Source: File: "Our
glorious 75", propaganda postcard.jpg, Canon de 75 modèle 1897, Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_de_75_mod%C3%A8le_1897>
Accessed: 10 December 2014].
i:
The modèle 1897 French field-gun,
‘Seventy-five’ was proclaimed
As liberator and saviour of France,
As proclaimed in Revue de Paris.
No censorship is made, in how
This gun works, to cause death,
To an enemy in its' systematic
‘Sweeping and progressive firing.’
The battery, made up of four guns,
Moves into action, then to begin
Firing - on a signaller’s receipt,
Making a given range when seen
That the open enemy is advancing.
The 75’s process is to spray shells,
Over several hundred yards -
In creation of a zone of danger,
In which nothing can have a chance.
With first shot fired, the gunner
Spins a handle, to send a second
Sideways - in zone left by the first,
To be repeated by the third shot;
By combined force, is the death zone.
At chest height in hellish rain,
Each shell bursts above the earth.
Thus a battery of four gunners,
Firing twelve shells clears an area
A kilometer in front,
And a hundred yards in depth.
To follow this strategy a second
Salvo - centres on 100 yards behind,
The first fired three shells per gun,
To clear out a same sized zone.
Then a third salvo focuses on
Another 100 yards beyond
The first - equally effective -
A dozen acres will be churned,
And cleared of anything living,
Under a pounding of 36 shells.
After the rain of bursting metal,
Hangs a silence a deafening
Noise of nothing - akin to the grave.
Propaganda of the gun
Depicts a French solider,
In new uniform of blue,
Feeding white shells,
Into a white, barreled gun.
Observed by a ghostly
Woman - with flowers
On her writing desk giving
A virgin innocence.
ii:
Designed over five years,
From the previous century,
The gun was to prove worth,
At the battle of the Marne.
Simply known as the French 75,
Created as anti-personal -
For using thin shells of Melinite,
And fused shrapnel shells.
First of a modern artillery piece,
The 75 design made allowance
For all day firing over five miles -
Of 15 rounds per minute -
Up to 30 rounds by a skilled crew.
Another advantage of this gun,
Was in recoil mechanism cycle -
Absorbing the retort’s force
In two seconds - to allow a crew
An instant following shot,
Without any need to re-aim -
Leading to the future of rapid fire.
Each 75 four-gun battery,
Would be manned by highly
Trained men - totaling 170,
Led by four officer graduates,
From engineering schools.
To function in field, each 75.
Required twelve horse teams,
Looked after by enlisted men,
Of countryside backgrounds.
These six horses were to pull
A detachable part of a limber -
Another six pulled a further
Ammunition chest for each gun -
In total each 75-gun battery
Was assigned 160 warhorses.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. The French Artillery – The ‘75’ at Work. The Daily
Telegraph, [online] 10 Dec. p.5. Col.1. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11283535/Daily-Telegraph-December-10-1914.html [Accessed: 10 December 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 10 December 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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