Impression
sketch of the lost men of Mons - by Jamie.
From Rotterdam came a story of six
British soldiers, who separated at
Mons -
Over months, evaded German lines
Reaching Holland to tell of strange days.
The six were in the very first fight
That happened at Mons, August 1914
-
During the retreat they became
Cut off from their regiment and
trapped.
With the Germans making their pincer
Movements, the six men crept
Stealthily about them, to
find themselves
Fugitives about occupied Belgium.
They spent time sheltering in fields
And dugouts, to be in games
Of hide and seek from German eyes.
In a report they were said,
To yearn to see home and then back
To Flanders - their tales told
By James Garrigham and Jenkins,
How on 26 August, the enemy
Around them as they stuck to a
trench.
There was a shout to cease-fire,
But the officer identified it as a
German
Ploy – so they kept up their fire -
Twice more, the call to cease came.
Sending out four men to the flank,
The Captain stood, to be shot and die
Instantly – Another took charge
With order to charge - one charge
Followed by another.
With this leader hit in hip, they tried
A third charge - made in pitch
darkness
They had to retreat - now down
To seven men and still surrounded.
Huddled together, hiding low in a
ditch,
In light of morning they discovered
Selves’ only two fields distant from
Germans - being in midst of their
lines -
All day was spent low in paddock.
The seven were joined by eight
French -
To keep from sight until nearly all
enemy
Had gone by - by then, the party grew
To ten French and eleven Englishmen.
Being stuck they lived about
orchards
For ten days to live on pears -
Desperation for food prompted them
To move closer to a village,
Ready to fight to the very last man.
The two-nation company were about
To leave their orchard shelter,
When two of the French were caught
By twelve Germans - without
Chance of surrender to be bayoneted.
The remainder began to move through
A forest - following rail lines into
A village. The company took shelter
In a barn, as a woman helped them,
Providing milk for three times a day.
Their safety was to end, when came
Germans occupied the village.
To recognise the woman washing
'Grey-back' army shirts.
Over three days holding her at
bayonet,
Trying to make the woman confess -
In threats to daughters age 16 and 9
-
But they never gave men away.
With threat too great for discovery,
The band took into fields as Germans
Surrounded village, on three sides -
Their escape led by a scout Private
Jamieson, under twelve Uhlans noses.
Within another quiet field the
company
Remained for a month - only six
Fields distant from enemy positions
-
By a fence to dig a hiding trench.
A farmer provide civilian clothes,
while
Under German view, they worked
The farmer’s fields for three weeks,
Until came need to move on again.
Possibly such a large party proving
Hard to safely hide, they divided
Into three - the British party of
eight
Made a dugout in a field, where
They lived for a month and emerged,
At night for a village close by, for
Food - one French men alerted them
To a notice in the villages around,
to say
They knew of hiding English to
give
Warnings - they would be shot if
caught.
Leaving that area they moved
on intent,
Keeping to same plan - where they
Settled again, the weather then worsened
-
Days spent, baling out their dug out.
Suffering increased, with being
starved
For prolonged times - becoming
sickened
The men looked to find better
shelter
Above ground - covering more ground
Somewhere in Belgian, they grouped
To build a hut, in some corner of a
field.
The fugitive soldiers were then to
place
Selves in civilian hands, whose
friendship
Helped them move across country -
Daily they moved, openly passing
enemy
Sentries and at times used railways.
Luck kept with them, now the six men
-
What happened to other two? - wore
Uniforms under given civilian
clothing -
Private Garringhan told how they
Kept to their khaki, with rifles
handy.
They had agreed between them never
To be taken prisoners - if falling
Into German hands they had seen what
They had did and would die fighting -
With Belgium civilian help they made
It to the frontier - in three
attempts
Crossed into Dutch territory - they
had
Crept through barbed wire - a result
Of Private Jenkins gaining scratches
Across the face and tearing clothing.
Finally they made it into safety of
Holland.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Amazing Odyssey of six
British Soldiers - Fugitives Since Mons. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 May. P.8. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11600384/Daily-Telegraph-May-17-1915.html
[Accessed: 17 May 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 17 May 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Mons
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