A Battery of
French 75’s,
Being well hidden
and positioned,
Had for some time,
avoided
Any discovery –
to hold their own,
Against the
German artillery.
For a few days,
the battery gunners
Had been visited
by a boy,
Between the age
of 10 to 12 years.
His purpose was
selling foodstuffs-
Bartering for
biscuits,
Or selling of beechnuts
for sous.
The battery
commander began
To gain
suspicions over the lad’s
Visits and was to
question him -
As the child
declared ‘the Boches
Haven’t nabbed
you yet?’
The captain said
the enemy were
Stupid beggars -
the child replied
To the Captain,
not to worry
As Boche won’t
get them for some
Time yet – adding
he had told the
Enemy, they were
behind a haystack.
The captain
recalled how that
On the previous
day, the enemy
Had concentrated
rounds
Of ammunition, for
over two hours,
Some hundreds of
yards away -
To the left of
their position,
Destroying a
harmless haystack.
The Captain then
addressed
The young lad
with severity.
Quizzing if he
had told the Boche
Of their movements
– the boy
Answered he did -
but that
He informed them
wrongly.
Came the further
question,
With his
surprised words,
If the Germans
had sent him?
The boy calmly
said yes -
But that he would
tell them
The battery
position was now
At the house, to
the right –
Surprising the
officer.
Asking if he was
surely,
Not returning to
the enemy
Lines, the boy
replied calmly,
He was – his
deadline
Being lunchtime -
or they were
To kill his
mother.
So then the boy
left,
With an empty
basket.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Boy Spy - Visits to a Battery, [online] 11 Dec. p.7. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11285819/Daily-Telegraph-December-11-1914.html
[Accessed: 11 December 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 11 December 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered
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