Source: File: British soldiers preparing to go over the top on the first day of
the Battle of the Somme. See an original image at: <http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/campaigns/durhamremembers/14194275.Echo_launches_campaign_to_honour_the_sacrifice_of_Durham_soldiers_at_the_Somme/> [Accessed 01 July 2016]
Source: File: Author
to tell stories of war heroes from the first day of the Somme. See an original
image at: <http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/author-tell-stories-war-heroes-day-somme/story-13883990-detail/story.html> [Accessed 01 July 2016]
Source: File: Compilation
of short films from The Great War Archive, University of Oxford (WWI
Documentary) (BBC). [online] [Accessed: 01 July 2016]
i
He opened his
eyes slowly, flickering -
Someone’s boot
passed him, nudging
Him - yawning he
edged himself upwards.
More legs, heavy
boots moved to brush
Past - He was
lucky to have the knack
To be able to
sleep anywhere - an ability
To rest with full
pack, his rifle against
Him. His mate
touched his shoulder,
Assuring he was
waking, as he heard...
Their
orders - again it was time to move.
Slithers of
daylight - the night all too
Brief as the
officer checked his watch
Time to move the
men up to positions -
After some
breakfast of course - this
Was the dawn of
the big push. when
They cut through
German lines and
Out beyond - he
had been briefed,
All watches would
be synchronized.
The men were
drowsy, waking slowly..,
The
officer edged along to prompt them.
Letters were
being written, paybooks
Pushed into
pockets. Pencils scribbled
On paper traced
out 'my dearest mother,'
My
darling... May, Vera, Ethel -
endless
Girls names -
others addressed to my
Brother, father, sister; 'you will know by
Now...' 'I'm glad
to be going over the top..'
'Be happy and
smile for me should
Anything
happen...' your loving son... father...
Brother...'
all letters folded to be collected.
Here was the
Fourth army, Kitchener’s
Army, trained and
readied - built of pals
From counties of
an Empire's homeland.
Acrington,
Manchester, Leeds, Bradford -
Hamlets villages,
towns or cities - all
There to crack the
stalemate of France,
Over No Mans Land to fields beyond.
Brothers, sons,
cousins, fathers, lovers.
Welded together
as one force, ready...
To
breakthrough - excitement tensed.
ii
Prime orders
given were for them
To walk out in
calm British fashion,
And maintain
order of formations.
Though some
commanders had other
Intentions, in
likely guess of situations.
Newfoundland
regiment of Gallipoli
Veterans, held
watch at Beaumont
Hamel - to their
right an Ulster division
In the shadow of
Thiepval wood -
Close
by the Grimsby Pals waited.
The light
differed to recent days
Of rain and
thunder, as sun gave
Brightness - yet
still the barrage
Blasts did not
let up - in final stages
To cut down all
German resistance.
At Fricourt amid
those observers,
Siegfried Sassoon
mourned fact
Of war to take
place on a perfect
Day. Then silence
of the guns fell…
The
voice of skylarks let out nature.
Suddenly amid the
ammonia clouds,
Raised
unfrightened winged beings,
Lightly jostling
over their territory -
High throated,
chattering - natures
Resilience
distracting soldiers
On either side, as
the Germans
Emerged from deep
bunkers - ears
Ringing to dying
shells, giving...
Way
to flitting, larks ascending.
iii
Across from a
field's corner stood
Cameraman Malins;
a minute to when
The mine would
blow the enemy
Away. Each second
16 frames -
An image falls
into his lens of a flat
Field, soon he
would lose film,
Still no explosion
- then the ground
Gave a convulsion
as Malins gripped
The tripod, calculating his shot…
Then a great tongue of a gargantuan.
Came a flame
lifting higher to carry
Figures and
debris, before gravity
Caused the
falling down - to throw
Aside all within
its deadly ground -
Yet there were
still minutes to final
Hour, from out of
shock German
Reaction began, as
clocks egged…
Each
minute along - 7.28. a.m.
Enemy
fortifications above two
Chambers of amanol, suddenly
Thrown skywards -
elsewhere
Along the lines, pals battalions
Swayed with the
wavering earth.
By a chain effect
other mines
Added to
destructive maelstrom -
Muscles tensed
for the signal..,
Then all shrillness of whistles blew.
Like the start of
a game, some started
To kick footballs
out of their trenches.
Ten minutes
previously new craters
Had emerged from
stricken defences -
German soldiers
stumbled out into
Storms of snow; in
fact dust and chalk.
Quickly survivors
set up machine guns…
Ready
to face an English onslaught.
Getting into
position the Devonshires knew
A machine gun stood at a cemetery shrine.
Briefly protected
by a bank, they emerged
Under fire - Bombing officer Noel Hodgson
Among them - men
dropped all round, in
The task to
break the line at Mamet Village -
One Lieutenant
had to ensure grenades
Were supplied, as
they got to their position.
Noel felt the
quaking of his own breathing…
He asked the Lord to make him a man.
