Question

1. historical question: what was morale like for german soldiers fighting in world war i (1914 - 1918)? source: frank van pelt was a soldier in the u.s. army during world war i, and he served as a radio operator in france. part of his job was to document messages sent over radio, including messages from enemy german forces. van pelt wrote this letter to his sister on september 17, 1918, less than two months before fighting ended. we came up here and the moment we showed ourselves the germans came over unarmed and asked for us to take them prisoners, which of course we did! in the first bunch was 18, and after that, they came in by the hundreds.... i did not see but one prisoner who acted otherwise than glad to be taken as prisoners, and those men say the germans are tired of the war and are going to surrender as fast as they can. that is the only way they can quit. the officers force them to the front. so, we are naturally hopeful that we will soon be able to capture all of them, and then i know the war will end. strengths: what about the source makes it good evidence for answering this historical question?

Explanation:

El source es un soldado de la U.S. Army que estaba en el campo de batalla y documentaba mensajes de las fuerzas alemanas. escribió la carta poco antes del final de la guerra, y describe cómo los soldados alemanes se rendían voluntariamente y estaban cansados de la guerra. Esto es evidencia directa de la moral de los soldados alemanes en ese momento.

Answer:

El source es un testigo de primera mano que estaba en el campo de batalla durante la guerra. escribió la carta poco antes del final de la guerra, lo que significa que la información es reciente. Además, documentaba mensajes de las fuerzas alemanas y vio cómo los soldados se rendían voluntariamente y estaban cansados de la guerra, lo cual es evidencia directa sobre la moral de los soldados alemanes.