Thursday, 6 October 2016

Poem ~ Medics Under Fire - Friday, 06 October - Saturday, 07 October 1916

Source: File: Stretcher-bearers moving up to the forward area; near Ginchy;14 September 1916. Tank tracks can be seen running alongside them in the mud. See an original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stretcher-bearers_attached_to_a_Guards_battalion_moving_forward_near_Ginchy_on_the_Somme,_14_September_1916._Q1214.jpg> [Accessed 6 October 2016]

An influential pioneer of newspaper trade
Alfred Harmsworth, had been born into world
Of the gentry, with brothers of viscounts
And barons to gain his own title - 1st Viscount
Northcliffe - to become a freelance journalist.

Building on the purchase of periodicals,
Harmsworth went on to take failing papers
And build them into successful chains -
From the Evening News the viscount went
Onto create the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror.

A tabloid pioneer that linked in compulsory
Education - another Harmsworth paper,
The Times, had made reports over the 1915
Shell crisis, that in turn had led to changes
In government regarding the lack of shells.

By reaction Prime minster Asquith was forced
To form a coalition government - by creation
The ministry of munitions, whose minister
Was to be David Lloyd George - Harmsworth
Still a journalist made reports about the war.

A piece appeared within his newspaper,
The Daily Mail, relating to the War Doctors.
Lord Northcliffe had embarked on a Somme
Tour of the war front - reaching the frontline
On a Sunday, under a heavy atmosphere.

As if a permanent thunderstorm, continual
Clouds of dusty smoke hung all around.
In his objective of visiting an Advanced
Dressing station were endless interruptions,
Having to lay flat to avoid close shell bursts.

The practise occurred every few seconds,
To become quickly tedious, without any
Sign of the dressing station close by -
Suddenly two stretcher-bearers emerged
Out of nowhere through a haze, to vanish.

As quickly as they came they went down
Underground, as Alice did into a rabbit
Burrow - an inspector of the medical posts,
Lord Northcliffe's guide, pointed after them;
Down they went, to follow into wonderland.

Behind the men they dropped into a trench,
From foggy light into pitch darkness lit only
By candles - yet no quiet place, as an acting
Battery had let loose above; dominating
Any act of easy exchange or questioning.

From the flickering light, a grimy grim image
Emerged. They were stood in a passageway.
Part of a maze dug out of clay earth, little
More than the width of stretcher handles -
Under the dull light men lay on the ground.

Lined out on stretchers blocking the passage,
The men were silent under noisome blasts.
Making it difficult to attempt to talk many just
Stared into space, some smiled others slept;
They stepped over the stretchered wounded.

Many were out of it on morhpia - their torch light
Beam passed over varied shadowy faces  -by
Half stumbles they reached the main dressing
Area - above them rumbles numbed by density
Of solid ground, ignored by those in their burrow.

In a small chamber they found young doctors -
A few R.A.M.C subalterns taking tender care,
Washing and dressing of some twenty-four
Soldiers - by stealth the visitors moved onward;
In another chamber lay nine wounded men.

In one small room an operation was underway -
A tracheotomy was performed to relieve one
Mans ability to breathe - carried out in calm
Beneath five foot of earth, endless shudders
Above bowed heads, ignored by doctors work.

Further down in the dug tunnels were other
Rooms; a corrugated walled store room, an
Office, kitchen along with a mess room home
To seventy staff - all impressed Lord Northcliffe
Providing a reminder of extremes of war work.

Above them the barrage increased again -
The visitors would have to remain a while
Longer, sitting among the wounded men who
Laid helpless on the ground - he noted among
Some having tremors of shell shock symptoms.

Around them hands and expressions played
In time  - with each echoing dull thud, such gun
Effects held equal prejudice for every soldier -
The realization came to Northcliffe, how these
Caring humans had ability to go without sleep.

Amazed by their dedications to treat extreme
Effects of war on bodies - Northcliffe and guide
Waited for storms abate, talking over how many
Of the wounded initially dressed own wounds,
Using basic field dressings sewn into tunics.

Of course, it was only those soldiers who were
Able - while others waited, reliant on regimental
Stretcher-bearers or reaching aid posts like the
One where they sat - little wonder he thought,
Some broke down and not just women nurses.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. The War Doctors  - Their Life Under Fire. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 October 1916. P.7. Col.2. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213368/Daily-Telegraph-October-5-1916.html> [Accessed: 5 October 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 5 October 2016). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme

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