Engaged to be Married
on August 13

A dream soon to be shattered

At the end of a golden afternoon spent birdwatching, this couple has paused on the porch of the church in Schülerstrasse, in Stuttgart, before continuing on for dinner at “Penzler’s”, the elegant restaurant in a corner of Prinzenplatz. We watch as Gerhard Doberich becomes lost once again in conversation with his lovely fiancé, Bettina Walderstaedt. They’ve planned for almost two years to be married in that church on the 15th of August. Gerhard is a lawyer engaged in a brilliant career. He is also a reserve leutnant in the machine-gun section of Grenadier Regiment Number 119 – “Queen Olga’s Own” - garrisoned nearby in the city. The two could never dream that in only 34 days - on the 2nd of August - Gerhard’s regiment will suddenly be called up along with the entire German army in the mobilizations that, overnight, will transform Europe into an immense armed camp. Their wedding – and many others - will be indefinitely postponed.

 Given leave at last, late in 1915, to return for only four days to marry Bettina, Gerhard will then be posted to the Italian front as liaison to the Austro-Hungarian forces sustaining prolonged attack near Izonzo. During what will become the seemingly endless artillery bombardment and hand-to-hand fighting, Oberleutnant Doberich will suffer ghastly disfiguring and disabling wounds that will – once he is discharged and sent home – horrify and repel his young wife. After stoically caring for her husband until 1921, childless and hopelessly depressed, Bettina will leave Gerhard, their marriage as much a casualty of the Great War as he.