World War One - then and today: August 2016

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Poem ~ Soldiers Suicide Pact - Wednesday, 30 August 1916

Impression sketch; 'Soldiers Suicide Pact' - by Jamie.

In Dorset’s Ancient County sat Wimborne,

A market town where smugglers and kings

And age-old legends made history - a place

New war had left untouched, where the Stour

River passed through in silence - its waters

Attracting walkers and fishermen - in August's

Sun, Mr Street sat himself down to catch fish.

The day’s hour passed quietly, to provide

No sign of the gruesome discovery Mr Street

Was soon to make - Feeling a pull on his rod

Mr Street reacted, to gently tug on the catch.

Yet a resistance came, prompting him to pull

Harder - a strange weight resisted him, then

With another tug, surfaced submerged bodies.

Street had made discovery of two drowned

Soldiers bound together - idetification found

One man of a Royal Naval division, the other

A soldier of a Lancaster Regiment - a letter

And photo on the latter provided his name -

Why and how had these two men drowned?

Found far away from regiments and homes.

Puttees had been tied about their wrists in

Death's embrace - had they willingly met

An end together, or an act of murder that
had gone wrong? The letter in the pocket,

Un-posted, contained a photograph of him

Addressed to the family's home; puzzles

Answered in part contained by his words.

Taking up a pen in a nervous hand, Private

James Wood aged 21 began to put down

His thoughts - perhaps by letter's end they

Might change his intentions - Woods hoped

His father Joseph and mother Mary Ann

Might then understand his desperation -

James considered what had led him there.

Their son Albert, his brother, had been

Killed and his own wound had plagued him,

For a month James had not slept - so why

Then was the other man he died with there?

What reasons, connections might they have

Had in traveling to Wimborne in Dorset, in

Whatever purpose other than to drown?

A clue to the other man was a RND cap

Ribbon pushed into his pocket - identity

Could not be certain, though it seemed

He might be a Private Parker - also

To be from Manchester - very likely

To have been a declared deserter,

Perhaps supporting Pt. James Wood.

Did then Parker RND sit and wait

As Pt. Wood 17060 finished his letter,

To ask his family for their forgiveness.

Was this some absurd murder plot?

The two took a walk down to the river
Stour, maybe avoiding any witness,

To stop and bind their wrists together.

The deserter Able Seaman Parker

Stood with Private Wood who decided

That he could go on no longer - what

Words would have been said between

Them? Unrolling Wood's khaki puttee

They carefully secured themselves

Together, in shared desperation to die.

iii

Time then passed their bodies pulled

Out the Stour by a fisherman - to make

Another mystery for Wimborne history.
The coroner declared their act of suicide

Happened while in an unsound mind -

To leave a dispute, regarding identifying

the name of the drowned able seaman.

James Mason or James Lennon? the

Latter deserting 3 August 1916.To believe

This was the most likely man, his parents
Informed he had drowned; then Lennon
Returned to camp on 1 September 1916.
An unsolvable mystery was left,as to why

They chose to drown together; as brothers

Effected by shell shock? Or by strange pact?

By Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Battlefield Souvenirs - Boche Fire At Wounded. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 August 1916. P.5. Col.2. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212859/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1916.html> [Accessed: 22 August 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 22 August 2016).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212857/Daily-Telegraph-August-23-1916.html

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Dorset

Sunday 28 August 2016

Poem ~ Somme Sketches - Monday, 28 August 1916 - Tuesday, 29 August 1916

Source: File: wounded smile for the camera.

First World War Hidden History. See an original image at: <https://firstworldwarhiddenhistory.wordpress.com/page/2/> [Accessed 28 August 2016]

Among the wounded travelling

Home for convalescence, officers

Gave sketches of their experience -

A second lieutenant told of laying

Lines to the front; the signallers

To number sixteen, had a 'hot time.'

Rolling out communication wires

Only two men were left unscathed,

But the lines were successfully

Laid. At Bazentin le Grand a colonel

Praised the work as 'best event' -

All ran to clockwork by artillery.

Shells were pumped 30 to the minute,

Turning heat up on the enemy - while

Lewis guns sprayed across the

Field - they caught a haughty general,

Whose dismal look was reflected in

His refusal to speak to the colonel.

Another second lieutenant spoke

How his Brodie hat would become

A souvenir - a 'ping' of a tap as he

Laid in a shell hole - then a thump

To his crown, after which he found

The steel helmet had a bullet indent.

Furthermore surprise came with

A jagged inch sized hole, where

A bit of 'shrap' marked how close

Matters were - spending a further

Three hours there without a scratch;

At 20 yards, shells burst both ways.

