Fragment from the story 'Die Verwundung' (The Wound), in which Oskar Kokoschka deals with his experiences during the war

'The great day had arrived, I too had really been wishing for it to come. Attack! Who would have imagined that this magic word of chivalry would abruptly transform my fine regiment of dragoons into a bloody mass, man and horse alike, in which more and more horses dashed, as if whipped on by ghosts and frightened, only to collapse together with their riders in the gunfire. It all happened much too quickly for one to be able to think of heroic deeds. Just don’t be crushed underfoot like a worm! The hotspurs among us fell into the trap into which they had been lured. I had seen the Russian machine guns clearly before I felt a dull thud against my temples.'