Poem ~ RMS Alacantra Versus SMS Greif - Tuesday, 29 February 1916

Impression sketch of RMS Alcantara engaging the German raider Grief, 29 February 1916 - by Jamie. From an original image that can be seen at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcantara_1916.jpg> [Accessed: 29 February 2016]

i

In construction for the Royal Mail

Steam Packet Company, Alcantara

Began her voyages by 1913 - one

Of the final 'A' series of ships

Powered by three propellers.

An Ocean Liner for peaceful voyages,

To sail from Southampton down

To Buenos Aires over the waters,

Was a German commissioned steel 

Hulled cargo steamship, Guben.

Built for the German Australian Line -

Matters changed when Guben

Became SMS Greif - converted

For navel service; given torpedoes,

Four 15 cm and 10.5 rapid guns.

Not so far behind, RMS Alcantara

Was requisitioned as an armed

Merchant cruiser - provided depth

Charges, anti aircraft gunnery,

With six 6-in guns - RMS was ready.

As part of the northern sea patrol,

Alcantara's mission was to halt

Any German access about North

Atlantic - activity about Russia's

Archangelsk sent her to investigate.

With belief of a German submarine

Base situated in the Arctic Ocean,

Alcantara arrived at volcanic isle

Of Jan Mayen - a party found only

Remains of a North Pole expedition.

An abandoned base of 1882, where

Arctic fox cubs roamed, to be kept

Briefly as Alcantara pets - by 1916

The cruiser left for their squadrons

10th patrol to return on 1st March.

The fully kitted SMS Greif begun

Her tour to sail 27 February, under

Guise of flying a Norwegian flag -

Sailing with concealed armaments,

Her role to be a commercial raider.

ii

The assigned route of Greif was to sail

Into the Atlantic from Iceland’s north,

To aim for German East Africa - should

Need arise - calmly steaming a course,

Greif maintained appearance of Rena.

On one day that exists only every four

Years, Alcantara set to meet Andes -

Sailing close to Shetland to be notified

To halt - should a suspicious ship make

An appearance. A look out made a check.

At a distance the Andes had seen smoke

Of a two funneled boat, whose identity

Was in doubt - the Alcantara look out

Felt the boat authentic - yet to make check,

A cutter lowered, as the boat received a note.

The Andes had signaled Captain Wardle,

Who advised this was the suspicious boat.

Then the Rena revealed self as Greif -

Revealing their full gunnery, they fired down

On boarding cutter, then at the boat's bridge.

Alcantara's steering gear was hit - Captain

Waddle ordered return fire - with emergency

Gear in place, the exchange of close

Quarters continued, as the Greif turned

Starboard to aim for the Alcantara's waterline.

From only 2000 to 750 yard enemy shells cut

Into the engine room - Greif attempted

Torpedoes, yet evasive moves supposedly

Avoided these, when a hit struck at her

Portside - Alcantara's 6-inch gun fired back.

Ammunitions of Greif's aft gun was struck,

Put out of action by 10.15 a.m. - the ships

Bridge was on fire to halt at 10.22 a.m. -

Boats began to leave, as Alcantara ceased

Fire - Still the encounter was not quite over.

At 3 knots without any working steering

Gear, Alcantara at 10.35 a.m. became

Jammed turning starboard  - a flooded

Engine room did not receive message to

Halt - all then seemed lost for Alcantara.

Within 30 minutes tilting on her beam end,

The abandoned Alfantara went down -

The Andes and Munster had then arrived.

Greif was still afloat, when a final shot

Discharged by a raging fire made final show.

With assistance of Comus and the Andes,

The Greif went down in a final explosion -

To lose 230 crew  - as rescue manoeuvres 

In reaching lifeboats was delayed, by idea

Of a submarine - but rescues went ahead.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Action of 29 February 1916. Wikipedia. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_29_February_1916> Accessed 29 February 2016

Source: File: RMS Alcantara (1913). Wikipedia. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Alcantara_%281913%29> Accessed 29 February 2016

Source: File: SMS Greif (1914). Wikipedia. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Alcantara_%281913%29> Accessed 29 February 2016

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Poem ~ Mother's War Ultimatum - Monday, 28 February 1916

Impression sketch : Mother's War Ultimatum - by Jamie.

From the letter of an Englishman

Came a story of New York.

A French acquaintance had recently

Travelled back from America -

During his time there he had dined

In a New York restaurant.

When ordering his meal he found

The waiter to be French.

Developing a conversation, he asked

The young man of Europe

Why he was not fighting for France -

A reason was forthcoming.

The French waiter told how he would

Soon make his way to fight.

He handed the traveller a letter just

Received from his mother -

The correspondence informed her son

He had lost both brothers.

Her words spelled out her patriotism;

As she declared, while

Being her only remaining son, unless

He did not come back

To France in fighting for their country,

He need never return to her.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. French Mothers Patriotism. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 28 February 1916. P.7. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12175151/Daily-Telegraph-February-28-1916.html [Accessed: 28 February 2016].

