Poem ~ Diary of a German Officer - Friday, 2 October 1914

A soldier of the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders,

A Private, by name of Crow, writes home,

Enclosing for his mother a copy of a diary, 

That was gained from a German officer.

Recounted are some of the diary's entries,

With the German officer's following thoughts;

20 July - notes he feels that at last the time

Has arrived and all is ready with a challenge. 

'Come who may' that might defy his belief;

‘The world race is destined to be German.’

5 August – says that at Liege their losses 

Are terrible but not to mind, this is allowed.

As the fallen are only Polish – their spilled 

Blood, he states, is necessary to spread 

Desire for war at home. 11 August - refers 

To the English, seen as just farm fighters.

William - or Wilhelm – gives great advice,  

To his German fighters not to forget god,

But to have thoughts of their Emperor. 

The officer adds that their Majesty should

Know, in thinking of him, they think of god.

For their Emperor is the lord’s instrument, 

In this righteous fight.  A 12 August entry, 

By the officer notes how infantry is nothing -

That the war already belongs to the artillery.

20 August – he sees the English as conceited.

He recounts how the German airmen report,

How the enemy, across the frontlines, are stood,

Against the German enemy - at absurd odds.

25 August – the officer laughs in his entry

At how amid the shelling of the English guns

One of them burst over a Red Cross Wagon,

Which was full of wounded English soldiers.

He admires the English swine, that fight well, 

And how one such officer, in agony, swearing 

At the German Emperor then asks for a bath. 

He ends with fact there is little time to bury

Their own dead, so they sink them in the river.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. German Officer’s Diary. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 Oct. p.8. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11134175/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1914.html [Accessed: 2nd October 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 2 October 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11134175/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1914.html

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

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Poem ~ Storm of War Has Broken - Wednesday, 5 August 1914

So to the second day when new policies are born,

While that foreign policy of brutal aggression

Bares the question ‘will might or right prevail?'

In an unravelling of a European fight.

Irrevocably comes the 'dread decision of the sword,'

'The storm of war has broken.'

So starts the first phase and catchphrases of war -

Still this is more than a mere English war.

More than headings of ‘England’s Declaration.’

Remember Wales, remember Scotland, remember Ireland...

On the back of uncertainty rides outrage -

Germany villainy is made by sinking of a British mine-layer

And chasing of a cruiser even before a declaration of war.

But doubts of this are raised by other reports – so what is truth?

And if so what was a British mine-layer up to?

The 'fog of war' has fallen over a placid brooding sea.

Still the Kaiser claims a necessity to invade Luxembourg,

And cut across Belgium's neutral territory.

In calm irony, advertisers in newspapers make claim for,

‘The shortest and most comfortable route to North Germany.’

This makes one think that perhaps the territorial army

Should book ahead for their tickets,

In time for a quick remedy and a perhaps Berlin holiday.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon., 2014. Daily Telegraph August 5 1914. The Telegraph, [online] 5 Aug. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11004294/Daily-Telegraph-August-5-1914.html [Accessed: 5th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 5 August 2014).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11004294/Daily-Telegraph-August-5-1914.html

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

#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1 #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered