Source: File: Private Thomas Alfred 'Todger' Jones VC. See an original image at Britain At War: <http://www.britainatwar.com/view_article.asp?ID=3777>
[Accessed
30 October 2016]
Amid the Somme
awards for bravery,
Three privates
were to show their worth -
Following on from
Flers, Courcelette
Came a fuss at
three communes; Morval
Gueudeciur and
Lesboeufs - delayed,
The British were
to join French attacks.
Among the thick
of the fray, 1st Battalion
Cheshire Regiment
included one private,
Nicknamed Todger
Private Thomas
Alfred Jones -
then aged 35 - his task
With his company was
to consolidate
Defences before
one French commune.
A man of Cheshire,
Jones had come
From Runcorn that
lay on river Mersey.
Now at a stage
before Morval village
Todger Jones
contemplated his fate -
He had survived
while many fellow
Cheshire men died,
only to be replaced.
None of them
shared his origin or knew
Traditions of his
county - an aggrieved
Man perhaps,
Todger found a friend
In a runner
Kenworthy, years his junior.
The date 25
September 1916 had seen
This fellow came
up to join the line.
Runner Kenworthy
hailed to his friend
'Good day today
Todger! It's my 18th
Birthday!' But those were the youngsters
Last words as a German
bullet struck
Him down dead - Todger
was horrified
And angered by
the death of his friend.
He had spotted
the possible originator
Of the bullet - from
a sniper sitting high
In a tree - he
was 200 yards distant.
Seeing red, Todger
stood to start to walk
Out - he had not
been ordered or given
Permission; in seconds he was shot at.
Poets would have
told Todger he had
A charmed life,
he later thought, as this
Sniper hit his
helmet - the bullet went
Inside, as a
marble spinning in a vase
To heat him up;
as he went closer some
Five more bullets
cut through his tunic.
This was not his
time though - unaware
Of ripped
clothing Todger brought down
The sniper - in a
blur he saw two more -
They waved a
white flag as they fired -
But he aimed and
took them both out,
Then he arrived
at a German trench.
With fear entering
the enemy, a line
Of Germans funneled
down to a hole
To get away. Already
having used his
Grenades that day
and lacking any
Urge to pursue
them down into their
Dugout, Todger
did the next best thing.
Picking up a
dropped stick bomb
Todger tossed
this after them - likely
Finding this a
warning to possible
Entrapment, one
fearful German
Emerged, hands up
to stutter and
Tell him they
wished to surrender.
Todger agreed,
seeing no other way,
Ordering them out - warning that if any
Held a weapon he
would shoot them.
One by one they
came out to test his
Stance - the line
of them endless,
Until in front of
him were 120 men.
Holding the lot still
with his rifle tight,
They stood hands
over their heads -
Todger was relieved
when a sergeant
And another came,
expecting to find
Him dead - only to
find him in charge
Of 120 captured, compliant
Germans.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Fifteen
New V.C's. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 27 October 1916. P.8. Col.7. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213502/Daily-Telegraph-October-27-1916.html>
[Accessed: 30 October 2016].
Source: File: Thomas Alfred Jones Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Alfred_Jones> [Accessed 30 October
2016]
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 30 October 2016).
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