Source: File:
German troops advancing during the Battle for Verdun.jpg. [online] See original image available at: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-v-micallef/this-week-in-world-war-i_b_9281672.html> [Accessed: 9 March 2016
A communiqué by
the French army's
British
representative Warner Allen,
From only hours
before, was to tell
Of imminent
situations at Verdun.
With the curve of
the Meuse about
The position of French
defense forts,
Enemy advances
proceeded along
Its bank on western
side - prompted
By halting enemy
on the eastern side.
Cote du Poivre
and Douaumont
Had checked all German
progress -
Within a wavering
heartbeat action,
Troops pulsed
from east to west.
Lying in shallow
hollow of marshy land,
Forges village
became an advance
Post - while main
defence line moved
About Bois des
Corbeaux, Bethincourt
Bois de Cumieres
and Cote de l'Oie.
Despite
difficulties of grand movements
French held onto
advanced positions
Of western bank -
to fall back about
Douaumont, preparing
for any attack.
Finally French
held Forges succumbed
To German assault,
only after a heavy
Fight and many
losses - in their need to
Regroup before
turning on Cote de l'Oie
And Bethincourt,
under fortunate tactics.
German Army Corps
brought their
Guns, where land
rose in terraces -
On the Meuse's
east side, batteries
Were readied to
annoy the French.
Both sides of river Meuse were open
To exposure of
fire from Brabant -
Despite an apparent
commanding post
The Germans,
other than a foothold
In Bois des
Corbeaux, became stuck.
An Allen
prediction for the Germans,
Were heavy losses
in any new move,
While Regneville
witnessed minor
Advances, about flooded Meuse loop.
The river acted
as a barrier, where
Rising waters about northern loop
Made for any
impractical progress -
The German trail
moved to rail lines.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Attack
on Verdun - Capture Of Forges - New French Positions. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 9 March 1916.
P.10. Col.4. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12183709/Daily-Telegraph-March-9-1916.html
[Accessed: 9 March 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 9 March 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1Westerfront
No comments:
Post a Comment