Poem ~ Somme Mines - Friday, 30 June - 1916

Source: File: The Somme: Secret Tunnel Wars (WWI Documentary) (BBC). [online] See: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_plan_Somme_1_July_1916.png> [Accessed: 30 June 2016]

 Source: File: British infantry attack plan for 1 July 1916, the "first day on the Somme". British and French front line shown in red, German front line shown in blue. German second and third lines shown as dashed blue lines. British and French objectives on the first. [online] See an original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_plan_Somme_1_July_1916.png> [Accessed: 30 June 2016]

French Companies had started

Digging under German lines for some time.

Then the British arrival at the Somme

Carried on their task - these Royal

Engineers set up their base at Bray.

Maricourt La Boisselle, Fricourt,

And Carnoy shafts came into their control -

Named the 'Glory Hole' by the British;

An area about which careful secrecy

Was maintained and defended closely.

War under foot was a different 

Dimension to the fighting above ground.

With fundamental preparations

For the Somme breakthrough,

19 dug tunnels led to mines.

While the number was less than

Intended, the undertaking was ambitious -

In a south position were nine

Smaller mines about Fricourt;

Being charges of triple Tambour.

Out of Beaumont Hamel three

Tunnels spread out - one a communication

Trench connected to jumping off

Point of Sunken Lane, the others

Made towards Hawthorn Ridge.

There at 30 yards from German

Edges, in depth of 57 feet, a deep gallery

Created was filled with ammonal.

Prepared for zero hour - a dispute

Was raised over timing the mine.

A request for ridge's detonation,

By Lieutenant-General Hunter Weston,

To be four hours earlier, allowing

Resulting crater to be taken,

For any enemy alarm to settle.

Headquarters stated 'no,' but

Lieutenant-General Hunter Weston's

Persistence led to compromise;

Ridge redoubt would be blown

Ten minutes before zero hour.

In previous battle actions of

Lieutenant-General Hunter Weston,

General Haig declared him as

Rank amateur; despite some

Successful Gallipoli tactics.

Lacking competence earned

Hunter Weston the nickname 'Hunter-

Bunter' - with ruling tendency

Towards brutality, he led VIII

Corps within Somme Sector.

Tunnelled preparations were

Readied, as at Lochnagar Street mine -

In order to make crater cover

Against exposure to enemy fire,

All readied for the Battle of Albert.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Mines on the first day of the Somme Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mines_on_the_first_day_of_the_Somme> [Accessed 30 June 2016]

Source: File: Aylmer Hunter-Weston. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aylmer_Hunter-Weston> [Accessed 30 June 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 30 June 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Noel Hodgson: Grenade Supplier And Poet - Thursday, 29 June - 1916

Source: File: Noel Hodgson in uniform. MC ribbon on uniform, which was awarded in 1915. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. See an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._N._Hodgson> [Accessed 29 June 2016]

From a Northumberland life

Emerged a man, William Noel Hodgson

Son of a Bishop, the youngest

Of four - gaining a Kings scholarship

To Christ Church, Oxford -

He set out in studies of human learning.

With a passion for classical

Learning, William Noel always followed

A desire to write stories

And verse - with this talent led a young

Mind to publication, that

Began with the Nation and The Spectator.

Connections followed, from

The New Witness, With Cecil Chesterton

Encouragements to write.

In a month before break of war appeared

'The Years Glide By,'

With an alternative title Labuntur Anni.

The lines depicting fantasy

Travel - this involve galleons, lagoons,

Treasures and old sea kings -

The youthful William Hodgson had no

Desires for war - an eagerness

To climb, took him to heights to reflect.

Life and war intertwined

As William climbed the Cairngorms.

To see war's outbreak

In Roma Fuit where the rustic hill

Is disturbed by a charge -
It is fate of bodies to lay under grass.

In unavoidable brutality

To pointless war, William recognised

That human tendency -

Despite having no desire in first days

Of war, he joined

Devonshire Regiment as junior officer.

