect my true feelings at the time." - Alexander Pfeifer More than 13 million men served in the German army during the First World War. Most wrote letters home, some kept diaries, and some wrote memoirs if they survived. But over a century later, it's rare to have a window into the everyday thoughts and feelings of one man,
a time capsule of the experience of one of those 13 million. It's even more rare for such a diary to be accompanied by a rich collection private photographs. German soldier Alexander Pfeifer's diary and photos survived, were preserved by his family for generations, and have been published by his great-great grandson. This is Alexander's War - in his own words and images. The pretty little town of Weida in central Germany was home to the Pfeifer family, descendants of minor local nobility and owners of a textile factory. On January 4, 1880, the family
welcomed the birth of Alexander. The boy enjoyed a privileged upbringing, as did his sisters Line and Hilde, and his brother Friedrich. The family home was large, they had servants, and received a good education. Young Alexander considered becoming a pediatrician, but instead ended up joining the family textile business. Of course, as a German man he also had to join the military, and he chose a Jaeger regiment when he enlisted at the age of 20. Jaegers were a skirmishing light infantry, considered more prestigious and more capable than regular infantry. In 1905, Alexander married his
sweetheart Johanna, and their daughter Gudrun was born in 1909. A few years later they had a son, Dieter. By the time Alexander left the army, he'd risen to the rank of Sergeant, or Feldwebel. In August 1914, 34-year-old Alexander was mobilized as Germany rushed to implement its war plan against France and Russia. He decided to keep a diary of his war experience and send his papers home to Johanna for safekeeping until he could flesh them out later - if he survived. As the German army marched into France and Belgium, Alexander joined
his unit in Marburg - the 11th Kurhessian Jäger Battalion. As their journey westwards by train, he noted the confused and excited atmosphere among the crowds at every station, as well a belief in the coming victory: "There is a great stream of volunteers here. A feeling of immense confidence is clear everywhere." (Pfeifer and Cross 2) But in September, the French and British armies stopped the German advance at the Battle of the Marne, and pushed the Germans back to the river Aisne. Alexander still hadn't seen any action, but he had seen haggard-looking German troops returning
from the front and destroyed villages in Belgium. He made a prophetic observation on September 23: "Here we are receiving a small foretaste of the terrible misery of the war […] I am by no means going to the Front with illusions, but I believe that the reality is a hundred times worse." (Pfeifer and Cross 6) Later that week, Alexander was amongst a group of replacements sent to fill in the ranks of the frontline battalion. He saw his first shell craters and dead bodies, slept in a trench for the first time, and experienced his baptism of fire: "The shells whiz through the air along with loud hissing and screeching sounds. Three planes are
above us, one seeming to be French. You can clearly hear the enemy shells hissing over us, but most of them sink into the soft ground far in front of us with a dull thud without exploding." (9) The expected French attack never happened, and his unit was withdrawn from the line. With his pre-war military experience, Alexander was promoted to acting officer. After the Allied victory on the Marne, each side tried to outflank the other to the north, resulting in the so-called Race to the Sea. Alexander's unit was one of many German reinforcements sent north in the frantic fall of 1914.
One of the areas that saw fierce fighting was around Vimy Ridge and the nearby height of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. Here, near the village of Souchez, Alexander led men over the top for the first time. On October 8, his unit advanced against French positions in a wooded valley: "The bullets virtually whiz around us almost eerily or hit around us with a piercing bang […] we then run across a completely flat field to a field of clover, where we are pressed flat against the ground and helplessly have to endure the terrible hail of bullets, as there is no sign of the enemy. […] we dig deep foxholes through the night." (12)
The next morning, Alexander's platoon was ordered to attack regardless of losses, an order he considered "insane." After dashing ahead just 50 metres French fire pinned them down again and the attack was called off. This was a typical experience, as infantry attacks by both sides ran into superior defensive firepower that usually stopped them in their tracks. Just days later, Alexander's Jaegers moved north again, near the town of La Bassée. Here, Alexander faced British troops for the first time, as he and his men stormed the village
of Les-Trois-Maisons, which they captured at great cost. The battalion had started with 1200 men but were now just 200, and an officer Alexander knew, Leutnant Prinz Reuss, was killed. By late October, the Western Front had turned into trench warfare, and Alexander's experience took on a typical rhythm for a soldier in the First World War: stints in muddy or flooded trenches, being shelled, and time behind the lines to rest. He also noted that he barely reacted to a shell exploding just 100 metres away. He was already tired of the wet and mud, and dreaded returning to the line: "Contrary to expectations, we haven't
yet suffocated in the current unbelievable filth. […] It is only with horror that you go out of the beautiful shelter into the bottomless mud." (30) One positive was that Alexander and his comrades received more care packages from Germany than they knew what to do with - but that would soon change. Alexander observed the enemy as well, since No Man's Land was sometimes so narrow he could hear the British coughing. In November, British Indian troops appeared opposite the Jaegers, and Alexander shared many Germans' negative opinion of colonial troops in Europe.
