Poem ~ Rise And Fall Of Thiepval Chateau - Monday, 31 July 1916 - Tuesday, 01 August 1916

Source: File: Thiepval Chateau before the War.  See an original image at: <https://armycadetsgreatermanchester.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/gmacf-pay-respects-at-thiepval-cemetery/thiepval-chateau-before-the-war/> [Accessed 31 July 2016]

Source: File: Thiepval Chateau.  See an original image at: <http://gutenberg.polytechnic.edu.na/4/3/9/6/43969/43969-h/43969-h.htm> [Accessed 31 July 2016]

Thiepval Chateau German Postcard showing destruction. Source: unknown

 i

The Somme, from time back in history,

Situated in Nord-Pas-de-Calais Picardie -

The river of that name deriving in Celtic

Origins, with the meaning of tranquility.

In a notable year Norman King William,

The Conqueror, assembled an invading

Fleet where the river formed Somme

Bay, flowing into the English Channel.

In a foothold on French soil, more kings

Of England made claims to France,

That became the hundred years war -

When Edward III forded the Somme.

Emerged the battle of Blanchetaque -

Then on into the Lancastrian phase

In the Agincourt campaign of 1415,

When Henry V camped at Thiepval.

The river of tranquility flowed through

310 years to a different history stage,

In the year 1725 where foundations

Settled down to build a new chateau.

Builders were the Comte de Bréda

Family, whose long lineage built

On the high ground of a ridge, close

To the Somme village of Thiepval.

ii

Amid its rural setting this new chateau

Had a fine view across a quiet idyll

Of the Ancre valley, with extensive

Sloping gardens; an impressive estate.

Once biggest Somme village, Thiepval

Peaked at 400 - by 1844 the people's

Lives were led by Thiepval chateau,

Whose family they worked for; this

Included hamlet of Saint Pierre Divion.

Though in isolation amidst French

Countryside, Thiepval was punctuated

With history's events - in 5th century

Had been the building of a fort chateau.

Established by 1st seigneur Thiedu

Thierry - still later another fort was

Constructed in 13th century - on

Land close to where a stone chateau

Was to stand by the 18th century.

Ancre valley views became enjoyed

By 1725, from a 70 metre high balcony

Of the chateau's frontage - the Thiepval

Name well established by that time.

The place having a German influenced

Origin - the land had once been owned

By Thiebaut Waldgerman - with Val for

Forest; two words melded into Thiepval.

iii

Over following 145 years some ordinary

Normality settled as the commune grew -

Villagers worked for the Comte de Bréda

Family, with years farming their estate.

Even the village of Thiepval relocated

From original place of the valley, closer

To the chateau - then came the Franco

Prussian war affecting this long peace,

When Thiepval witnessed destruction.

Over 12 months from 1870 to 1871

Prussian troops swept across lands -

Although the chateau was left whole

The church of Thiepval burnt down.

After conflicts died away life once

More at Thievel, returned to peace

To peace again - along with village

Saint Pierre Divion, prosperity came

For a time to Comte de Bréda family.

After years the Thiepval house finally

Began to fall into disrepair - the last

Family member, Comte Jacques

De Bréda, sold the ailing chateau.

Wealthy Parisian Henri Portier, retired

Engineer and military officer started

From 1912, over the next two years,

Made renovation of the faded grandeur.

iV

On reaching the summer of 1914,

The renewed chateau was ready

For Portier to move into, to enjoy

His retirement  - until another threat.

Conflict begun to brew over borders

With Germany - feelings of safety

Perhaps maintained a while, recorded

In various historique and pictuersque

Postcards of M'suer Portier's chateau.

Within weeks, a German invasion

Began a hold on France to move

Onto the Somme - threat of danger
Brought fear to Henri Portier's family.

In a hurried departure Portier left

Thiepval chateau, soon followed

By the villagers - 26th Division of

Wurttemberg having once passed

Through, returned by September.

Finding Thiepval chateau deserted,

The Germans commandeered the

House as part of their defences -

A good situation on high ground.

Looking across Ancre river and

Valley Thiepval proved worthy;

Both as observation of the French

Progress and as Field Command

Headquarters to house officers.

V

As the chateau's new inhabitants

Settled, the remainder of 1914

Passed quietly into 1915 that gave

Time for German orders to dig in.

Dig in and dig in deep - the chalk

Ground was dug into and reinforced

With concrete - utilising Thiepval's

Chateau’s well built, solid cellars.

Within months of work, German

Troops firmly established Thiepval

As a fortress village - though area

Of the Somme remained quiet.

Part of the western front plans

Of the allies would set course in

Changing that situation - Somme

Was chosen as ground for allies

Ideas of a Big Push, for mid 1916.

Under steady shells of demolition,

The village of Thiepval was soon

Falling into ruin - while an eighteen

Century chateau was artillery target.

German leaders forced to abandon

Grandeur, to its now inevitable fate -

With a situation on high ground

Any respect for past was ignored,

In country's defence of growing war.

Vi

French postcards had once showed

A well-kept estate of a Grand historic

Renovated home - then within two

Years a German card illustrated ruins.

In black and white of barren blasted

Grounds, wall remnants stood beside

A road that passed the estate's gates,

Where hacked trees stood before

A battered, crumbling chateau edifice.

By Jamie Mann.

Source: File: The village of Thiepval before the Great War. Available at: <http://sqmg.mobi/mobilepages/tag/109> [Accessed 31 July 2016]

Source: File: Battle of Thiepval Ridge. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thiepval_Ridge> [Accessed 31 July 2016]

Source: File: The Thiepval Memorial. Available at: <http://www.nevworldwonders.com/2014/04/53-wonder-thiepval-memorial.html> [Accessed 31 July 2016]

Source: File: Thiepval Village. Available at: <https://www.facebook.com/Thiepval/posts/459286010788955> [Accessed 31 July 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 31 July 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Thiepval

Poem ~ Devils Work In Delville Wood - Friday, 28 July 1916 - Sunday, 30 July 1916

Source: File: Military Artist drawing of the Battle of Delville Wood, The Somme. July 1916.  See an original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delville_Wood_Battle_July_1916.jpg> [Accessed 28 July 2016]

i

Another commune in the Somme

To have strategic value, Longueval -

Whose western edge connected

To a tract of woodland - Delville

Wood - high trees in one kilometre

Square of hornbeam and beech.

Longueval village marked a cross

Roads, west to Montauban, east

To Ginchy and north to Flers -

By battle's baptism the systematic

Networks took on British streets;

Piccadilly Strand and Rotten Row.

To name just a few - but to capture

This sector, Trones Wood would

Have to be gained, with its south

Approach - a neglected pear shape

Collection of trees, was a tumble

Of undergrowth and fallen trunks.

Artillery hacked away at Trones,

That by 9th July was briefly taken

By 17th Manchesters - whose

Advance was hampered in need

To wear gas masks in rain - but

Counter artillery forced them out.

Trones saw attacks and counter

Attacks - then orders were gained

In capture of a German officer -

To frustrate their intentions after

Days of exhaustive fighting, an

Order was given to get it done.

Target date was midnight 13 July -

From before dawn a plan to make

Gain was to enter north to south,

Securing eastern edge as they

Went - despite confusion in dark,

Their progress was successful.

Lt Colonel Maxwell led support

From 8 a.m. to come across mix

Of men in Trones - recently lost

And isolated by previous attacks,

Men reformed together into some

Formation, into an east west line. 

In a sweeping action they began

To sweep the wood northwards -

With orders to shoot at anything

That might hide snipers - making

A successful operation till stopped,

By enemy machine gun positions.

Situated by a light railway through

The middle of a wood, Maxwell took

A party on a stealth tactic - taking

The Germans down and gaining

A machine-gun - then by 9.30 a.m.
Trones was cleared of enemy hold.

While not a rapid capture, Trones

Wood opened up the way to village

Of Longueval and in turn Delville

Wood, attached to Scottish Division

The job was given to South Africans

1st infantry brigade, date 16 July.

ii

Veteran of Zulu and Boar Wars,

Brigadier General Henry Lukin

Was given the order to 'take wood

At all costs' - with a shifting time

To zero hour from 5 p.m. to 7p.m.

Then 5 a.m. on 15 July, it began.

Prior to daylight, 3 battalions

Edged from Montauban, led by

Lt-Col Tanner - initially matters

Went well - the wood had been

Heavily shelled and in wrecked
Nature, no tree was untouched.