In the trail to fighting,

'Smiler' Hodgson saw the western front

At Festubert - within

Two months, in action at Loos, he held
A trench for 36 hours;

In despatches he received Military Cross.

Then Lieutenant Hodgson

Turned his skills towards a prose direction,

To talk of experiences.

With the 9th Devonshires to the Somme,

Stationed in preparation,

For what rumors described a big push.

Within the approach

Of delayed days, weather's actions pushed

Z day two days later,

To 1st July 1916 - from Fricourt they waited

In trenches of Mansell Copse,

Their trenches situated amid a hold of trees.

Situations often spur

The creative thought - Hodgson took

His pencil to paper -

Some strange inspiration, perhaps

Of death, as he looked

Over to Germans machine gun positions.

In old habits of poetry

Noel Hodgson, took from his father's

Occupation, to detail

A poem, as in a prayer to the sun on hills.

Looking to the glories

Of the day, he asked for soldier's strength.

From a mix of man's ability

Of artful creation, Lieutenant Hodgson

Touched on past ideals

Of mad catastrophe - for a lord's power

To make him a man -

As he climbed by thoughts, to his hill.

How perhaps, he knew

The futility of it all - to find a bullet's kiss

Before endless sunsets.

That mixes strangeness in one single

Day, to know he will miss

All human delights, with death's arrival.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: W. N. Hodgson Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._N._Hodgson> [Accessed 29 June 2016]

Source: File: William Noel Hodgson (1893 – 1916). Available at: <http://www.warpoets.org/poets/william-noel-hodgson-1893-1916/> [Accessed 29 June 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29 June 2016) 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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

Poem ~ Bullet Proof Tunic - Wednesday, 28 June - 1916

Source: File: Advert - The Bullet-Proof Jacket. [online] See an original image at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211605/Daily-Telegraph-June-28-1916.html>[Accessed: 28 June 2016]

A long established company,

Whose origins lay as far back

As 1772, in the making of guns

And weapons; the name

Wilkinson Sword Co Ltd.

Their address of 53 Pall Mall,

London, SW, had a reputation

For keenest blades of combat

Knives - also known

As military outfitters.

In talent for their sharpest blade,

Wilkinson Sword had also made

Developments in the handgun -

The Webley and Scott

Self-loading models.

The evolution of modern warfare

Had not just affected weaponry,

But uniform development -

As in steel helmets

Against shrapnel.

June 1916, an advert appeared,

To claim Wilkinson's new bullet

Proof, khaki jacket for officers -

To make for greater,

Protective efficiency.

In a heading, for tunic's resistance 

Against '455 Government revolver

Bullet, from a 20 yards distance,
This patented tunic

Reduced wounds.

The tunic structure would halt most 

Injuries from shell fire - that if not

Fatal, to leave wearer absent

From duty over

Period of weeks.

The secret was with the lining,

Made of high tempered steel -

Whose distribution of weight,

Would conceal any

Heaviness on wearer.

This bullet proof uniform tunic,

Would be of same appearance

As any other military clothing -

Fitted by an expert

For full comfort.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Advert - The Bullet-Proof Jacket. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 28 June 1916. P.7. Col.4. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211605/Daily-Telegraph-June-28-1916.html>[Accessed: 28 June 2016].

Source: File: A Brief History of Wilkinson Sword Online. Available at: <http://www.wilkinsonfscollection.com/wilkinsonfscollection.com/Wilkinson_a_brief_history.html> [Accessed 28 June 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 June 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211605/Daily-Telegraph-June-28-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Uniforms

Poem ~ Somme Optimism - Tuesday, 27 June - 1916

Source: File: British Artillery, end of June 1916. National Army Museum. [online] See an original image at: <https://ww1live.wordpress.com/category/western-front/> [Accessed: 27 June 2016]

French roads from all ports to Arras and Albert

Buzzed - a Lieutenant Liveing commented

On packed roads, loaded with war articles;

Sandbags, wire stakes, shells, trench mortar

Bombs with  'a thousand articles for offensive.'