"We now have Indians against us. They are small, stocky chaps with shaved heads except for small pigtails, who, according to prisoners, are suffering terribly from the cold and wetness. I hope the entire lot will die soon." Whether Indian, British, or French, the enemy was always dangerous, and death was a constant companion. Alexander recounted what happened when a man didn't listen to his warnings to keep his head down: "At that moment, his head jolts, the familiar and terrible sound of the bullet's impact sounds, and the man slowly collapses. The bullet penetrated the forehead and tore off half
of the back of his skull. Still mid-fall, he claws his hands into the wound and smears himself over and over with his own brain." (33) It's no surprise then that the end of 1914 brought little joy. Alexander spent Christmas shivering in a captured Indian trench under shellfire. He and some others tried to sing a few Christmas songs, but the British responded with shelling - a far cry from the famous but exceptional Christmas truce. "We haven't had any joy out of the Christmas festivities. I sat in the captured Indian trench and froze terribly. The heavy shells continued to strike a few metres in front of and behind me in the meantime. When it later became dark, we all sang Christmas
songs along the entire trench line, but this must have really annoyed the English because they graced us with Shrapnel fire in return." Alexander did receive the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his actions at Souchez, but he thought those at home would be prouder of it than he would, since the award was so common. Overall, he and his men were at the end of their strength: "We are physically and mentally completely broken down, and I am not ashamed to say that we sometimes cried in despair. The only consolation is things are no different for the English." (32)
Like many soldiers, Alexander also collected items he found in captured trenches. He took a postcard from the body of Private Percy Walsh of the Loyal North Lancashires, as well as a list of Gurkha casualties and a kukri knife. Then, on January 6, Alexander suffered an injury: "I got caught on barbed wire in the pitch black and fell headfirst into an old English trench, twisting my right knee. It isn't severe, but I can only limp with difficulty. I am not at all angry about this accident because now I can dry myself properly and rest, and don't have to
worry about sudden alarms for a few nights." (44) Alexander ended up spending nearly three months in hospital for his knee to heal. Friedrich and Line came to visit him, though he struggled to adapt to his peaceful surroundings: "[…] it is just extremely boring. After months of agitation, this peace, order, and cleanliness seem very eerie, and you can't sleep because the usual shooting is missing. You generally feel like you are in another world here - no destroyed houses anymore - elegantly dressed, pretty French women on the street - finally the opportunity
to speak to German girls again. Only then do you realize how terribly feral you have become." (53) By spring 1915 Alexander was a battle-hardened veteran. During his stay in hospital, he was promoted to Leutnant, and it's likely then that he acquired a camera which he would use to photograph the rest of his war. In April, he returned to his old position near La Bassée, but the unit he returned to wasn't the same. When Alexander was in hospital, a British attack as part of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle nearly wiped out the battalion. The wider operation failed, but that didn't make any difference to Alexander, who'd lost many comrades. Rumour had it that only 7 out of 200 men in his company
survived, and he commented that his knee injury probably saved his life. Back with the battalion, Alexander was now a company commander, responsible for the lives of about 200 new men. He took his duty very seriously, even when he was afraid: "To set an example, I am now and then forced to walk along the entire trench with a calm step and an outwardly indifferent expression, whistling a song, so that people cannot say that the officers had slipped away.'' (71) In April, Alexander heard about the German gas attack at Ypres, which he considered a "vulgarity." "This is already no longer a war. Whoever
concocts the greatest vulgarities is at an advantage. In Ypres, we also only made progress by using poisonous gases. We will surely do this more often from now on." The fighting intensified again in May, when the British and French launched major offensives. British units attacked Alexander and his Jägers as part of the Battle of Festubert - the Germans stopped the British and inflicted heavy losses, and Alexander narrowly escaped wounding when three shell fragments harmlessly bounced off him. His friend, Leutnant Beutin, was not so lucky:
