Source: File: North
Regiment, 1916. They have just been issued with the new steel Brodie Helmet.jpg. [online] See original image available at:
<http://www.mylearning.org/the-loyal-north-regiment/images/1-4637/>
[Accessed: 8 March 2016]
Having undergone thorough tests,
A recent addition to Tommy uniforms
Had proved itself with worthy results.
By singular events, the steel casque
Had previously proved a big ability
To protect the wearer during attacks.
Then came broad applications atop
Soldier’s heads, during the fights
From 2 March, with the Bluff assaults.
A high percentage of injuries from
Previous major actions, had found
Certain wounds in dressing stations.
Fractures to men’s skulls had become
Common, forming dangerous wounds -
Battle of the Bluff saw a drop of cases.
The patented Brodie helmet from 1915
Had seen applications by 1916 action -
Collected field helmets held the proof.
From the dented or rented casques,
The wearer had only suffered scalp
Hits; either concussed or unscathed.
One steel bowl had even encountered
A shave with a shell, another a butt end
Of German rifle, both wearers unhurt.
The man had been able to retaliate,
By bayoneting the foe - others studied
Fiercely struck by shrapnel fragments.
Feedback from men who wore Brodies,
Pitted by bullets, were barely aware
Of hits, apart from sudden compression.
They described the like as shelter under
A tin roof during a hailstorm; if cloth caps
Had been worn such men would be dead.
From trench fighting evidence it could
Not be overstated, how the vulnerability
Of heads proved all metal casques value.
Conjecture evoked that other curiosities
May appear, where practicality dictates
Fashion, to revert to days of pikemen.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Life-Saving
Casques - Striking Testimony. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 March 1916. P.10. Col.3. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12183691/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1916.html
[Accessed: 8 March 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 8 March 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1Uniform
No comments:
Post a Comment