Lieutenant Liveing had witnessed the great

Movements of lorry columns, thundering

Along, with signalers who weaved their

Motorbikes among them, as full staff cars,

Frustrated, were slowed by the military traffic.

Ceaselessly rolling by were batteries moving

To their positions, as caterpillar transports

Heaved out the heaviest guns - endless

Lines of intent troopers and khaki sappers,

Moving out to assigned tasks across the lines.

Surprise came with gauge railways apparently

Appearing over night - trees everywhere cut

Down for building of gun emplacements

And dugouts - while miles of water pipes were

Laid, ready to be extended out across battlefields.

Lieutenant Liveing told how miles of telephone

Lines were being laid down into earth, while

Amidst greenery dumps of ammunition

Bloomed - not to forget electric generators 

Power readied and wells dug to feed pipelines.

Such grand ambition of the operation could

Not go unnoticed by the side opposite.

Lieutenant Steele, a Newfoundland

Soldier described on 21 June, in equal

Manner, that Fritz was seen to be very busy.

Over hours, night and day the Germans

Worked - under darkness reinforcing

Wires - in theory their efforts had

Little matter, in total annihilation they

Would be crushed by a creeping barrage.

The fact of warning signs were being missed

By British, captured Germans questioned

Stating how their men were sheltered

In deep bunkers - solid British belief had

Decided; nothing could survive bombardment.

A coded alphabet countdown had marked

24 June as U day - but thunderstorms

Of 23 June developed into a dull

Day of heavy rain - this then continued 

The thunderous air of deadly British batteries.

The following day, 25 June being marked

As V day gave bright warm sun, there

Was no let up - enemy dumps

Reported to have exploded by RFC

Pilots, who shot down enemy balloons.

With W day 26 June intervals of sun were

Interrupted by heavy rain - operations

In cutting enemy wires were good -

500 shells fired by every single gun over

Each day; the countdown moves on a day.

Still hefty rain tumbles down by 27 June,

Day X - shells pummel chalky ground

Adding to dank mist of the Somme -

The storms of steel continue to add

To waiting enemy’s sombre entrapment.

Only at Loos had such concentration

Of gunnery exploded at the enemy.

Now the fourth army held twice

As many guns; 32 4.7'' guns against

12 at Loos - 36 6' Howitzers now 104.

The thunderous roll carried northwards

Across the western front as a Royal

Fusilier Officer, Stanley Spencer,

Told of a sky, lit by flashes to cause

Earth below to rise, fall and shudder.

Evidence of sound and deadly sights

Could have not been previously

Imagined - darkness slashed 

By hesitant lights - any grounded

Object, a flickering chaotic silhouette.

One bright slash of light against another.

Stark flashes emitted from crashing

Shells in a violent competition -

Those cursing cries of explosions,

Carried by wind to be heard in London.

Shell after shell after shell, fired in all

Capacities - the spent canisters

Discarded into thrown metal

Mountains; useless heaps of husks.

Order kept by officers with neat charts.

An observer, American war Journalist

Frederick Palmer, compared sight

Of cost - one shell that killed

Could give funds to send a youth

To college for a year, or raise a child.

Any act of extravagance was curtailed,

As every shell was accounted for -

How by the end of one day,

The simmering crop of spent shells

Could have funded a maternity hospital.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  The Great War 1914-1918. The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

Source: File: The Long, Long trail. The British Army In The Great War of 1914-1918. Logistical preparations necessary before the Somme offensive, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/logistical-preparations-necessary-before-the-somme-offensive-1916/> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

Source: File: WWI Centennial: Somme Bombardment Begins. Online. Available at: <http://mentalfloss.com/article/82214/wwi-centennial-somme-bombardment-begins> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

WWI Centennial: Somme Bombardment Begins

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 June 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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

Poem ~ Somme Preparations - Monday, 26 June - 1916

Source: File: Soldiers and 18 Pounder Shells. National Army Museum. [online] See an original image at: <http://www.army.mod.uk/firstworldwarresources/somme-1916/soldiers-leaning-on-a-pile-of-18-pounder-shells-somme-1916> [Accessed: 24 June 2016]

With plans for a battle formed 1915, began by

French Commander-in-Chief Joffre,

Adjustments resulted due to French occupied

In Verdun - their allies of British force

Stepped into the breach; preparations took time.