"I received the sad news that Beutin had fallen. I couldn't believe it at first. I crawled back into the trench, and there saw the poor man lying, dirty and bloodstained. A piece of shrapnel had hit him in the chest […] With Beutin, one of the best, most idealistic and bravest people had gone. His death especially affected me dearly, because I was on very good terms with him and always got along well with him." (72-73) After Festubert, Alexander's sector of the front calmed down, and he went home to Weida on leave. As usual, he didn't write a word about it,
and we're left to wonder what he must have felt spending time with loved ones who couldn't imagine the things he had experienced. Later that summer, Alexander spent more time away from the front at a rest and recreation area and then on a training course. After such intense combat, the German army knew it had to give junior officers like Alexander enough leave and rest time to prevent them from breaking down from the stress. In September, the British and French again tried to break the deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front. The main British attack was around the town of Loos, and Alexander's unit was right in the thick of the
battle. British artillery pounded the Jägers' positions and showered them with gas shells, although the Germans had now gas masks. Alexander and his men stayed in the trenches for three straight weeks of hell, and he ended up in command of a position called Mad Point, at the heart of the heaviest fighting. He and his men mowed down attacking Scottish troops, leaving piles of dead in front of his trenches. A few days later, he described the carnage: "It looks terrible in the recaptured trenches. […] You only walk on English corpses on 40-metre-long stretches, including an English major-general over whom I have
personally repeatedly climbed […]" (102) The bodies in those trenches were among the 50,000 casualties suffered by the British at Loos, another Allied failure. The major general Alexander clambered over was George Hancock Thesinger, commander of the 9th Scottish Division killed while visiting the front line. Alexander also picked up a cap badge and postcard from the body of Private Joseph Langford of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. It was a note from his Aunt Alice wishing him luck. In mid-October, Alexander got another much-needed
break. He spent two months training new recruits in the arts of trench warfare. He also hunted, attended church, or went to the cinema. This year, he celebrated Christmas in relative peace, with plenty of wine and food. In January 1916, the army accepted Alexander's application to serve as a textile industry expert in the occupied territories. Germany wanted to better use the resources of Belgium and northern France, and Alexander travelled to many textile factories. He even reported on his findings in Berlin and snuck in a visit home along the way.
By March, Alexander was back in the trenches near La Bassée. "Hundreds of the Scots from September are still lying in front of our obstacle, but the piles of corpses, which were meters high back then, have now collapsed together quite a bit." 133 The trenches still swarmed with rats, and the weather was still wet and cold - in his words, a greater concern than the enemy. "At home, people will be surprised that I write about the weather in almost every letter, but that is what concerns us the
most out here. The enemy comes second." pg.133 For all of Alexander's experience as a soldier, nothing could have prepared him for the tragedy that struck in April: "This afternoon, I received a telegram from home with the terrible news of Dieter's death." (141) 3-year-old Dieter had died of diphtheria, a common childhood killer. Deaths from disease and malnutrition had spiked in Germany at this time due to food shortages, but it's not clear if that was a factor in Dieter's case. Alexander returned to be with Johanna and Gudrun in Weida for 10 days. As with every trip home,
Alexander wrote nothing in his diary. Perhaps it was because he only wanted the diary to be a record of his war experiences; perhaps it was too painful to put on paper. Beyond the painful loss of Alexander's friend Beutin and son Dieter, the war was not going well for the Central Powers in summer 1916. The offensive at Verdun had failed, and the Russians made gains against the Austrians. Rumors abounded that his unit might be sent to one of these two hot spots. In late July, the suspense broke - after a long train journey, the Jaegers arrived in the Austro-Hungarian province of Bukovina. Along the way, Alexander noted the colourful
dress and habits of Hungarian women, and local Ukrainians - then often known as Ruthenians. The 11th Kurhessian Jäger Battalion was now part of the Carpathian Corps, a new formation of Jäger regiments meant to help push the Russians back out of the mountain range and relieve the threat to the Hungarian heartland. Within days, more tragic news arrived from home - Johanna's brother Ernst Filler had been killed in action at Verdun. As usual, Alexander was tight-lipped about personal loss - he simply wrote that his brother-in-law had "unfortunately fallen" between passages about the cold weather and food.
