Poem ~ Atrocities - Wednesday, 26 August 1914

Turning on their solemn assurance,

Of treading on Belgium soil with respect,

Comes account after account,

Of German’s turn to savage attacks.

But Belgium remains defiant to stoop,

Below any legitimate warfare customs.

Crushed or beaten Belgium quotes

An English King to say ‘we'll never be enslaved.’

The Minister of Belgium states

That when the invasion began,

Placards were placed in all towns (and press),

Villages and hamlets, warning the people,

To abstain from any kind of hostility,

Towards any movement of enemy troops.

Meanwhile the German authorities state

That grave 'imputations' will be treated,

And dire reprisals will be made,

Against attitudes of any Belgium civilian.

Imputations are in opposition

To the facts and no threats will stop

Belgium Government protesting of crimes

Against any children, women and old men.

Too many accounts have been given

To their inquiry of German troops.

The Belgium Ministry of Justice,

Looks gravely on these war crimes.

As upon the following reports

They have received.

The village of Linsmeau witnessed

The fight of Belgian infantry and Gendarmes,

Against the occupying German Cavalry;

With one enemy officer being killed.

The population took no part

In the fighting of that day, but the village

Was again invaded on 10 August,

By a German force of Artillery,

Cavalry and machine guns.

The Burgomaster of Linsmeau assured

The Germans the villagers took no part,

In the previous fighting - but this did not

Pacify the enemy intent on destruction.

Targeting two farms and six houses

These were burnt down to the ground.

Then the male villagers were made

To come forward to give up any arms.

None were found, but un-pacified

The enemy divided the men into 3 groups.

Eleven men being forced into a ditch.

They were later found with their heads

Smashed by the butt of German rifles.

The people of Velm went to sleep,

On the night of August 10, when roused,

By a great company of German Cavalry.

Upon entering their town they turned

On one particular house -

Breaking in to loot and destroy belongings,

They turned on the farmyard.

Burning barns, implements and six oxen.

Then they took the man and woman,

Two miles away, in opposite directions.

The half dressed lady they released.

As she fled the firing of dancing shots,

Kicked the air and dust around her;

But she was not hit.

The man being also fired upon.

Being injured he was left to die.

At Neerhespen an old man,

Having his arm sliced, was then hanged,

Upside down, only to be burned alive. 

Elsewhere at a place called Orsmael,

Inhabitants were made to suffer mutilation.

As the children were brutally maltreated.

So come accounts of other atrocities,

On both civilian and soldiers.

Commandant Van Damme lay wounded,

As infantry fired revolvers into his mouth.

So come in stories every other day,

As they spread across towns, the people

Flee from their homes in terror,

Running for their lives, to become refugees.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. German Savagery - Official Story of Belgium Horrors - Grim Details. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 26 Aug. p.6. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034816/Daily-Telegraph-August-26-1914.html [Accessed: 26th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034816/Daily-Telegraph-August-26-1914.html

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

#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1 #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1atrocities 

Poem ~ An Account of French Mobilisation – Tuesday, 18 August 1914

On returning to France from England, an eye witness,

Accounts the mobilisation of a keen French army.

Stepping onto the soil of Boulogne gives first encounter

Of a territorial army - a hurried bringing together of men,

Who guard all bridges, tunnels and every railway line.

A mix of men, 31 to 45 years - while most wear uniform;

Blue blouse and white trousers a red Kepi on heads,

Some still wear mufti – all with 3 days growth of beards.

They walk about with rifles, all the time fixed with bayonet.

Our witness has an impression, they are all old soldiers,

Recalled to their Grande Armée - Proudly they brandish

Their arms at any passing train who are filled with troops.

They call out ‘Bonne Chance! Viva la France!’

All the while are many accounts of spies prowling about.

One states that a German Café owner, distracted a sentry,

To give him a drink as his son lays dynamite – both were shot.

Such stories are exaggerations, but numerous arrests,

Are made and used for examples to other potential spies.

The older territorial’s are happy and keenly guard Paris,

To allow their younger counterparts form front line defence.

To join his regiment our witness goes on by train, without hurry

Which stops at all stations to take on troops, moving on slowly.

Among the men our witness listens in on conversations –

There is no desire for war, yet confidence of a fight fills soldiers,

Many with relief, ‘We have been on alert for past ten years!’ 

Men make and declare strange views of England and Russia,

While there is a desire to see their allies on the battle line -

For them there seems no reason for continued delay.

From this train our witness sees other trains pass slowly by,

Decorated with garlands taking regiments, artillery and cavalry.

Men cry out ‘Vive le guerre!’ making many promises

To women folk to bring them back the Kaiser’s moustache.

A director of a factory, now Artillery Major, sits in 3^rd class

With wife and children - bemoans he has not been given first class.

Unhappy he reprimands a soldier who smokes and then snores.

Such soldiers are the peasants, taken from fields and factories,

Moving to barracks where they will keep up their spirits up noisily.

Our witness is luckier, when a friend tells him of a comfortable space

Thus our witness completes his journey on the 4^th day of mobilisation.

With another week before his unit is formed, gives our witness time

To learn, reflect and become adapted to military knowledge and ways.

That same day the last regiments of those on active service depart

For the frontier, leaving their barracks for new eager reservists -

They will follow in 8 days’ time – all is done in a calm exchange,

As the deserted barracks fill with eager, good-tempered men.

In this new section of the active army, are men 25 to 30 years of age.

Married and fathers alike they are keen to be familiar with soldiering,

Forming a military brotherhood. All taken from normal lives witness

Their country transform, passing through a complete change of life.

Residing in a provincial town our witness finds the place ‘en fete’ -

Regiments leave one by one with garlands of flowers, music and song.

Soldiers fill the streets and proud uniformed officers inhabit the cafes.

No one is uncertain of success and even pacifists are keen to sign up.

Our witness moves from streets into houses - no one is without someone

Leaving for war. On visiting an old friend he finds young men of house

Enter as lieutenant’s, sergeants and privates - while the elders remain quiet.

There is somehow a strong belief that victory will not be far away,

Perhaps reinvigorating France and homesickness for Alsace and Lorraine,

That has cut its way deep into the soul of France for forty years,

That somehow victory will create a better, less brutal Europe.

By all accounts there is a real hatred of Germany. Our witness accounts

Two Basques at Bayonne confronting a German who scoffed at them.

Leaving him with a fractured skull – a less brutal Europe?

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. The Class Leveller - Off To The War - What Mobilisation Means. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 18 Aug. p.4. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034569/Daily-Telegraph-August-18-1914.html [Accessed: 18th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 18 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034569/Daily-Telegraph-August-18-1914.html

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

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