Changes of dates from April to August finally

Settled for mid summer, at start of July -

A summer strike of large proportions needed

Careful preparations - the meticulous

Slow methods gave General Joffre frustrations.

After the Chantilly agreements led to decision

Over which western sector for their

Agreed strike - developments began which

Would take months; the total of logistics 
To be involved included transport and supplies.

Shelter, water, war materials and medical back

Up, all had to be planned - the sector of the

Somme river up to Arras was the chosen area -

The major needs of transport led all plans

To this quiet sector; here 400,000 men gathered.

Alongside required 100,000 horses, logistical

Reserves had to be called on for physical

Manpower - the railway was central to shift

From ports to the front - the third army needed

58 supply trains daily, while fourth army 70.

These tactics were a challenge, with only

Two lines then running into the town of Albert -

One of the closest frontline towns - the line

from Arras and Albert clearly was a no go run;

Across the Ancre Valley into German area.

While movements between communes,

Doullens, Acheux and Albert areas were fine,

Decision was finally made to build another

Light gauge rail - in total of 55 miles of tracks,

Their building was left in the infantry hands.

Between Acheux and Candas 17 new line

Miles would give 15 trains daily, while Contay

And Daours would add 10 track miles -

With a spur extension created the loop from

Dernancourt to Fricourt, to add depots.

Spur rails lines off Albert and Acheux gave

Links to Thiepval Wood, Martinsart, over

To Aveluy - such a massive operation made

Challenges to the road systems, within

A quiet area given to farmland of chalky earth.

Suited to small population of farm workers

And carts, roads for heavy machinery

Of military was another matter - any stones

To build roads had to be brought there,

And labour was too short to make dumps.

While stone dumps were rare other

Ammunition dumps were quickly formed

Close to rail lines, as at Gezaincourt,

Contay and Puchevillers - while all horse
transports used the timber roads.

One lesson learned from prior battles

Was the need of medical services -

Close to the frontline would be Casualty

Clearing Stations - near to rail lines

Ready to move all injured away to safety.

Six sites saw main C.C.S's at Puchevillers,

Vecquemont, Corbie, Contay, Doullens,

Heilly and Warlincourt - others at St Ouen

Amiens, Beauval, and Gezaincourt - but
An enemy walk-over they would be unused.

Interrelated cogs turned in a build up

For the day - all villages between Ameins

And the front, filled with tents to house

Gathering armies - every soldier provided

A grave sized space; 2 foot by 6 billet.

Even at that stage the presence of French

Civilians had remained, living close

To daily fight, holding onto villages - their

Mayors advised they had 48 daylight

Hours to leave - given only 10 days supplies.

Effectively civilians would be ensnared,

Being informed from Sunday 25 June

They could not move - shells would start

To fly over civilian heads, their homes

Would then be on wrong side of firing lines.

In a none silent method, the countdown

Began on Saturday 24 June 1916 -

A bombardment began artillery lines fed

By Blighty shells, spewing across

Farmland; a warning of something coming.

