Source: File: Battle
at La Bassee.jpg, 2015. Vince: Subject: Re: bassée in NORTH Sun, February 22 -
0:38. Photos of Lower collection of menbre
"BIFFIN59. [online]
Available at:<http://lagrandeguerre.cultureforum.net/t13469-la-bassee-dans-le-nord> [Accessed:
14 February 2015].
Following on from
the English Howitzers',
Was revealed, how taking of prisoners
And the confiscation
of their letters, shows
Dispirited and self-deceived
Germans.
Prisoners
In the capture of
prisoners it was already
Known many of the
German soldiers
Generally had
poor physical conditions -
In support of
this, one dead German,
Was found to have
medical certificates
To state
he had suffered consumption.
Both signed by a
doctor with his father's
Letter,
stating his son was not to be on
Active service, due to his lung problems.
Clarity came from
the action of 25 January
When, at 8 a.m.,
a German breakthrough
Was made at the
allied lines of Givenchy.
Storming the village - counter attacked
By bayonet and
driven back - the fight
Went on for hours, with swarms of enemy
Forcing their way
in - cutting down many,
They broke into
British trenches and beyond.
While the British
line was breaking - pockets
Resisted and held on fiercely - despite being
Attacked from the
back - came forces against
The rear parapets
with rifle and bayonet.
While infantry in
the village driving enemy out
From the
houses - became quickly scattered.
One lone infantryman
gave an attack on one
House - held out by
eight German infantry
Each fired upon
the other - when two stray
Allied infantry men came to assist - so they
Moved in closer - the
three, amid a hail of fire,
Broke into the
house to kill four adversaries,
To bring out
the four survivors as prisoners.
Within the houses a group of fifteen British
Remained together - to see at the village edge
Remained together - to see at the village edge
That the Germans had
captured a fire trench -
Diving down into a communication ditch
the fifteen charged towards the enemy, facing
Forty in total - their task, to kill or capture.
Diving down into a communication ditch
the fifteen charged towards the enemy, facing
Forty in total - their task, to kill or capture.
Letters
Taken from
searched prisoners,
Were letters
received from their
Homes - two of
them told of untruths
And effects of six months of
war.
Barmen, a pioneer town of industry
In the region of Bergisches - east
In the region of Bergisches - east
Of the river
Rhine - a place of lakes,
Creeks, woods and meadows
Home of captured
German soldiers,
Whose letters
told of their struggles.
The writer of one
hoped for peace -
As suffering was
affecting everything;
How work had
become reduced -
The belief Switzerland would stand
Against England -
with such unity,
The English neck
would be wrung.
In Barmen, the
Landsturm would
Soon be called
and he too would go
To war. In Barmen, soldiers on leave
Were closely watched that after 9 p.m.
Soldiers were banned in public houses.
One brother's letter
stated how food
Was short in
Barmen - all margarine
And dark bread -
(no white available)
The price, static - yet all else doubled
Yet good trade existed in the military.
Due to expense leather goods were
Not made, Their uncle was without
Employment as work was scarce -
Yet good trade existed in the military.
An 18 year old
prisoner, a volunteer,
Had been in an
Obersecund class
At school, when
war had broken out -
A letter from
a young brother spoke
Of his class, having to join a 'Jugend
Compagnie' - except
for two of them -
He was excused, being 14 years old.
An older soldier, in a December letter,
Seized on how
many were prisoners.
As an old soldier, he pities the receiver,
Who must have had short, bad training -
Fourth class
shots who just shoot away -
While not his fault,
who does his duty,
It is the poor leaders and their system.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Fighting
in Flanders - House to House Struggle
- Eye-Witness's Account. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 14 Feb. P.9. Col.6. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11406417/Daily-Telegraph-February-13-1915.html
[Accessed: 14 February 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 14 February 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1La Bassée
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