At the front, the fighting was different than in the West - the shelling was less intense, positions more thinly manned, and decent shelter harder to come by. Alexander's first combat action against the Russians succeeded - alongside Austrian troops, his men captured a height with relative ease, much to his surprise: "Within the company, I have one dead, two heavily wounded and four lightly; incredibly minor casualties in relation to the Russian superiority and their brilliant position." (162) Alexander and his Jägers spent the next weeks on top of Mount Skoruszny, at a height of 1566m. The nights were cold, and they worked hard building
sturdy shelters that would keep out wind, violent storms, and Russian shrapnel. At least food was plentiful and there were no rats - though Alexander did adopt a stray dog he named Ruski. Relations with the Austro-Hungarians were, in Alexander's opinion, mixed: "We are always happy when we don't have Austrians next to us, as you can't sleep peacefully otherwise. As kind as the Austrian is as an associate, he is just as unreliable as a soldier […]" (174) After several skirmishes, the Russians suddenly attacked in force on September 4. Alexander's company inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy,
who advanced up the side of the mountain. But the Russians put on more pressure into the night. There was hand-to-hand fighting in the German trenches as the situation got more and more desperate: "Our losses increase terrifyingly. I utilize everything that I still have left. My three combat orderlies seize a Russian machine gun. The situation keeps getting more critical. We lie only 15 metres away from [the Russians] in some areas." (176) At 10:30pm, Alexander got the order to retreat - he tried to hold out longer but eventually pulled back to neighbouring Mount Stajki, overlooking his old position. His company, normally about 250 men strong, were now 90,
and he never saw Ruski again. Alexander wrote it was one of the worst nights of the war. He and his men had no way of knowing, but this assault was likely the last phase of the Brusilov Offensive, which ended with no decisive breakthrough. On Mount Stajki, the first snows arrived in late September, and the fighting returned to raiding, skirmishing, and sniping. Alexander matter-of-factly described his sniping success: "I again shot a Russian at 7 o'clock this morning from a distance of 500 metres. Following the shot, he collapsed and screamed pitifully.
I could clearly see through the scope how two others bandaged him and carried him away. I now lie up in the cliffs for hours every day and shoot at Russians below us. It is a wonderful sunny day today." (191) The winter brought cold, snow, boredom, and news of an award. In November, Alexander received the Iron Cross 1st Class for his actions in a trench raid. Though he previously often wrote that he wanted to earn it, he barely mentioned the achievement in his diary - perhaps a reflection of how exhausted he must have been.