In the Army Service Corps a second

Lieutenant told how life could be

Very unquiet in their logistical role

To supply army - at Maricourt taking

Up the limbered wagons something

Of a 6in howitzer cut him down.

In commenting about Guillemont

A Captain also praised the artillery,

At rate of pumping hell at the Boche;

'Marvelous' - one private added how

Shelling was relentless night or day;

Safety generally better at the front line.

Communication trenches had proved

Little use - the private and others

Had conveyed rations down a route,

When a German 5.9 shell hit - this

Crump sent 14 of them sideways -

A corporal from High Wood agreed.

One keen skill among the men was

Ability to load and fire machine guns -

They had put the wind up the Boche,

Surely they could not take much more?

He had gained his Blighty ticket down

At High wood, thanks to a 'Bon Santy.'

Close to Glatz Redoubt a Captain

Told of the wonders of the batteries,

Spitting at such a rate to see 30 shells

At a time in the air - one proud private

Told of filling his tunic with souvenirs,

Although someone pinched them all.

Work at Trones Wood was to convey

Masses of Small Arms Ammunition

And rations, a big issue being water -

Thirst built quickly in the heat, while

Flies and the stench of hundreds of

Dead put a taint on all food and drink.

Souvenirs taken from three Boche

Included a clip of cartridges - one

Was opened to find liquid contents;

They concluded poisoned bullets - in

One trip to Trones the private was hit,

As another private was knocked out.

A bomb hitting his foot had exploded -

But the German stuff were known to

Be poor quality - had it been friendly
Fire he would have been killed outright,

Noting Hun's lazy habits to stay in deep

Dugouts only worked against them.

One corporal's claim was Tommy's

Skill to crawl forwards, as they had

At Guillemot having no trenches -

A shared belief was how Boch close

To being finished - in his experience

The Hun quickly held their hands up.

By Jamie Mann.

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212859/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1916.html

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

Friday 26 August 2016

Poem ~ Somme Snapshots - Saturday, 26 August 1916 - Sunday, 27 August 1916

Source: File: Getting wounded onto ambulance train. Kate Luard Unknown Warriors, The Diaries of Kate Luard WW1 Nursing Sister. See an original image at: <http://kateluard.co.uk/reviews> [Accessed 26 August 2016]

In priority of time, the well taken

Path between front line and Blighty

Was cut briefly short - to be easy

As possible for battlefield wounded.

Well-practiced Royal Medical Corps

Organisations, saw to ships docking

At Southampton docks, to make

Swift disembarkation of wounded.

Walking or carried, the varied types

Of wounded filled the remaining Red

Cross trains, soon to leave for varied

Destinations - then to begin again.

Each man a picture of his personal

Experience of the Somme fight -

Uniforms torn or well dirtied by chalk

Mud - to shock any close witness.

Sketches of stories pass by - those

More able to talk - faces bloodied

Unkempt hair, bandaged bodies;

Smiling, grinning in balancing a fag.

Snatches of tales among the most

Keen told within a group of young

Lieutenant officers - one man told

Of A company close to French lines.

When taking 250 yards of a Boche

Communication trench, A company

Blocked this he led a bombing party

To keep it - then a barrage began.

Falling behind to become entrapped

Company was stuck for 36 hours

Luckily petrol cans of water kept them

Going without any chance to get back.

Came the burst of a crump some

250 yards away knocking this

Lieutenant out - though injured

He managed to grab a souvenir.

A Boche Pickelhelm in immaculate

Condition, which had been left

By its original wearer in the trench,

Complete with grey, green cover.

Replacing another he had gained

Behind smoky cover protected

By gas fall, the lieutenant had

Spotted a manned machine gun.

At 40 yards distance he took shot

To bring down that no 1- delayed

They failed to get the gun working

As the party swarmed over them.

The capture of the machine gun

Along with his taking of the No1's

Pickelhelm completed a successful

Day until someone stole the helmet.

The gunners received some praise

In skilled ability to skim the bullets

Across the earth, attempting to pick

Off wounded and stretcher-bearers.

Another second lieutenant gave

An alternative sketch - he was the

Only officer left unscathed, when

Company orders took an objective.

Instead of usual practice of bombing

Down a trench - they ran along edge

Of the ditch, 'shying' bombs down -

The Boche being taken by surprise.

By Jamie Mann.