Root systems had been exposed,

As South Africans progressed 

Between blackened stumps - with

Minimal resistance a southern

Part was gained, up to Prince's

Street - by 7 a.m. all was well.

To secure the northern edge two

Companies moved, followed

By battalions in north east fan -

At noon Tanner reported that

With exception of northwestern

Edge, Delville wood was in hand.

In the normal securing of ground

Were orders to dig trenches, but

The Germans had not given in -

To provide a continual bombs

Of all calibers - interspersed with

Gas, casualties began to grow.

The ease of digging trenches

Was not possible, amid fallen

Trees and exposed roots, so

Little more than scraped areas

Were made - the early progress

Dispersed as situation changed.

From the afternoon's beginning, on

Northeast edge, an allied battalion

Was thrown back, having lost all

Their officers - by 3 p.m. reserves 

Of Bavarian infantry attempted

To make a return to Delville wood.

Though they were driven back,

Other German forces had massed

North of the wood - as Tanner

Asked for reinforcements - Scottish

Infantry were sent as runners,

Taking messages back and forth.

Tanner was ordered by Lukin

To dig in, despite their fatigue -

Expected shelling by Germans

Of gas and high caliber filled

The darkness; renewed orders

Were to recapture at any cost.

At the midnight hour Germans

Embarked on their task, only

To be driven back from 50 yard

Mark, by machine and artillery

Fire - in their displeasure German

Artillery sent 400 shells a minute.

iii

Casualties were massing higher,

As bodies began to pile in shell

Holes - in places four deep - rain

Water and blood lapped about -

Beneath shattered tree stumps,

Survivors had to lay on corpses.

16th July and gone midday came

'At all cost order' again, for Lukin

To take Delville Wood north west,

To meet the attack brigade from

Longueval - yet they were trapped

In an orchard at the village's north.

South African troops were depleted;

Dead lay atop the dead, moulding

Together in enlarged blackened

Shapes of wet and heat - masks

Of men shimmering, as the Very

Lights made folly of their faces.

Survivors pulled back, to huddle

Amid unmoving passive shapes,

As they were pushed back to lay

In their first positions - wounded,

Tanner was moved out, replaced

By Lieutenant-Colonel Thackeray.

Still the Germans retaliated in

Maintaining their own order 'at all

Costs' - the 17th July played out

In the dark - 3rd Guard Division

Behind a creeping barrage, made

It to Princes and Buchanan streets.

Black against black, of fat bloated

Flies, flew as clouds in disturbance

Of bodies they inhabited - massed

From forms on which they feasted;

More immaculately conceived flies

Formed on the rotting flesh heaps.

In being driven back from their

Line, regrouping South African

Troops were then observed,

To received another barrage.

Under this the German troops

Penetrated the South Africans.

The northwest flank felt the fury,

In hand to hand combat - amid

The melee of cursing encounters

Knives and fists flayed out - hand

Bombs blasting amid groups,

Using rifles to deflect and hit out.

Wounds in variety of severity

Inflicted - flaying out in either

'Kill or be killed' - a South African

Hold then sank in desperation,

As Germans came in directions 

From east, north and northwest.

Such close encounters viciously

Brief, would leave further dead

Amid Delville Wood - forces

Came with 3rd division, whose

Attack via Longueval from south

West, offered some slight relief.

V 

In further replayed hours came

German attacks and South African

Attempts to stand their ground -

Pushed back into hours of 18 July,

Formed a sunrise bombardment,

Mixed with heaving deluges of rain.

Earth and physical remnants were

Thrown around, as 76th Brigade

Forced South Africans backwards, 

Further south under serious artillery;

Regaining some ground, as limited 

German withdrawals regrouped.

In the afternoon hour of 3.15 p.m.

German troops appeared from

Eastern directions into Delville

And Longueval, as their reserves

Struck west, along the village's

Ginchy road at South Africans.

Dug in the Eastern side the 3rd

African regiment aimed small

Arms at their advance, to halt

Their attempt - tactics of German

Divisions sought to recapture

Delville, advancing by Flers road.

The northern perimeter of the South

African line was shoved southwards

To resurge with hand to hand battle -

South Africans now found selves

Forced into small isolated groups -

Cut off from any capable support.

Replay after replay occurred -

Regiment 153 made their play,

To take South Africans from their

Rear - with many killed the rest

Were captured - with Germans

From southwest Scots attacked.