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12175151/Daily-Telegraph-February-28-1916.html

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Poem ~ Tree Border Guards - Sunday, 27 February 1916

Impression sketch of a German sentry carved from a tree stump - by Jamie. From an original image that can be seen at: <http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/a-wooden-soldier-in-real-war-a-pollarded-german-guard-iln0-1916-0226-0007-001/ l> [Accessed: 27 February 2016]

As battles unfold,

By advance or retreat,

Comes luck to escape -

Or poor fortune

In capture.

In such events

Two such soldiers

Of France, found

Themselves

Prisoners.

Amid others

Transportation took

Them to Germany,

For incarceration

Of a camp.

On route these two

Men managed to get

Free - adapting

To events,

They hid.

By stealth, both

Then made their way

To reach border

Of Holland and

Germany.

After time, to feel

They would step freely

Across to Dutch soils,

Despair filled

Them both.

Just ahead they

Saw a sentry, steely

Guarding the passage

To their freedom -

What next?

They prepared

To fight and readied

To die, rather than

Give into that

Waiting sentry.

The German figure

Was on diligent guard;

With a fixed gaze,

Stared unmoved

Into Germany.

The two French

Picked up a rock, along

With a stick, readied

To strike for

Freedom.

From hiding

They rushed the guard,

Who made no move -

A striking rock

Bounced

Off him.

Heightened

By their attack, the two

Men fell, shocked

To their knees

Before the foe.

That alert German

They spied at distance,

Was nothing more

Than wood - sticks

Grew at his feet.

A stump of a tree

Had been cut and carved -

Pollarded into

Shape of a

German.

They had been

Fooled by the duplicity

Of clever crafting -

To admire

The skill.

They stepped past

The inanimate German,

To discover close

By, other such

Sentry trees.

Without any real

Soldier’s, only numbers

Of stumps stood

To resemble a

Frontier guard.

In wonder, the two

French soldiers walked

Into neutrality -

Days later back

In their regiment.

The two escapees,

In telling their story caused

Great amusement,

Regarding stumps

Of wooden sentries.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. A Wooden Soldier In Real War: A Pollarded German 'Guard'!. The Illustrated London News, [online] 27 February 1916. 263. Available at: http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/a-wooden-soldier-in-real-war-a-pollarded-german-guard-iln0-1916-0226-0007-001/ [Accessed: 27 February 2016].

http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/a-wooden-soldier-in-real-war-a-pollarded-german-guard-iln0-1916-0226-0007-001/

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Poem ~ Yorkshires Seek Prisoner - Friday, 25 February - Saturday, 26 February 1916

Impression sketch for Yorkshires Seek Prisoner - by Jamie

As rumours go, based on truth,

Was story of Canadian troopers,

Taking up the hobby of dipping

Into trenches - making short

A shift of work returning home,

To convey a prisoner or two.

In liking for a type of such Red Indian

Warfare, there were also others; young

British officers who, being itchy all day

For the night to come, when time allowed

Night patrols in their moving out to wire.

Another rumour in the then

Trenches of Yorkshire lads,

Was their general's pleasure,

To bring a prisoner to him -

A proposal of a sortie was

Soon discussed in dug outs.

One non commissioned officer

In league with an eager sergeant,

Formulated their idea into a plan.

Completed by four lieutenants,

Who set to find their volunteers.

Included was one private

With a waggish humour

And roguish eyes - two
Parties after dark found
Yards equal to miles, with
The dead earth lit by flares.

At intervals of regularity came

A sudden whoosh, as rockets

Flared the dark - with sudden

Stark white lights, the parapets

And wire made stark silhouettes.

Beneath the harsh lit

White, crawling forms

Of Yorkshire men halted -

Pressing exposed selves

Downwards, into the spin

Of earth beneath them.

When darkness held them again,

They crawled on fingers - inch

By inch - following blindly the path

Of leading subalterns, towards

A gap of a curved enemy trench.

Between two bays that

Flashed in white relief,

The Yorkshires paused -

In the loop they listened

Intently, hearing a sentry

Stamping his cold feet.

The sentry paced back and forth,

For warmth he gave a quiet whistle.

His exhale patterning in harsh light

Of white flares where he thought

He was alone, unaware of English.

The Yorkshires lay close

To him, holding breathes,

Clasping revolvers - two

Lieutenants fingered way

To the parapet - behind

Men were left to instinct.

Any orders would alert the sentry;

One man led himself to clamber

Down into trench, only yards from

The sentry - as a wolf he tensed

For his prey, as footsteps came.

Moving in the dank sunk

Was a black form, marked

By glowing cigarette nub;

A German officer on rounds.

The man leapt away, his

Feet hung over the trench.