Over eight days the continual raking action

Of British gunnery would pulverise any

German defences - ready for gathered armies,

Waiting along the chalky land each slow

Minute, hour, day rang with thud, thud of shells.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  The Great War 1914-1918. The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/> [Accessed 26 June 2016]

Source: File: The Long, Long trail. The British Army In The Great War of 1914-1918. Logistical preparations necessary before the Somme offensive, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/logistical-preparations-necessary-before-the-somme-offensive-1916/> [Accessed 26 June 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 June 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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

Poem ~ Aviator Adventurer - Saturday, 24 June - Sunday 25 June 1916

Source: File: Sub-Lieutenant Charles Nungesser alongside his morbid insignia. [online] See an  original image at: <http://www.opex360.com/2015/07/27/hussard-de-la-grande-guerre-charles-nungesser-le-parrain-de-la-54e-promotion-de-lecole-militaire-interarmes/> [Accessed: 24 June 2016]

A Parisian Charles Nungesser,

An experienced born adventurer

And sportsman, went as a teenager

In search of his missing uncle.

On a mission of discovery Charles

Travelled to South America, here

He worked in Buenos Aires - first

As an auto mechanic then a racer.

From professional racer Charles

Then learned to fly - on finding

His uncle, the young Nungesser

Worked on his sugar plantation.

When war broke out at home

22 year old Charles Nungesser,

Returned to join 2nd Regiment

Hussars, in first months of war.

September 3rd 1914, this soldier

As part of a patrol, was mentioned
In despatches - with their officer

Wounded the men took shelter.

With his fellow soldiers Nungesser

Halted a car, occupied by German

Staff, who they rapidly despatched,

To discover valuable enemy papers.

Nungesser took charge of driving,

At speed returning them to safety -

Stolen by Germans the French car 

Was a Mors; to give him a nickname.

The 'Mors Hussar' had impressed

His superiors, to be given Medaille

Militaire along with the car - some

Days later he passed a few poilu's.

They questioned his role - a youth

Driving around in a car while they

Fought in the trenches - to prompt

Nungesser requesting a transfer.

With his skill at flying, the soldier

Joined Service Aeronautique -

Yet adventurer Charles Nungesser

Was not a man for disciplined rules.

He liked everything fast, not just

Engines but women too - home

In Paris led to his reputed meeting

With an exotic dancer, Mata Hari.

As Aviator the French pilot was

Mentioned 3 times in despatches;

Taking part in 53 bombardments,

To gain Croix de Guerre by 1915.

31 July 1915 Nungesser with his

Mechanic Pochon, on standby, took

Up a Voisin 3 - to fight five Albatros'

Shooting one down near Nancy.

On return Nungesser went under

House arrest, having gone against

Orders - then received a decoration

Before being sent away to Nieuport.

The Nungesser legend had begun -

The pilot’s grim insignia; freebooters

Skull and crossbones below a coffin,

Either side a candle, in a black heart.

The image of Nungesser's morbid

Humour appeared on all his crafts -

A display of his aerobatics above

Nancy, resulted in suspended arrest.

By start of 1916 Nungesser's daring

Resulted in a terrible accident - when

Testing a craft, a control stick broke

His mouth's roof to dislocate his jaw.

Along with two broken legs and

Ribs, found him unconscious for

Five days - invalided from hospital,

A frustrated Nungesser flew again.

In two months he was back in cockpit -

He shot down an enemy balloon

And two crafts  - Nungesser found

Himself promoted to Sub-Lieutenant.

With a report of his 'charmed life,'

Nungesser, during June 1916,

Encountered 6 enemy; 3 Fokkers

And 3 Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft.

In a situation, he employed a trick

To fly between L.V.G. and Fokkers -

Amid six enemies’ they did not fire,

To avoid shooting each other down.

Sub-Lieutenant Nungesser made

His return in safety - he had taken

28 shots in the plane's body, seven

In the engine, one hitting his shoe.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Aviator's Charmed Life. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 24 June 1916. P.10. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211360/Daily-Telegraph-June-24-1916.html [Accessed: 24 June 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 24 June 2016). 

Source: File: Charles Nungesser Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Nungesser> [Accessed 24 June 2016]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211360/Daily-Telegraph-June-24-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1France