German authorities became increasingly worried about renewed French nationalism. The Reichsland governor stated in February 1918: "Sympathies towards France and repulsion for Germans have penetrated to a frightening depth the petty bourgeoisie and the peasantry". But in order to spare them possible confrontations with relatives in France but also to avoid any desertion from the Alsatian soldiers to the French army, German Army draftees from Alsace-Lorraine were sent mainly to the Eastern front, or the Navy (). About 15,000 Alsatians and Lorrainers served in the German Navy.