TCD MS 10823 folio 39 recto
[Sept/Oct 1918] the news every day provided the most thrilling reading, the great victories in Palestine, the change of the German Government and their offer of an Armistice.
At last we seemed to be properly winning the war and the German people was beginning to know it.
On the 15th day an escort came from Furstenberg with instructions to take us to Clausthal in the Harz mountains, where we arrived towards the end of October. Our journey was quite interesting, as we had a very friendly escort, who was ready do anything for us. We had to drive through Berlin and passed Hindenburg’s statue where the iron nails were hammered in. The populace did not seem to bear us any enmity and many were the smiles that we got on the way through. We had a good but expensive meal in the waiting room and quite a comfortable journey. At Magdeburg some civilian munition makers were rude to us, for which an officer apologised, explaining that all those who had not been to the front were much more bitter against us than those who had fought. At Halberstadt, there were no more trains going on that night, so we went to a decent hotel and spent the night there. They gave us a very good meat dinner and a fair bottle of Bordeaux. The next morning we went on as far as Goslar but finding no more trains going on till the afternoon, we went into the town with our escort and had alook round. From Goslar a mountain railway took us up to Clausthal which lay 2000 feet up in the Harz mountains in very pretty surroundings. This