Source: File: Émilienne
Moreau.jpeg, [online] Available at: <http://bestteenagersever.com/tag/croix-de-guerre/>
[Accessed: 16 November 2015].
Northern France
1898, within the region
Of Lens, a
daughter was born to a miner
And his wife -
the Moreau’s gave chosen
Name Émilienne, to
live in peace till 1914.
By his daughter's
age of 16, m'sieur Moreau
Retired to open a
grocery store in one coal
Mining town, Loos-en-Gohelle
close to Lens;
Young Émilienne yearned
to be a teacher.
Two months from
her sixteenth birthday,
Émilienne gave
witness to an invasion
Of her country - under
waves of Germans,
Whose presence held
Loos-en-Gohelle
The seized
village billeted enemy soldiers -
Then as winter
took hold by December,
Émilienne's
father passed away - this girl
Determined to
carry on, set up a school.
By February 1915 many
local children
Met in a basement,
taught by Émilienne -
For over six
months a strange normality
Continued, until
September's new invasion.
With the village
men long gone to fight,
Loos-en-Gohelle
was just another small
Village turned into
a German fort - roads
Were crisscrossed
by wire emplacements.
Life for the
people continued in the cellars,
While ground
above had become earthen
Works, as trench
systems cut the graveyard;
Tombs became
machine gun emplacements.
From the battle
of Artois, came the offence
On Loos - German belief of their stronghold,
Loos-en-Gohelle, would not be broken by
Any type of
attack - yet British soldiers came.
The allied
artillery began intentions to cut
The wire, only to
fail - still the British moved,
Advancing over
open fields - the high toll
Of loss was no
deterrent for British forces.
In the west side
of Loos-en-Gohelle,
Émilienne Moreau
held shelter amid
Many other
frightened villagers, caught
Under bombardment
of 24 September.
In such
circumstances deeds can often
Emerge for no
reason, but raw survival -
Seventeen, Émilienne
Moreau perhaps
In need to do
something, left her shelter.
Encased in a
place no longer home,
Came crash of
battle - made by cutting
Bullets smashing
walls of buildings -
Cracking tiles as
masonry crumbled.
An old woman had
moaned inside, how
The end was
coming - not death but the
Allied liberation
- Émilienne's knowledge
Of the locality
meant she could assist.
She ran swiftly - lucky to dodge bullets,
As she came upon
the stunned looks
Of strange
skirted highlanders - 'miss,
You should not be
here' - 'I can help.'
In hurried information
Émilienne
Told them of the
German made fort -
They followed her
instructions fully,
In beating down
the enemy presence.
At the sight of
Scottish casualties,
Émilienne gave
assistance, to make
A first aid post
with a Scot's Doctor -
Together in the
cellar of her home.
Outside, the
battle waned and raged -
More wounded were
carried down.
Movements came
and went - into this
Cellar news arrived of renewed fight.
The ground and
house above rocked.
Highlanders came
to say Germans
Had moved into
the neighbouring
House, with one Scotsman
trapped.
, thought
- she took a handgun
Of a wounded man along
with grenades.
She knew the
house next door - despite
Protests soldiers
followed her moves.
Behind this girl
the men followed -
Émilienne saw the
man trapped
In a corner - three
Germans fired
At him from the
broken kitchen.
Taking a grenade
she threw it hard,
And then another
- the Germans were
killed outright - Émilienne actions gave
killed outright - Émilienne actions gave
The soldier's safety back with friends.
Again in the cellar Émilienne, along
With the Doctor, renewed their care -
From the cellar
post, the able bodied
With fighting moving they had to go.
The door closed they
were left alone -
Some quiet fell
eerily outside in a lull
The doctor said
he needed to fetch
Supplies, to
leave her with wounded.
Groaning sounds
of men in thirst
Asked for water -
Émilienne sought
To needs, when one
of them alerted
Her to sounds
outside, of voices.
'Miss, Miss
listen! Outside are Hun.'
As they tried to quieten
the men,
Émilienne
listened, to follow sounds
Outside, edging
closer to the door.
With instinct she
held her breath
She recalled the
gun in her pocket.
Holding the
revolver, she traced
The low voices
closing to the door.
As the door
handle moved she fired -
A thud followed
by a yell - another
Attempt at the door
- Émilienne
Fired - a dead
German tumbled in.
"Vive Ia Emilienne Moreau!' the call
For a girl of seventeen made by crowd,
As General de Sailly decorated Croix
Du Combattant, of
the French army.
With title Joan
of Arc of the North,
Given by a British
Officer, Emilienne
Was cited in the Order of the Day,
16 November, to great admiration.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Brave
French Girl - 'Joan of Arc of the North'. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 16 November. P.4.
Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11994304/Daily-Telegraph-November-16-1915.html
[Accessed: 16 November 2015].
Source: File: Émilienne
Moreau-Evrard From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. online Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milienne_Moreau-Evrard>
Accessed
16
November 2015
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 16 November 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Loos
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