As they ran, ducked, lifted, ran again he
Held his courage
- beside this poet his
Servant
encouraged the Lieutenant - then
They set off
again, clutching grenades
Needed to hold
a trench - in irony of a shrine
To god, the
bullets took a leap of faith
To cut Hodgson
clean through the neck;
His servant at
his heel they fell into cool
Grass - 'Help me to die, O Lord' - unaware…
The
Devonshires held their trench.
iii
In the Southern
sector the French
Had added to the
bombardment,
With more guns
than the British
Per mile - between
Maricourt onto
Chaulnes - yet
outnumbered by
British Infantry, who now had
The signal to
start their walk.
As they lifted
from their shelters...
Enemy
bullets started to sing.
Throwing ahead
two footballs
Captain Nevill
prompted his
Team - the printing
on one ball
'Great European Cup - Tie Final
East Surreys v Bavarians.'
Kick off at zero’ - the second said
'No Referee,' then the competition
Began. As Nevill fell they went on..,
The
opposing side opened fire.
Kasino Point 7.37 a.m. the mine
Had not exploded - despite this
The Essex Battalion rose - turning,
Lieutenant Corporal Fisher checked
His men were moving in straight line.
A hand of Royal Engineer hesitated,
Then pushed the plunger - one hundred
Yards ahead a great plume...
Of
flames - earth flew and fell…
LC Fisher sees British casualties
Under friendly fire, but any emerging
Enemy numbers are wiped out -
Tommy's funnelled by uncut wire, all
Down the line - their vulnerability
Quickly turns into futility - entrapped
And snagged within the sights
Of keen
Maschinengewehr 08's…
That
stutters at all too easy targets.
iV
An attack of success plays out at
Schwaben
Redoubt - a fortress
Of triangular
systems - Ulstermen
Dive into enemy
trenches, their
Timing close to
new artillery fire -
The Ulster
second wave follows...
As hidden
Germans emerge -
At
a chateau, Haig hears success.
Mash and Sausage
valleys see
Brits enter the
fortified area -
Will they keep coming?
ask
The German
soldiers, as they
Stand to pick
them off - only
20 per cent of
initial wave...
Survive first ten
minutes, while
Salford
Pals company falls to 40.
There came a non
stop hissing
In the air - the
ground puckered
Like rain - only
these are bullets.
As wounded
attempt to crawl
Back, 30,000 men
lay wounded
And dead - Newfoundlanders….
Are forced into
open, as the injured
Fill
the communication trenches.
Orders are still
to walk ahead,
all soldiers saw failure all around.
They hunched as
if in blizzards,
But this was no
protection -
The Ulstermen gained Schwaben,
But are pinned
down, then into…
The fifth line - ahead of artillery
Their
fight was in isolation by 10 a.m.
V
By 12 noon
everything is unraveling;
Though at mid
morning there were three
Major situations - one third of Battalions
With heavy casualties
held positions
On a knife-edge -
another third had...
Achieved
nothing, although the final
Third
reached objections, too soon.
In those places
friendly fire pinned men
Down - the 94th
Brigade has vanished
As ghosts in an
explosive wall - Brigadier
Rees stands in his refusal to send another
Company - signal
flares tell successes...
Were
few - but restrained to hide positions,
Still
commanding officers order attacks.
Haig writes
hopes of success, despite
Reality, as
Rawlinson is disappointed
Of any imminent
cavalry charge - yet
The chance is
missed - Manchesters are
On other side of Montauban
where they...
Rest
in woods, as the reserves stay put.
2
p.m. Generals meet to leave battle to play.
Fragmented
contacts are either late
Or don’t make it
back, leaving pockets
Of men - new
orders arrive in conflict
With others - originally
Fricourt was to be
Surrounded but an
attack is ordered...
Anyway
- the Green Howards receive
Orders for Fricourt, missing their rum.
Vi
Minutes move onto
mid afternoon - it
Becomes impossible to hold trenches -
Gommecourt; the
officer and 13 men
Can do little
with only one officer -
He sends request
for instructions.
Aircraft bring
some assistance at
Schwaben
Redoubt, to cut down
Machine gun
crews, where Ulster
Men are
ensnared on three sides.
More Germans
arrived - armed
With hand bombs
they work
In pairs - the
carriers giving to
The thrower in
expert manner.
Secure each
section; revolver,
Bayonets, hand
to hand, now
As one Royal
Irish Rifle solder....
Looks ahead, he sees,
Carpet of bodies,
Blood everywhere -
'You know,
You
could not tell,
One man's blood
From the other...'
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File:
Battle of the Somme. Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme> [Accessed 01 July
2016]
Source: File: The
Battle of the Somme, as it happened on July 1, 1916 - The Telegraph. Available
at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/01/the-battle-of-the-somme-as-it-happened-on-july-1-1916/> [Accessed 01 July 2016]
Source: File: East
Surrey Regiment’s ‘football’ charge July 1st 1916. Available at: <http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/military/east_surrey_regiments_football_charge_july_1st_1916/>
[Accessed 01 July 2016]
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, 1 July 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme
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