Poem ~ Story of an Atrocity - Friday, 14 August 1914

Day upon day come accounts of German’s brutality,

And that army’s unceasing violations of war.

One such story happened between Namur and Liege,

In the small Belgian village of Pontllac.

Riding in one day soldiers of the Germans 17^th Hussars

From the German Duchy, Mecklenburge.

Riding smart and proud came solid bodies upon steeds.

On this quiet day the villagers watched,

These mounted Hussars in splendid formation arrived

Where no resistance was made.

These soldiers in demand for food, was freely given.

After they ate, like wild drunkards,

They charged their mounts about the village streets,

To fire carbines at house windows.

Two hidden Belgian soldiers made reaction, fired back.

In revenge an officer aimed at an innocent

And calmly emptied his revolver into the man’s head.

Then the Hussars took a council worker,

Put a rope about his neck, to drag him around the streets.

They entered a home and ordered a villager,

To phone other villages in the district and recount false news;

That all was safe and to have no fear.

So quite gently a loaded revolver was held against their head.

This villager, as warned by the mayor,

Bravely heeded they spoke carefully by phone in Walloon Patois,

A regional dialect unknown to German foes.

By this defensive deception other villagers were then warned.

Satisfied these Germans left with loot,

And some 17 villagers being employed to dig their trenches.

Taking old men made to march on foot,

Before the mounted Hussars in defence against any Belgians.

With guns now loaded with Dum-Dum bullets:

On finding the pointed bullet did not inflict a severe wound.

The filed the bullet edges till jagged.

Now their bullets expanding on impact to make maximum hurt.

So this tale is one of many others,

From correspondents in the field, to give the British public

The reality of atrocity against the rules of war.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. Fresh Stories of German Brutality. The Telegraph, [online] 14 Aug. p.2. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11025941/Daily-Telegraph-August-14-1914.html [Accessed: 14th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 14 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11025941/Daily-Telegraph-August-14-1914.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1 #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #BegiumWW1