Source: File: A
Dog leaping.jpg, 2015. A dog jumps over a first world war
trench, in which German soldiers are pictured in fighting position. Photograph:
Berliner Verlag/Archiv/dpa/Corbis. [online] Available at:<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/19/first-world-war-trench-warfare-letters-editor-archive-1915>
[Accessed: 19 February 2015].
Living in Ardwick, a friend heard
From his friend at the front,
Private H. Clayford - how he had
Experienced war's effect,
With the employment of animals,
In the dangers of the front line.
Within the Lancashire Fusiliers,
Private Clayford had talked
To a sentry, who informed him
Of his belief, how Germans
Had in their service trained dogs.
In January, Private Clayford
Found himself on duty,
Within the ruins of a house –
Due to its situation between
The trench lines the shell had
Became an advance post.
Within the walls of the ruined
House, they made six port-hole
Sized openings, with a sentry
At each - to prevent enemy
Ability to make surprise attacks.
Within the January night, around
11.30 p.m., a sentry fired -
The others quizzed what he had
Shot at – Private Clayford joined
Him, asking what was the target?
He replied that it was a dog.
Adding he had ‘blown it in two.’
With the others informed, quiet
Returned - until within 30 minutes
Another shot rang out -
Private Clayford asked again
What he was shooting at -
His reply was the dog again.
He claimed that while the dog
Was cut in two, the front half
Had carried on moving –
Wriggling from the centre
Of the road, moving to within
Two feet of the port-hole.
As the living dog came nearer,
He noted how it had clenched
What he felt to be a message
Between its teeth - Adding
Further, that he saw a German
Reach out to take the paper.
Private Clayford asked if either
The dog or the German were hit
The sentry said he had missed.
Private Clayford said 'hard Lines.’
Noting how the dog had carried
Out a task, although it had died
He walked off, thinking hard.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File: A
Highly trained Dog. The Guardian. From the archive, 19 February 1915: Letters from the front give a
glimpse of trench warfare. Private H Clayford, Lancashire Fusiliers, writing to
an Ardwick friend, passes on a remarkable dog story. [online] Available at:
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/19/first-world-war-trench-warfare-letters-editor-archive-1915>
Accessed: 19 February 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 19 February 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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