With legs lying in open air, head

Towards British lines - the officer's

Passing cloak, gently stroked his

Heels - the lad twisted in tension,

To see the German go on his way.

Close by, the lonely

Sentry made a  whistle,

A tune of home to try

And cheer his isolation,

When the alert of a click

Changed everything.

One lieutenant aimed his gun

But the mud filled its mechanism,

So it could not fire - the sentry

Spun, his whistle became a gasp -

Now he was blind with terror.

To fall from the parapet

Was a British sergeant -

Before him the boy sentry

Suddenly shrieked with

A yell - an English hand

About his German throat.

The fingers were trying to strangle

Him - he struggled when a second

Englishman an officer, was before

Him - to hold a cold barrel against his

Neck, to feel thump of a dud revolver.

The first officer sought

To knock him out, while

A trigger squeezed and

Blew away the sentry’s

Life - the same bullet also

Shot the sergeant's hand.

Now all alarm was raised - attempts

To gain any prisoner was lost, with

Thuds of German boots, hurrying 

To a lost rescue of their fellow sentry;

The raiding party scrambled away.

Over the slimy parapet

they fell into a watery ditch -

All attempts were to race

For their home trench -

Under the white flares

And heel snapping bullets.

The split of two parties had found

The other Yorkshire group troubled,

To find their way across a sodden

Ditch - they came against enemy

Wire, slowed down by making a gap.

In breaking through

The leaders split - the

Sergeant to the left

Lieutenants to right -

Their men close behind

To creep forwards.

In the target bay the sergeant soon

Discovered two German sentries,

Whose alert facial status prompted

Him to throw them a grenade -

The noisome result looked to work.

From a dugout two

Germans appeared

Into the smoky hole -

The sergeant sent

Another bomb, when

More soldiers came.

Making for a sharp exit - along

With him the party crouched,

As the enemy flung bombs

Towards them - only to realise

Their lieutenant was missing.

Turning back to find

Him, the sergeant saw

From out of the dark,

A shadow lift  - a flare

Burst revealed a white

Face, a result of wounds.

Despite a bayonet neck injury

And shrapnel hit, the Lieutenant

Lead the party back to safety -

Only one left of their number had

A delay; the grinning eyed man.

Lying in a ditch,

The Yorkshire man

Maintained calm -

Although caught

By the enemy wire,

Expectant of death.

Certain that his bombs had

Killed a number of the Hun,

He tried to get free of the trap.

His boots were caught - only by

Removing them he might get out.

Feeling that they

Were very good

Boots, he could

Not part with them -

Twisting once, then

Again he was free.

Both parties returned in safety,

Despite a lack of any prisoner

There were no regrets in giving

The Germans the jumps - which

Continued over consecutive nights.

Apparently seeing

Shadows, the Hun 
Habitually tossed
Bombs at their  

Own barbed wire; 

To humor the Yorks.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Daring Yorkshires - 'No Man's Land' Exploit. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 February 1916. P.9. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12169037/Daily-Telegraph-February-24-1916.html [Accessed: 25 February 2016].

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12169037/Daily-Telegraph-February-24-1916.html

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Poem ~ Verdun: A German Success? - Thursday, 24 February 1916

Source: File: Germans helping a French wounded soldier.jpg. [online]  Available at: <http://wereldoorlog1418.nl/battleverdun/kortverdun/index.htm#03> [Accessed: 24 February 2016]

Via the waves of wireless press,

Came a version from the other side -

Two days after an initial German

Push, news finally reached Berlin.

In content of a report from main

Headquarters, told how from east

Of Souchez, their enemy's trenches

Fell, damaged by German mines.

With Souchez success brought

Rewards of three machine guns -

To capture prisoners; 348 soldiers,

Along with 11 French officers.

Meanwhile upon the Meuse Hills,

On the 21 day of February, saw duel

Of artillery along the Meuse's east

River bank, in a plan of strategy.

A French hope had been to hold

Onto that rivers edge - seen to be

Where they had worked to fortify

A hold for over a year and a half.

In that situation the French would

Suffer catastrophe from German

Artillery attack; close to communes  

Of Azannes and Consenvoye.

With fated villages in a fortressed

Area, defences of German held out

North of Woevre - all to add to their

Success by second day of Verdun.

Across a three mile push inwards,

Bois des Caures was taken; troops

Closed in on Flabas village - later

To take the village of Haumont.

German successes in upper Alsace

Lay in eastward attacks of Heidwiler -

Capturing an allied position, half mile

In length and 400 metres in depth.

The victory for Germany had totaled

3000 prisoners and material claims -

To then fail 23 February, by French

Resistance at Bois de l'Herbebois.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. The Verdun Battle - German Version. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 24 February 1916. P.9. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12169037/Daily-Telegraph-February-24-1916.html [Accessed: 24 February 2016].

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12169037/Daily-Telegraph-February-24-1916.html

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