Source: File: Collecting
names of the wounded at the Somme. See an original image at: <http://greatwarproject.org/2016/07/01/extra-extra-disaster-at-the-somme/>
[Accessed 06 July 2016]
i
Survivors had
started to arrive
In London, back from
the Somme
Plains - their
stories a continuation
Of correspondent
war reports,
Where words
described the moves
Of battalions
across French fields;
The wounded gave
a new level.
'Things too big
for words,' were
Conveyed in short
sentences -
Curt, succinct
and to the point.
In terminology of
the soldier,
They hesitated
over their own
Experience, but spoke
easier
About the deeds of their pals.
In one aspect
came accounts
Of non fatal
wounds - an officer
Proudly spoke of
the men who,
As soldiers,
yelled in charges,
Eager to take
their enemy down.
In contradictions
men were all
Around, falling with
minor wounds.
By exaggerations Germans that
Amounted to dozens,
fled from
Dugouts into
sudden death -
Half starved,
without equipment -
Suggestions of abandonment
By their own side - as their guns
Retreated to rear, expecting attacks.
By their own side - as their guns
Retreated to rear, expecting attacks.
These guns, once
the front were
Taken, would
defend their other
Positions -
imagine 'Vesuvius
With a Belfast
riot,' was how one
Irish soldier
described the show -
While most
prisoners they took,
Believed they
would be shot.
ii
Without making
allusion to
Likely common
practice of 'take
No prisoners' -
one officer
Taking a wounded German,
spoke
Of terror in his eyes
at sight
Of his revolver -
both then took
A dash back
across the open.
A sprint with
death saw him
Lead the German
to a dressing
Station, under orders
to 'sit
And be good' - this
officer before
France had been
in Dardanelles,
A more sporting
place where
He gained wounds to lower spine.
His recovery from
operation
Then led him to
active service
In France - a
discovery when
Reaching the
German trenches,
Revealed well
built dugouts -
Some deep as 25
feet - with two
Exits, to be
secure and solid.
Mark, Mathew,
Luke and John
Were names of
copse' around
Which pals regiments
had dug
In - from where
another officer
Had been
observing Serre Wood;
At last, four
monotone months had
In heated fight,
ended in capture.
iii
Wounded and
casualties scales
Had not led to any
official figures -
The suggestion of
which was
Only hinted at -
eye witnesses
Accounted how,
after shells
Had stopped, out
of concrete
Emplacements emerged enemy.
They set up their deadly
machine
Guns, ready for
allied advances.
One diversionary attack had been
At Gommecourt
salient, where
London territorials
fought -
An enemy trick
had been to wait
Until the first
wave had passed.
They then emerged
to attack
Support waves -
cutting off allied
Supplies of bombs - the 56th
London Division
had at 7.30 a.m.
Crossed the first
of two German
Lines - a strongpoint
at the third
Called 'Nameless
Farm,' resisted.
British waves were
trapped behind
A barrage of heavy
German artillery.
Attempts to send
reinforcements
Failed, with a
cost of casualties.
German infantry
set to regain lost
Trenches - though isolated truces
Allowed allied
wounded to escape.
A strange unofficial,
mutual respect
Passed back and
forth, with guns
Of the German
sides to earn points,
Credited as good shots - though
Credited as good shots - though
British guns were
keenly described
As 'wonderful' -
all methods used
In the attack
had been well planned.
iV
A meticulous
operation had led
To 1st July -
many had expected
The launch to
start 27 July, which
Was a Thursday - but
heavy rains
Had led to badly flooded grounds.
The conversation
of wounded
Stated everything
was planned.
Nothing was to be
left to chance -
This being
admitted in open talk
By men and subalterns,
who had
Been trained and clearly told, in
Every role for
advancing routes
And objectives to
be reached -
As laid out by
high command.
An eavesdropper
amid these
Wounded, the
reporter shared
Questions with a South
African
Gunner - a ready-made
veteran
Who had given up his farming
To join active service, against
German South West Africa.
Heat and thirst
were his main
Memories - over a
year's service
There, to beat
any such like
In France - he
spoke from
His London bed,
among other
Men that had been
in the push
Of the Somme, from day one.
V
The smiling
gunner wanted
News of the
gunnery action -
After eight weeks
in France
The young man was
invalided,
Disappointed in
being unable
To operate his
own 5.9 guns,
In opening bombardments.
From the neighboring
bed
Lay another soldier
- he had
Lost an eye at
the point when
They reached German
parapets -
He smiled in admittance
how
They took no prisoners,
to have
Killed around
50 Germans.
The fierce
battles evidence,
Lay in Red Cross
trains that
Still delivered
the wounded -
Meeting those men earlier from
The fight, who
might read
Between the lines
of severe
Situation,
to form a real picture.
A column might
advertise
Pockets of cheery
optimism
As the norm, with
the new
Army as 'cheerful
grumblers' -
To suggest happy wards
filled
With men - wounded
more
Than once, eager
to return.
The quote of a
catchphrase,
'Stick it like
the regulars' -
Spoken from trenches to
Stretchers of glory eyed
Wounded - who held high
Spoken from trenches to
Stretchers of glory eyed
Wounded - who held high
Esteem for the
first army
Of Mons, setting a tradition.
Stories would have a
public
Believe of
sanitized places
Of hospital wards, that held
Teeth clenching men, to hold
Back pain - cheery
in wounds
With smiles that
hid truths
Of Casualty Clearing Stations.
Men red raw in bloodied
khaki
Saw a triage of
a nurse, whose
Back of a hand might touch a
Man's skin, to know
if he is worth
An attempt to
save, or let
Him die from hopeless
injuries -
But there was
another story.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Wounded From 'The Big Push' - Graphic
Stories. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 5 July 1916. P.9. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211869/Daily-Telegraph-July-5-1916.html>[Accessed:
6 July 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 6 July 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme
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