With talk of entrenchment becoming more
Commonplace, comes humour to involve
French and German soldiers - who have
Already faced each other for many weeks;
Now in set trenches along the banks
Of the river Aisne - In
spite of discomfort
And daily horror, are shared amusements
And even a little pleasantry behaviour.
Sheltering in their concrete lined system
Of ditches, the Germans sent off a joke
Carried on four feet, in chasing a horse
Across to the French Lines – A placard
Had been hung about the horse’s neck
Attached with German newspapers.
The sign the horse carried, read
‘Good day to the Frenchman!
Do you know that Russia is
beaten,
All along the line and that Antwerp
Is taken?’ It seems that on seeing
The joke, the French actually smiled.
Elsewhere, soldiers passed the time in
Devising humour – a French junior officer
Spoke of the fact, that the German trench
Is little more than forty yards apart, so when
The Germans began to sing; a competition
Began, as to who can sing the loudest.
The French officer explains how they have
Musicians such as an accordionist and flautist,
Who became accompanists to the songs.
Whenever each side was not shooting
Back at the other side these duets went on.
Opposing forces are so close, voices carried
Well, so the French clearly heard commands
Given in the German trenches.
The officer admits that tricks and jokes
Are all part of their daily fighting routine.
On that very morning the French officer
Said there was another German prank
Played out – when they sent across
A goat, with a card about its neck saying;
‘And you messieurs les,
Francais How are you?’
The goat was seen as being obstinate
And troublesome - although they called
To the goat to approach, the goat did
Not like the barbed wire and would
Not come nearer for some time - Finally
He arrived on the French side and once
There would not go back to the Germans,
Despite their shouts of ‘Komm! Komm!’
It was decided that he was a French goat.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Jokers in the Trenches
- Four-footed Messengers. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 29 Oct.
p.13. Col.4. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11186080/Daily-Telegraph-October-29-1914.html
[Accessed: 29 October 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 29 October 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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