Poem ~ Hill 627: Blown - Tuesday, 27 April 1915

Within the Vosges fighting front, as about

The Argonne, Champagne and Artois -

Distances between German lines

And French, lay a short distance apart.

In equality of strong defensive forces each

Side have required - where ground allowed,

To build saps and set out to mine the other;

In early April slow methodical work began.

The region of the Ban de Sapt had seen

Steady operations to lead to brutality

Of encounters - As General staff looking

On maps gave one hill a number, 627.

The raised ground lay east of Fontenelle

Where allied worked to build a strong line

Of defences, with advanced works -

Then the Germans decided to lay siege.

The closeness of opposing armies, only

Some 25 metres apart, gave away odd

Sounds, suggesting subterranean moves.

Having halted their first plan to rush

Hill 627 came the enemy’s new intentions

To undermine Hill 627 - local geography

Though found a solid layer of rock below.

Under deceiving soil layer picks and drills

Hit the impervious rocks - counter mines

Were readied beyond French positions

Before the Front occurred lively actions.

A start was made in destroying German

Sap- prompting return of a heavy mine

Just below the surface ignited 6.30 p.m.

On 10 April resulting in a mass earth fall.

One, then two explosions sent ground

To wreck allies parapets and bury their

Defenders – a German rush occurred

Into the trench, throwing explosives.

The French Infantry put up resistance

Into night – and with sappers, melinite

Bombs and grenades over each inch

Against enemy sandbag barricades.

A German 'coup de main' happened

8.30 p.m. on the 13th Germans used

Darkness – coming via right with hand

Bombs to cross over to be separated.

From their communication trenches

The soldiers’ believed in surrounding

Their enemy - calling out 'Surrender

Frenchmen!' but this was not to be.

At night a new trench dug, allowed

French defenders to evacuate post

They had left mined – they allowed

The Germans to settle into position.

After some minutes the order went

To blow the mine – but a man was

Cut down, before reaching the fuse,

But another man stepped to do deed.

In sudden destruction chaos occurred

The explosive shook all the workings

From a hundred explosive kilograms;

Destroying the trap of an old trench.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Mine Warfare - French Sappers Success. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 28 Apr. P.12. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11561761/Daily-Telegraph-April-27-1915.html [Accessed: 27 April 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 April 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11561761/Daily-Telegraph-April-27-1915.html

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