Poem ~ Rimma - A Soldier Nurse - Saturday, 2 October 1915

Impression sketch of Rimma Ivanova - by Jamie. Taken from original at:

http://imperor.net/en/the-heroes-of-the-first-world-war-rimma-ivanova/

Undertaking her desire to fight

The Russian cause, a woman

Rimma Ivanova, volunteered.

17 January 1915,she joined

The 83^rd Samur Regiment  -

Under use of a man’s name.

When her identity became

Revealed, Rimma continued

To serve; this time a volunteer.

With her true name she then

Rescued many wounded men

Under fire of machine guns.

Her selfless actions showed

Courage and Rimma gained

St George Cross 4^th degree.

With granted leave in August

1915, Rimma enrolled in 105th

Infantry regiment - As a nurse

She came under the command

Of her brother - the regiment's 

Doctor, Vladimar Invanova.

Yet word arrived from home with

Worried concerns for a daughter's

Safety - Rimma replied in a letter

To her parents to say ‘you should

Be happy. If you love me, let me

Be a true nurse - if you love me.

A version of her name described

Mira Michaelova Ivanova reporting

Her in battle; 22 September 1915.

A duty bound nurse, she assisted

All the wounded men as they fell.

Amid the chaos officers and her

Brother ordered her to find shelter -

Finding that impossible Rimma

Stayed with the wounded men.

Then armed only with morphine

And bandage supplies, she could

Only wait and observe the fighting.

The change of battle about her

Reaching a crucial stage - when

All officers wee killed or fell -

Nurse Rimma Ivanova then saw

How the surviving soldiers began

To fail and lose all their heart.

Standing tall amid them, Rimma

Ivanova recalled the remaining

Numbers of infantry regiment -

Reformed and fired by a woman -

Rimma now took up arms and

Led the Russian soldiers forward.

In a final charge they captured

An enemy trench - when Rimma

Hit by a bullet in the thigh, died.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. A Russian Heroine - Leading A Charge. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 October. P.10. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11902168/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1915.html [Accessed: 2 October 2015].

Source: File: Rimma Ivanova. The short life of the heroine [online] Available at: < http://imperor.net/en/the-heroes-of-the-first-world-war-rimma-ivanova/> [Accessed: 2 October 2015]

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 2 October 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11902168/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1915.html

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