Source: File: Canal
D'Ypres; Hollebeke; The Bluff. February, 1916.jpg. [online] Available at: <http://digitalarchive.mcmaster.ca/islandora/object/macrepo%3A5013/print_o> [Accessed: 10 February 2016]
A quiet stretch
of water
To become
synonymous with war;
Thus the
Ypres–Comines Canal
Was to be fought
over in darker
Days, than the
builders ever
Thought.
In steady
construction
For waterways of
industry, armies
Of diggers
dredged spoil from
Waters, divided
between terrace
Banks, to create
an artificial hill
In a flat scape.
Where the canal
reached
A width of 120
feet, the spoils height
Formed a barrier
30 feet high -
By 1916 became a
vantage point
By the British in
their line, called
'The Bluff.'
Within the flat
salient
Of Ypres the Bluff
became a sought
After military
objective - about
A tapering No Mans Land, close
To the canal; 150
yards in width
Down to 40 yards.
At that northwards
point
Lay the German
Salient Der Helm;
Known by the
British as 'The Bean.'
With a declining
winter, fighting
Underground
became constant
By February.
Endless German
actions
For offensive
spirits were shown
In heavy shelling
of Hooge -
On 11 February
1916 lasting
Three days, accompanied
by
Spasmodic attacks.
In first of four
isolated
Attacks, that
consisted of a small
Number of men, to begin
In Boesinghe
trenches -
This had followed
heavy
Artillery.
Directive of the
firing
Had extended
towards Het Sas lock,
When at 3 a.m. a
small party
Of Germans in making
their
Surprise attack,
succeeded
In a capture.
Part of the line
fell into
Enemy hands,
which only prompted
An allied counter
attack to drive
Out the occupiers,
to leave five
Wounded Germans -
4 dying
In the night.
In failing to
make a solid
Success, the 12
February saw again
An attack - this
time across
Three points at
Boesinghe,
And across
Pilckem Ypres
Roadway.
The German
artillery
Had started by
their usual methods,
A concentrated
bombardment
On British front
line trenches -
And to halt any
likely support
Fired on roads.
This all signalled
infantry
Advance, but not
in great numbers -
The curious
nature in parties
Of men leaving
their trenches -
In twenty, thirty
or eighty
Infantry.
Numbers of men
detected
Behind in attempted
advancements,
Numbered larger -
counted
By the glint of
bayonets
Fixed, in the
bright sunlit
Trenches.
That particular
tactic
Was puzzling to
British tacticians.
How small forces
seemed
Futile - without any hope
For enemy to lose
all their
Moral.
a consensus of a
general,
Based at the
General Headquarters,
Informed one
reporter his
Thoughts - many brave men
were at war - not least the
Courageous
Germans.
by Jamie Mann.
Gibbs, P., 1916.
Western Front - Ypres Salient - Minor German Attacks. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 16 February
1916. P.9. Col.3. Available
at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12158338/Daily-Telegraph-February-16-1916.html
[Accessed: 16 February 2016].
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Ypres
No comments:
Post a Comment