Source: File: A
street barricade erected by the rebels in Dublin during the Rising. [online]
See original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Osteraufstand_-_Dublin_-_Barrikade.jpg>
(PD-US) [Accessed: 28
April 2016]
Friday - Dublin City, A Warfront
i
Dublin City took
on appearance
Of Western Front,
As British
recaptured various
Crucial holds -
Troops overnight
creating slit
Trenches lines,
as
Struggling Irish
attempt regroups.
As daylight
returned carnage
Covered Dublin
streets -
Snipers renewed morning
work,
To fire over
littered
Ground and burnt
out shells
Of cars and trams;
British armoured
cars are seen.
Reactive
intentions to kill caught
Insurgents are
Halted by hand of
British Major -
To hold them
In the Custom
house - elsewhere
Exhausted
volunteers
Picks out distant khaki shapes.
But movements out
in the Rialto
Cause hesitation -
As shallow graves
are hurriedly
Made - over tense
Minute’s snipers
and gunners
Play waiting
games;
With silence
broken by shots.
ii
Past midday
Sherwood soldiers
Attempt to attack
Rear of GPO - here
Henry Street
Snipers work
To fire point
blank range, sending
Soldiers into
retreat -
Volunteer morale remains high.
Afternoon creeps
onwards with
The Staffordshires
Taking attack on
North King Street.
Until barrages
from
Public houses,
Langhan and Reilly,
Force then into
Side streets, away
from an ambush.
Mid afternoon, a
renewal of attacks
For North King Street,
See
Staffordshires battle against
Langan's pub - the
Concentrated fire
is too much -
Another retreat
Leaves wounded on
pavements.
A third fight for
Reilly's pub results
In same - while
Royal
Irish and
Sherwood Foresters barricade
Moore Street, as British
Adapt street
combat of Irish volunteers.
Echoes of
artillery
Resound from Sackville
to Henry Street.
iii
Buildings are collapsing
all round them,
As artillery
continues
On General Post
Office and Metropole.
An armoured truck
Carries troops
down North King Street
Halting at Lurgan
Street -
A soldier emerges,
immediately shot.
The metal beast
lurches on it way,
Until halted at
Bolton
Junction - the drivers
are wounded.
Within the post
office
A relentless
barrage prompted need
To retreat -
but yet
At 7.30 p.m. daylight
gave little cover.
In under an hour,
the Metropole
Hotel’s collapse
leads
The men there
into the GPO,
Where the fight
Was taking its
toll on nerves
Of volunteers;
Debris falls about the
occupiers.
Fires outside make the walls
Too hot to touch,
But firm resistance
still shoots
From the windows
-
Despite chaos, the
leaders are
Controlling rebel battles -
Barricades edge
out to streets.
Dusk arrives but
is of little help,
As fires light up
streets -
At 10 minutes to
10 p.m., the main
Structure of the
GPO
Has collapsed -
in desperation
A council meets
to pass
Command to Sean
McLoughlin.
Within the
collapsing Dublin city
The decay is half
Hidden by night -
scattered fires,
Fumes of destruction,
Fill every sense
at pointless death;
As the living
fight
Against the
hopeless insanity.
Then a new
headquarters is made,
At 16 Moore
Street -
With sentries on
duty, remains some
Semblance of hope
Among the men and
women there -
In darkness
artillery
Falls silent,
replaced by lone shots.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File: The Irish Times: An Easter Rising timeline: Friday, April 28th, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/an-easter-rising-timeline-friday-april-28th-1916-1.2191007> [Accessed 28 April 2016]
Source: File:
Easter Rising 1916: Six days of armed struggle that changed Irish and British
history. Online. Available at:
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-35873316> [Accessed 28 April 2016]
Source: File: Easter
Rising From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Online. Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising> [Accessed 28 April 2016]
Source: File: Easter
Rising. Online. Available at:
<http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/easter-rising> [Accessed
28 April 2016]
Source: File: The
1916 Easter Rising. Online.
Available at:
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ireland-1845-to-1922/the-1916-easter-rising/>
[Accessed 28 April 2016]
Source: File: The
Battle for the South Dublin Union 1916 by Paul O'Brien Author, Irish Military
Historian. Online. Available at: <http://www.paulobrienauthor.ie/436-2/>
[Accessed 28 April 2016]
Mann, J., 2016.
100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 April
2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Ireland
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