Poem ~ Two Plucky Ladies Sunday, 9 August 1914

Two ladies on a summer Belgium tour in the Ardennes,
Being quite unaware of any trouble or war pending,
Received one morning a concerned friend's telegram.
Warned of danger, they were advised to leave at once:
Deciding they should journey home soon as possible
These English ladies were soon to show their steel.

Finding their tram from Laroche halted by fallen trees,

They carried on foot for half mile to gain another tram
That carried these determined ladies to Melreux.
But then they found the rail bridge to Namur blown,
So to reach Liege our ladies had to go via Rivage.
Where panic and terror of Germans filled local people.
While being kindly sheltered for the night, our ladies
Were briefly considered as possible German spies.

Heeding advice to abandon their burden of luggage,

The cool endurance of these feisty English women
Found them setting on a long steady walk to Liege.
At Chanxhe a German gave the ladies brief attention.
Allowed to pass, they thankfully carried on to Poulseur,
To see a force of Germans Uhlans carrying out
An arrest of residents as spies. Witness to this scene
Our plucky ladies, (despite being closely watched),
Moved on across a broken road, ankle high in mud.

Their calm, daring was to flourish at the River Ourthe,
(If stopped they were advised to answer simple truth)
Here to find the long bridge under German control.
But on our ladies walked, quietly across the bridge,
Then firing begun about them coming from a high fort,
At which the Germans were keenly replying.
Despite the explosions and noise they carried on.
Diverted they were directed to a footpath by a canal,
And so onto Mery - despite the nearby gunshots.

Refreshed near Tilff our plucky ladies moved onwards,

Overtaking a group of walking Belgian women.
Until in a valley, where cattle were driven for safety,
A Belgian cyclist waved a flag and warned them
Of the road just ahead about to be destroyed -
But advised after the initial explosion they just might
With much luck, find some path or way across.
The Belgians fled but our determined plucky ladies,
Once the dust settled, saw the road partially destroyed.

Scrambling over large barricades of rolling stock,

They scaled flagpoles bound together with barbed wire.
With this successfully surmounted by our plucky ladies
Soon found the trains at Strenpas running to Liege.
Here they saw arrivals of wounded, where one man
Missing one arm waved a Belgium flag with the other.
In four suffocating hours they moved onto Brussels.
Finding the Gare du Nord was crowded with people,
And hotels had been given over to the wounded.
Subjecting all people to examination in case of spies
By Civic Guards; our ladies found Belgian’s wanting
For English help - Asking why they had not arrived?

Among all nationals on board the boat 'Marie Henriette'

Our ladies found they were to sail close to the coast.
With dull metal shapes of warships in the distance
Came challenges by a French then an English gunboat
After slow progress a powerful sweeping searchlight
Marked their safe arrival at Folkestone and England.
Still three more tedious dark hours slowly followed,
With all nationalities and residency closely checked.
Finally stepping onto a train to London arrived at 2am
No doubt exhausted our plucky ladies were relieved.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon., 1914. Leaving Belgium - English Ladies' Daring. The Daily Telegraph - Special Sunday Edition, [online] 9 Aug. p.2. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11019837/Daily-Telegraph-August-9-1914.html [Accessed: 9th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 9 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11019837/Daily-Telegraph-August-9-1914.html

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