1916 had been another year of hard fighting, with no end in sight. 1917 though, would bring unanticipated changes and battles on new fronts. From January, Alexander escaped the front for a while, visiting home twice and attending a machine gun course behind the lines in Felsoviso. The region was home to Hungarians, Romanians, Ukrainians, and Jews, and like many in Europe, he took a dim view of poverty and local Jews: "[Felsoviso is] a large Hungarian Jewish nest, half village, half town. There are large numbers of Jews here with tendrils of hair, as well as Romanians and Ruthenians. I am living in a Jewish street with a Jewish family - very primitive and dirty." (209)
When Alexander returned to the front in April, the Russian revolution was having an impact. He rarely wrote of international events, but the revolution was different. Russian infantry began to fraternize, crossing No Man's Land to trade soap and sugar for tobacco, schnapps, and Russian-language newspapers published by the Central Powers as a propaganda tool. Alexander was touched by the experience: "It is very strange how fast they learn to communicate with just a few words. In any case, the friendship is great, and it is a lot of fun to
see. I photographed some of them and gave them the pictures which they were very happy about." (227) The revolution gave Alexander hope that Germany might yet win the war: "It seems as though the same ceasefire is occurring along the entire Eastern Front. If our diplomats don't fail again now, then we will have the best prospects for peace with Russia. If we then throw some of the many freed corps into Tyrol, the Italians will then immediately declare peace too. What could the French and English possibly do to us then, when we release the millions that are currently bound to the Eastern Front?" (217)
But the war against Russia dragged on. Their artillery did not fraternize and kept firing, and they launched the Kerensky offensive in July. The Central Powers stopped the advance, and started a counteroffensive against the collapsing Russian army. Russian troops in Bukovina had to pull back to avoid being surrounded - in Alexander's sector, he noted how the Russians burned Jewish homes as they retreated, but not Ukrainian ones. Local Ukrainians and Hutsul people welcomed Alexander and his men as they advanced, and gave them gifts of milk and flowers.
He also observed how happy the Jews were that the Russians had gone, and thought that nearly all the Hutsuls had beautiful faces. By September, the men were guessing where they might be sent next - some said Macedonia, others Albania, still others thought Tyrol. On the train ride west, Alexander guessed they were headed for the Isonzo Front, and he was right. Just as he had hoped, the German High Command planned a crippling blow against Italy. Alexander's unit was to storm the Jeza, a steep mountain ringed with mist and soaked from rain.
Although he had gone over the top many times, Alexander admitted that he was afraid. Still, the October 23 attack was a success and the Central Powers broke through Italian lines. Alexander's unit also pushed ahead, but he had a very close call the second day: "While we are sitting around the fire fairly dry in the evening, there is a sudden whooshing sound and a terrible impact - pieces of wood and stones hail down on us, and we are all thrown apart due to the [blast]. A heavy mortar had exploded right next to me. One dead and several wounded lie a few metres from me [but] I miraculously escape the horror." (262)
Like most other Central Powers troops, Alexander and his men stopped to loot food and wine as they advanced, and he marvelled at the abundance in Italy compared with the deprivation back home. In 1914, he had more care packages than he knew what to do with, but now, he wished he could send food back to his family. On the battlefield, he walked in the footsteps of fellow lieutenant Erwin Rommel near the Kolovrat height, one of many imposing positions the Italians could not hold: "I wouldn't have thought the Italians to be such pathetic [fellows]. They could have held us back for days in this wonderfully built emplacement upon the Monte San Martino, considering we have no artillery with us.
The Russians are heroes in comparison." (264) On October 30, Alexander was lightly wounded during a confused firefight near a bridge across the Tagliamento river. Generally, Alexander found the Italian population friendly and helpful, but during this engagement he thought he saw an Italian civilian pointing out German positions, so he shot him. Soon after, the 11th were withdrawn from the front line to rest, ending their role in the Battle of Caporetto. Now that Italy had been thrown back, Germany decided on one last gamble in the West before the Americans could arrive in force. And the 11th Jaegers would do its bit.
In February, the 11th moved to Lorraine, and participated in marches to deceive the Allies as to where the big offensive would come. When it began on March 21, the 11th was not yet in the front lines. Army bureaucracy struck first - a change in officer seniority meant Alexander lost command of his company. Furious, he confronted his commanding officer and demanded a transfer to the infantry, quite a drastic request from an elite Jäger. Instead, he was put in charge of the regiment's motor transport in the rear. Many times over the years
he had complained bitterly about the fat cats in the rear facing little danger but collecting Iron Crosses. He himself admitted the irony: "So I have now become a proper [Etappensau - a] communication-zone pig." (288) Meanwhile, his battalion joined the fight, and Alexander received letters telling of heavy losses and enemy tanks. But instead of joining them, Alexander was sent to train new recruits for the division, another safe job. He taught fresh conscripts how to entrench and fight, and wrote that he'd never felt better. Even when the influenza epidemic hit the army that summer, he escaped it: "Everybody here is now affected by the mysterious Spanish illness that was brought over by holidaymakers.