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 22 August 2016).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212857/Daily-Telegraph-August-23-1916.html

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1somme

Tuesday 23 August 2016

Poem ~ Somme Tricks and Mishaps - Wednesday, 23 August 1916 - Friday, 25 August 1916

Source: File: ruins of Pozieres after the battle. The grave is that of Captain Ivor Margetts. AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL. See an original image at: <http://www.news.com.au/national/anzac-day/world-war-i-battlefield-relic-from-pozieres-to-be-presented-at-launceston-ceremony/news-story/68cf35eb0effa0746d39a4c9abaa630a>
[Accessed 23 August 2016]

By fighting stretched over further days,

Each second as a heavy pace - almost

Unbearable - but still endured by those

That lived - 1 July seemed long gone,

But from that hours beginning no end

Was yet in sight.

Paused breathing spaces, then another

Stride of individuals made whole

Over familiar, now unfamiliar grounds,

Pulverized and smashed again into

Disorder of primeval soup, where one

Day life may revive.

One day too far ahead to conceive,

As the present heaved day after

Day - yet July becomes August still

Summer - told by warmth of air

Even if any other evidence might

Be absent.

Unseen by a soldier’s eyes normality

Is another affair - artillery or other

Gunnery, systems of trenches occupy

These workers minds as they push on,

Against redoubts where a single gun

May remain.

Still to cause havoc - then suddenly,

Somehow, if not quite sure, the high

Ground of Pozieres is gained by some

Pathetic achievement - Thipeval

And Pozieres - Pozieres and Thiepval,

Over repeated ground.

A rolling frozen muddied sea where

Rewards come as holes in the ground -

Water falls from blue skies down into

Burrowed earth, where waiting

Germans hold out with supplies

Of bombs.

All types of weapons to hand yet

Many gave no resistance - to kick

Aside their arms and lift high their

Hands in surrender - though some

Choose by order to die by gun

Of an unknown man.

The need to clear them out is swift

And urgent, to prevent any pockets

Of Germans that could emerge once

Passed - attacks from the rear make

A hard lesson to learn - how events

Occurred too many times.

A witness account to give impression

Of those taken from enemy dugouts -

All tall, healthy, fresh looking without

A stain on uniforms - out of galleries

Of luxuries of sprung beds, armchairs

And false curtained windows.

To watch them marching, led by one

That laughed and joked before his

Brother officers - a great giant man

Made taller by his German casque -

Such a strong beefed up force could

Easily halt progress.

Each day the artillery set to grind

Down on the enemy - but each

Shell equates destruction of

Earth, to counter swift progress

As troops stumble over uneven

Ground.

In all directions dank land lay

Pitted by crater holes - enough

To confuse any man in the dark.

One Australian advance tumbles

Into holes, deeper than a man,

To sink into filth.

Lights might flash from enemy

Flares, to give some warning -

Equally to light their figures,

Which reappear, blacked stained

Mockery of men, to be picked

On by Germans.

Hazards are varied in such vile

Swamps - one Australian told

Of his burial alive over six times,

To be rescued with luck - saved

By a bubble of air; though others

Might succumb to nerves.

Still more hazards lay, even after

A trench might be deserted

As Hun were apt to leave small

Gifts to the unwary - by parapets

A mantrap might be laid, to bite

The leg of a soldier and bring

Him down.

Then there were the tortoise shell

Type traps - unlikely to be seen

In the dark they waddled on 4 legs -

And once touched could easily kill

A man - then there are the lucky

Mishaps.

On the road between Delville

And High Wood, where trenches

Were defended - the Germans

Swarmed either side the allies,

Who ducked for the enemy then

Mistook each other.

Over the heads bombs were

Thrown - German at German

As their real targets slipped

Easily away - defiant of all bags

Of tricks, they conveyed fresh

Prisoners to their lines.

By Jamie Mann.

Gibbs,P., 1916. British Advance - New Enemy Weapons - Astounding Incident. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 23 August 1916. P.10. Col.1. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212857/Daily-Telegraph-August-23-1916.html> [Accessed: 23 August 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 23 August 2016).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212857/Daily-Telegraph-August-23-1916.html

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

Sunday 21 August 2016

Poem ~ Madam Delacourt Thwarts Invaders - Monday, 21 August 1916 - Tuesday, 22 August 1916

Source: File: The heroines of the Great War - Octavia Delacourt. See an original image at: <https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://87dit.canalblog.com/archives/2014/10/15/30769815.html&prev=search> [Accessed 21 August 2016]

When war was hardly two months old,

With the movement of German invasion

Was reaching a peak, came experience

Of a farmer's wife Octavie Delacourt.

In the month of September 1914 madam

Delacourt, aged 56 left home, Bord de Bois,

To walk on an errand in area of Vauvais -

Through forests to commune of Gournay.

Following the logging road through dense

Trees, she was startled - a hand clamped

Her shoulder - turning about to face a large

Man wearing a cap and dressed in grey.

Not knowing what a German soldier may

Look like, madam Delacourt could only

Assume that this man was of that army -

When another stepped out of the wood.

