Sketch of Captain Werner von Pappenheim by Jamie - see original image at:
http://www.van-ham.com/datenbank-archiv/datenbank/theodor-rocholl/portraet-eines-deutschen-offiziers-in-china-werner-von-pappenheim.html
German
misbehavior spread
Out, into the
regions of China -
Stretching
effects of Europe’s
War - adding to
the global scale.
Their endeavor for
sabotage,
To use route of
East Central Asia,
Into Mongolia and
the Northeast
Region of
Manchuria.
Within the early
stages of war,
In the city of
North East China,
Mukden - since
called Shenyang -
The German
Consulate presence
Had been rumored to
have incited
The hunghutze - Red Beards -
Being Chinese
rebel bandits,
Who had
previously plagued
A Russian
presence in Manchuria.
Germans prompted
Hunghutze
To raid Easter
Chinese Railway.
Yet without any
satisfactory
Results from this
alliance, came
Captain Werner
von Pappenheim
The German
Military Attaché
In Pekin - he
decided he would
Undertake such a
simple mission
Himself - with
preparations made
Pappenheim
cleverly secured
Chinese Passports,
for himself
And seven Germans
- their
Pretences being for
a hunting trip
Out into the
Khingan Mountains.
Having escaped
Tsingtao, which
Had seen battle,
only months
Before, they were
reported to be
Between Tsitsihar
and Buhaidu.
This sabotage party,
consisted
Of four Chinese,
a Mongol, seven
Germans, five
horses and twenty
Camels - in a heading
towards
Manchuria - their
known mission
Was to assault the
Siberian
Railway, in destroying
Russian
Tunnels and
tracks.
Under
Pappenheim's lead
The caravan was
packed
With explosives,
to hit lines
Between Tsitsihar
ad Hailar.
Additionally
Pappenheim also
Carried a small
treasury -
50,000 rubles of the
money
He offered a Mongol
chief,
For the mercenary
employ
Of 300 of their
men.
Taking pursuit,
the Russians
Had been alerted
by two
Of their national
merchants,
Abraham Berkovitz
and
Grigorii Shadrin
- who told
Their Russian
Consul in Hailar.
Between Kalgan
and railways,
Along the Tea
Road the Germans
Were easily tracked
by spies and
Officers of
Russian Intelligence
In Irkutsk, were
informed.
5th Transamur
Border Cavalry
Regiment then set
out to
Capture
Pappenheim. Rewards
Were offered to
forthcoming
Mongol princes to
make capture -
But one prince,
Babush-Shab,
On 20 February
trapped and took
The German saboteur
party.
Slaughtering the
men, they
Destroyed
evidence and bodies
With their own
incendiary benzol.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Siberian
Railway - Amazing German Plot. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 13 Mar. P.6. Col.4. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11467829/Daily-Telegraph-March-13-1915.html
[Accessed: 13 March 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 13 March 2015).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11467829/Daily-Telegraph-March-13-1915.html
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1China #WW1Russia
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