<snip> In 1871 Bismarck thru devious means coerced the southern
states to join.
AS far as we know most of those who fought at Langensalza and most of
the rest of Hannover's army fled the country since Prussia branded them
as traitors and put a price of death on their heads.<snip>
Jane Swan
Thank you Jane for that particular piece of history. Something like that
would explain why two small young 'Flemme' cousins did not emigrate with
parents - they had been killed either that year or during an earlier battle
(or were starving as you described) and answers the question initially posed
by a lister why a soldier fled the Prussian army. In Britain there is a
saying "Everyone has a book in them" - If our ancestors had written such a
book, I hate to think what stories of horror and hardship some of them
endured. Soldiers have historically had a hard time even when not fighting.
The film "The Hill" was based on fact. Up to the 1950's and afterwards,
soldiers were expendable, even on the way to battle and during battle rules
had to be adhered to. Sailing to the war in Aden a group of soldiers were
caught playing cards for pennies. As gambling was illegal they were
shackled, fed bread & water, and for several weeks spent the voyage to the
battle and back to the UK in the bilges. Upon arrival back at camp, the
prison sentence in what was termed the "glasshouse" was usually not less
than a year for gambling with pennies. That year was spent running up & down
'the hill', digging holes the size of graves, burying a matchbox containing
a match and digging it up again and generally being bullied. I wonder if my
pal ever told his children & grandchildren his story!
Thank you once again,
Rena