Poem ~ Reading Between the Headines - Tuesday, 25 August 1914

Cricket reports on page two describe how the home team,

Is having the great advantage - elsewhere reports of war

Conflict - of course, the truth is a casualty. A main heading

Declares how home casualties are light for troops in action.

New positions held suggest has little hint of pulling back.

Under the decreasing size of headings is described

The British army in action at Mons, with the importance

Made to ‘held their own’ - only in passing statements,

Comes admittance of how the allied army has fallen back

Yet we as the reader, should not make any assumptions,

That any defeat has occurred. Paper distraction comes

In giving an overview of the fight - how a series of battles

Are in place, from Swiss border west across to Mons.

And to mention there are only 3 British casualties so far,

The prominent one being Lord Leven being wounded

Dangerously in making a cavalry charge – Freely adding

How Austrians are in a confused retreat, taking heavy losses.

In further shrinking headings, casualties now move

From 'light' to 'not heavy'. The official Press Bureau’s

Statement declares how the British troops In Belgium,

Took ‘meritorious’ part in the recent Mons battle.

Beginning on Saturday, with an engagement on Sunday

Where steadfast British Forces held their ground.

Officially operations under commanders of the First

And Second Army Corps, being executed in great skill.

Caution comes with exact British casualty estimates -

‘But are not heavy’ yet quick to add that German corps

And cavalry were depleted and even hint at the French

Suffering the same - still though German losses

Are considerable - our artillery has affirmed its superiority.

The cavalry has not suffered at all, is a proclamation

Strangely under the heading of ‘a lively fight’

Curiously though, the final heading finally admits

‘Considerable Losses' in subdued hypocrisy.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. British Casualties - Earl Of Leven Wounded. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 Aug. p.7. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034792/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1914.html [Accessed: 25th August 2014].

Anon., 1914. Daily Telegraph August 25 1914. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 Aug. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034792/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1914.html [Accessed: 25th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034792/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1914.html

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