Source: File: Getting wounded
onto ambulance train. Kate
Luard Unknown Warriors, The Diaries of Kate Luard WW1 Nursing Sister. See an
original image at: <http://kateluard.co.uk/reviews> [Accessed 26 August
2016]
In priority of time,
the well taken
Path between
front line and Blighty
Was cut briefly
short - to be easy
As possible for
battlefield wounded.
Well-practiced
Royal Medical Corps
Organisations, saw
to ships docking
At Southampton
docks, to make
Swift
disembarkation of wounded.
Walking or
carried, the varied types
Of wounded filled
the remaining Red
Cross trains, soon
to leave for varied
Destinations -
then to begin again.
Each man a
picture of his personal
Experience of the
Somme fight -
Uniforms torn or well
dirtied by chalk
Mud - to shock
any close witness.
Sketches of
stories pass by - those
More able to talk
- faces bloodied
Unkempt hair,
bandaged bodies;
Smiling, grinning
in balancing a fag.
Snatches of tales
among the most
Keen told within
a group of young
Lieutenant
officers - one man told
Of A company
close to French lines.
When taking 250
yards of a Boche
Communication
trench, A company
Blocked this he
led a bombing party
To keep it - then
a barrage began.
Falling behind to
become entrapped
Company was stuck
for 36 hours
Luckily petrol cans
of water kept them
Going without any
chance to get back.
Came the burst of
a crump some
250 yards away knocking
this
Lieutenant out -
though injured
He managed to grab
a souvenir.
A Boche Pickelhelm in immaculate
Condition, which had
been left
By its original wearer
in the trench,
Complete with
grey, green cover.
Replacing another
he had gained
Behind smoky cover
protected
By gas fall, the
lieutenant had
Spotted a manned
machine gun.
At 40 yards
distance he took shot
To bring down
that no 1- delayed
They failed to
get the gun working
As the party
swarmed over them.
The capture of
the machine gun
Along with his
taking of the No1's
Pickelhelm completed
a successful
Day until someone
stole the helmet.
The gunners
received some praise
In skilled ability
to skim the bullets
Across the earth,
attempting to pick
Off wounded and stretcher-bearers.
Another second
lieutenant gave
An alternative
sketch - he was the
Only officer left
unscathed, when
Company orders took
an objective.
Instead of usual
practice of bombing
Down a trench -
they ran along edge
Of the ditch, 'shying'
bombs down -
The Boche being
taken by surprise.
By Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916.
Battlefield Souvenirs - Boche Fire At Wounded. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 25 August 1916.
P.5. Col.2. Available at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212859/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1916.html>
[Accessed: 22 August 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 22 August 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1somme
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