I have been spared from it so far." (296) By early fall, Alexander knew what everyone knew: Germany was losing the war. The training operation had to move east since the front was getting too close. In late September, he reacted to rumours of a coming armistice: "Everybody here is horrified by our latest begging for peace. We will of course be set terms we cannot accept, and then it will just go on." (302) A few weeks later, his mood was fatalistic: "-so we have given up after all - it is such a shame. The four years of fighting have now
been for nothing, and we have to creep out of the occupied land as the defeated." (302) The November 9 revolution in Germany and subsequent collapse took Alexander and his fellow officers by surprise. He led his company of 18-year-old conscripts on a long and depressing march back into Germany and across the Rhine. He bitterly described scenes of chaos and looting along the way, with some troops joining the revolutionaries, and 1/3 of them deserting en route. In late November he arrived home in Weida and was officially demobilized: "I was therefore a civilian again, and the war had come to an end for me. Unfortunately,
the end was not how I had imagined during my departure on the 4th of August 1914." (304) Alexander Pfeifer's war was over, but life went on. He and Johanna welcomed daughter Ingrid to the family 9 months after his return to Weida. He also joined a veterans' group, the Stahlhelm, until its later association with the Nazi Party. Years after the war, he took the time to type out and expand his diary, based on the notes he'd sent home to Johanna. After WW2, Weida was part of Communist East Germany, and the new government seized many of the family's
assets. Their textile business disappeared and they led a quiet life. Johanna passed away in 1959, and Alexander in 1966, at the age of 86. For decades, Alexander's diary slumbered in a drawer amongst Ingrid's things. Then, more than a century after Alexander scribbled his notes in dugouts or in billets, his great-great-grandson Philipp brought them back to life. He translated and published the diary as The Other Trench, all while living in England, the country of Alexander's former enemies. But he went even further - he placed Joseph Langford's postcard on his grave, and he tracked down the descendants of Percy Walsh
and returned his postcard to them. Alexander's war ended in 1918, but its legacy lives on. During the war allied propaganda vilified the German Kaiser a mad, bloodthirsty tyrant and the Germans portrayed Britain as "perfidious Albion". History is of course full of legends of crazed rulers and the new series Mad Kings by Real Life Lore takes a look at their stories. From Uday Hussein, Saddam's ruthless son, to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Mad Kings tells the story about some of the most notorious individuals in history and how they came to be. And where can you watch Mad Kings? On Nebula, a streaming service we're building with other creators where you don't need to
sift through a deluge of AI slop: Nebula is made by humans and curated; it's available in 4K resolution in your browser, on your smartphone, Smart TV or streaming box like Apple TV or Roku. And that's not all, on Nebula you can also watch all our regular videos ad-free and earlier than on YouTube. And all that for just $30 for an entire year if you go to nebula.tv/thegreatwar Right now, you can also get the Nebula Lifetime Membership. Pay once and get access to everything Nebula has to offer for as long as you and Nebula exist. If you go to nebula.tv/thegreatwar you can safe $200 on the usual price.
The Lifetime membership allows us to invest in more original content and improve the platform for everyone. One third of your Lifetime membership will also support us at Real Time History directly. T his documentary about the life of Alexander Pfeiffer in the First World War was just a small glimpse of his diary and the photos he took on and behind the front. If you want to read the entire diary and learn much more about Alexander, check out The Other Trench - The WW1 Diary & Photos of German Officer edited by Philipp Cross, Alexander's great-great grandson.
The book is available in English and German wherever you get your books. We want to thank Philipp for helping us with this documentary and allowing us to use Alexander's photos and diary. We also want to thank Beatrice Braun-Arnold for her help with the research for this documentary. To learn more about some of the battles that Alexander took part in, check out our videos about the Brusilov Offensive and the Battle of Caporetto. If you are watching this video on Nebula or Patreon, thank you so much for the support, we couldn't do it without you, I am Jesse Alexander and this is a production of Real Time History, the only history channel that hopes Ruski the dog is okay.