Seaforth Black Watch Cameron

Highlanders failed in charging

Delville Wood - sometimes

The front became the rear - for

Groups picked on each other,

By blur of confused uncertainty.

Minutes of hours of days saw

Little change, as each side still

Sent forces into the wood, where

The dead piled up; their blood

Drained into waterlogged craters,

In shattered remnants of a wood.

A dark stained patch of earth

Where one last tree witnessed

The demise of fellow hornbeams.

Rooted, the stubborn bark held

Onto bullet heads, singed in grief;

A single witness to desperation.

By Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  Delville Wood. Available at: <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-one/battles-of-world-war-one/delville-wood/> [Accessed 28 July 2016]

Source: File:  Battle of Delville Wood. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delville_Wood> [Accessed 28 July 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 July 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1DelvilleWood

Poem ~ Owen: The Image Of An Officer - Thursday, 27 July 1916

Source: File: Wilfred Owen 1916.  See an original image at: <http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/782958/show> [Accessed 27 July 2016]

Seven months, a long time through war,

As battles fought, lose with minimal gain;

With front line loss of numbers others

Are in manufacture of war, prepared.

With fingers stained from hated rifle oil,

One cadet Private Wilfred Owen made

Months of training as a trooper - days

Of barking drills punctuated by walks.

Escapism came by way of London, with

Monk-like fixation to good books and

Poetry - ambition always simmered, from

Ideas of poetry to release a creative mind.

Word experiments and the body always

Remained as some metaphor, aiming

At something higher than sensuality,

In preference for critics by friend Monro.

Through phases Wilfred Owen made

Reinventions of self; as a pale parish

Assistant to French dandy, to become

A disciplined soldier, as fit as his equals.

Change once again came, this time

June 1916 - discharged from Artists

Rifles to take an officers commission -

A second Lieutenant with Manchester’s.

Moving up ranks involved another

Rung, as he reported for duty - Witley

Camp in Surry was beautifully vast,

A culture shock with odd conventions.

The 3/5th Manchester’s were solid,

Earthy northern men - a lot of miners

Formed out of three unified units

Of mixed ages, Owen gained a platoon.

Consisting of four sections of ten men

Each led by corporal along with his

Servant scouts and a sergeant, Owen's

Role to train them for varied duties.

Working as a team, the four sections

Leant to attack and defend - to become

Proficient in rifle and bomb and

Lewis gun, as instructed by their officer.

Obsessed by three 'ings'; marching, 
Digging and killing - he saw these men
As ugly, hard, coarse Lancashire Saxons

Who would remain reliable under fire.

For majority leaving Witley camp was

Only possible with permission, except

Officers who had privileges - Lieutenant

Owen made his escape on a bicycle.

Away from camp and his role Owen

Very likely became more his old

Self - admirer of beauty of locality,

Lingering in shops of tea and books.

Sunday 2 July, leaning against his
Bike in survey of green countryside,  

He listened to mutterings in France;
Mutual guns battering their enemy.

Manchester’s had taken part within

The biggest push and Montauban

In the South had been captured by
Them - but the North had suffered.

As news of the Somme crept over,

Owen attended a course travelling

To Aldershot, showing an ability with

Rifle - yet he was to carry a revolver.

Acknowledgement of self-confirmation

As soldier in the Aldershot barracks,

Owen visited old ground of Dunsden -

His Pope and Bradley uniform noted.

In leave at Alpenrose Wilfred Owen

Became the subject of his Uncle John.

To pose in a camera studio full and half

Face, with and without his officer’s cap.

By natural light john Gunston chatted

To his nephew, whose image reflected

On the glass - 'that’s it my boy, slightly

More right, look towards me, sideways.'

A living form poised, colour of face

Hair and uniform captured with a click

Into tones of grey - 'another one please.'

Owen stood still, to enjoy the thought.

Unaware though how they would convey

Him into eternity. He changed position

Slightly under instruction, used to orders,

Taking a blink before the shutter took him.

Cool eyes under heavy lids, looked

Calmly askant and out to the watcher -

This was confirmation of ambition -

Owen was now a gentleman and officer.

By Jamie Mann.

Hibberd, D., 2002. Wilfred Owen – A New Biography. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Ch 11.

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 July 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1WilfredOwen