Speaking to the Birmingham
Daily Mail,
Private G Jones, of the 1st Battalion
Coldstream Guards, returned home
From the military hospital at Chelsea,
Having received wounds at the Aisne.
On the 14 September forces began
To push forward from the river Aisne.
Late morning; the advance situation
Halted for the Coldstream Guards.
The 2nd Brigade heavily being engaged,
The 1st Brigade moved to help gain
Positions on the other company’s left,
At the top of the ridge the 1st Cameron
Highlanders and 1st Coldstream Guards
Caught by enemy artillery and machine
Gun fire, found themselves stalled there.
Forming an ad hoc company from
2nd Brigade, the Coldstream’s,
Cameron Highlanders and Black
Watch, Colonel Ponsonby led them
Across the Chemin des Dames.
A Birmingham man, Private Jones
Was in the advance party, under orders
To move towards the German lines.
Through fog they made their way,
To the far end of the captured ridge
And the village of Cerny - taking
Themselves deep in German lines.
Coming to a halt on that spot,
For the remainder of that day.
In the cover of night they made
Discovery, finding a German position
Of Maxim guns - to find they had been
Cut off from their own British side.
The fight over the Chemin des Dames
By the days end, had become stalemate.
The Germans could not be pushed off
The ridge and the British could not be
Pushed back across the Aisne.
Units that had advanced were pulled
Back - in torrents of rain and deep mud,
The first spadefuls of earth were thrown;
So began the birth of trench warfare.
In moving into the German position,
Firing began - falling in front of them
Was their Colonel Ponsonby, who lay
Out in the open, under German guns.
Fearful that their Colonel might be
Dead, Private Vennicombe and friend,
Private Jones, decided to reach him.
The two of them, under hails of bullets,
Dashed across darkness to the Colonel.
Shot in the leg, the Colonel was alive
But unable to walk – With quick effort
They carried the officer back between
Them, safely reaching the other men.
Due to their lack of force, the decision
Was taken for them to retire – placed in
A difficult position, being cut off from
Their battalion, they were now a party
Of 40 - with 3 officers. Making further
Difficulty was an inability to tell their
Exact position, within the battlefield.
Coming into their company came
Captain William Warde Aldham an
Officer of the Black Watch, appointed
Their leader. In the dark, with a compass
He led them to a wooded position,
That had been noted early that evening,
A place known to have a village nearby.
In cover
of trees they placed sentries
About the party in an attempt to rest.
Then in discovery, they realised the wood
Was between two German outposts, seeing
Enemy soldiers moving in the distance.
Shapes of a German convoy moved close
By -
but their lack of numbers meant their
Party could not make any successful attack.
Rain had, for some time, been falling
Hard - which while hiding them, turned
The ground to mud – any movement
Between the trees, was made difficult
With any noise likely to raise the alarm.
Moving at one mile every hour
Four men took turns to carry the Colonel.
The party made its slow, trudging way
Through the woods and by light,
Managed to rejoin their full company.
In the dark rain, they had passed
Through German outer lines, covering
Almost six miles in the night.
Colonel Ponsonby returned home to
Recuperate and in gratitude to the two
Birmingham men, gave Private Jones
A presentation, to put him forward for
Recommendation - Private Vennicombe
Since then went missing in action,
With the hope that he was taken prisoner.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Battle Stories – Rescuing a Wounded Colonel. The Daily
Telegraph, [online] 31 Oct. p.4. Col.4. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11186100/Daily-Telegraph-October-31-1914.html
[Accessed: 31 October 2014].
Dickerson, B.J., 2009. Submitted by SteveMerc
Globe at War - 1/Black Watch on the Aisne. [online] (Updated Saturday, 16 September 2014)
Available
at: < http://www.globeatwar.com/blog-entry/1black-watch-aisne> Accessed 31st October 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 31 October 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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