The three stood and regarded each other.

No words were spoken as these soldiers

Turned her about, indicating she should

Return back to where she had come from.

Outwardly calm but inwardly tense, madam

Delacourt started to walk slowly away from

Their gaze, then picking up her pace - once

Around the corner the woman began to run.

Despite her urgency she suddenly slowed,

As she spied two more soldiers half hiding

In a thicket, close to Fieffé farm - once again

Moving out of sight, she ran to Neuf Marche.

At this closest village the breathless madam

Delacourt began her urgent warnings - to tell

How Prussian soldiers were in the woods

Not knowing how many; only to be ridiculed.

Insistent of her story to everyone whose

Attention she gained - farmers, gendarmes,

Along with the postmistress - that there

Were Prussians hiding back in the woods.

After a sequence of successful bridge raids

A German commando style force had set out

In vehicles, in the operation in race to the sea;

Three cars and a truck conveyed Prussians.

Driving through dark hours towards French

Lines, encountering resistance on their way -

At Margny-aux-Cerises, interactions with

French cavalry led to a loss of one vehicle.

The group sped away and impersonated

British troops, to cut down a French guard.

After a days of hiding they set off again,16th

September, as madam Delacourt left home.

The locals found it hard to believe, despite

Declaration of war, how Germans had made

It as far to Lower Normandy - then the post

Mistress took madam Delacourt seriously.

While the mistress telegraphed authorities,

Three volunteer Gendarmes followed madam

Delacourt's directions into the Boos forest -

Their initial disbelief became well disproved.

Attempts to detain the Prussians soldiers

Hiding in the woods failed, as all three men

Were killed - the commando raiders sped

Off in escape, to continue their mission.

Captain Walther Tilling, leading the band of

Commandos, was forced to leave one fatally

Injured man behind - from the dense forest

Of Boos, the crack of gunfire had echoed.

iii

The exchange of fire was sudden, to leave

Dead gendarmes Jules Labas and Eugene,

Along with unnamed driver and civil guard.

The sounds carrying beyond Boos forest.

Rapid fire killed three as Blacher, fatally

Injured with driver Rene Alley - Prussians

Fled, speeding off towards Manville - Police

Had heard shots echo form the Boos forest.

Warnings had begun to spread - authorities

Were warned at Etrepagny and Andelys -

Only by evening were alerts in place to say

Two vehicles on loose, one to be a limousine.

The other was a truck driven by Germans

Dressed in French uniforms; they headed

To Gurney en Bray - the evening moved on

At 22.30, two police stood at Oissel bridge.

At Tourville-la-Rivière police went to gain

Arms - bright car lights appeared, followed

By another vehicle - seen by the guards,

They took pot shots at speeding headlights.

At high speed the first car was fired on -

The second passed, unaware of police

Ahead; authority actions followed, trying

To track the German soldiers directions.

Their plan had been to blow the bridge

At Oissel, but any attempt was scuppered

By alerted authorities - the two remaining

Vehicles set out to avoid their capture.

The rogue Prussians now turned towards

Saint-Aubin-les-Elbeuf, to pass onto Cleon,

Keeping to the Seine road - the Germans

Paused at Bedanne to check their vehicles.

French officials meanwhile, set out to

Concentrate at the loop of a Seine route

At Val-on Renoux - helped by an drunk

Sergeant, from Sotteville-sous-le-Va.

The six though were ambushed - then

The Prussians began to move again,

Their lights spotted close to Freneuse -

Attempts to track them still continued.

Into the next day at hour of 1 a.m.

17th September, the group encountered

Alerted guards, who attempted to stop

Them with gunfire; the cars revved up.

Yet the limousine misjudged a corner,

To speed off the road - the other car

Still carried on - a wounded Captain

Tilling and five Prussians surrendered.

Attempts of blowing French bridges

failed into nothing, as the truck on road

To Igoville halted there, abandoned -

The driver was later caught in a house.

Hiding at Tourville-la-Rivière a German

Was wounded by nervous police. Days

Later on 22 September, the last two men

Surrender in hunger, at Aubin-lès-Elbeuf.

So the actions of Madam Delacourt had

Led to failed commando raids on French

Bridges, that could have harmed allies -

An affair called the fight of Rougemare.

By Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. A Curious Adventure. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 21 August 1916. P.8. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212816/Daily-Telegraph-August-21-1916.html> [Accessed: 21 August 2016].

Source: File: Fighting the Rougemare and Flamingos. Available at: <https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_de_la_Rougemare_et_des_Flamants&prev=search> [Accessed 21 August 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 21 August 2016).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212816/Daily-Telegraph-August-21-1916.html

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