Poem ~ Actions at Mons - Thursday, 10 September 1914

The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Arrived at Mons, on afternoon of Saturday 23 August.

Among them, a Lance Corporal, describes events

Prior to the day of battle, beginning with the digging

Of entrenchments – they were still carrying out this

When the first big shell of the Germans struck.

Some twenty yards away, to wreck a house.

Nearby they took shelter behind a wall, in which

Loop-holes were made – under heavy shrapnel fire

They remained there for fifteen hours, overlooking

A valley – from where the Germans came.

Enemy rifle fire was described as 'rotten' – big guns

Covering enemy's advance, caused the most damage.

The Germans outnumbered them – shooting one

Down, another one lifts to take their place.

By 4 am Monday morning, came the retreat.

Among the rear guard the Lance Corporal

Was wounded – close by a shell dropped,

And fragments hit his left leg - then he fell

Unconscious to the ground – in recovery

He finds his rifle and ammunition gone.

Likely taken by Germans, thinking him dead.

Managing to make it to St Quentin,

With other wounded, he was transported

Along to the coast and then onto Netley.

Stanley Crook, a native of Dawlish

And of the 1^st Devons, writes a letter

From a hospital ship, to be printed

In the Western Morning News,

Declared how the Devonshire's

Gained a very warm time,

In the firing line, with bullets

And shells, flying like the wind,

To face massed German attacks.

On shooting one down, another came up.

Many were wounded, but few men killed

D Company suffered, having 10 uninjured

Within the whole Devonshire company.

The Germans then robbed the wounded

Of khaki uniforms, wearing them, thinking

That they would not be recognised -

A German officer also took Crook's clothes.

It was a 100 miles before he got another suit,

Stanley Crook ends with keen eagerness,

To get back to the front - His rifle

And bayonet still being hungry for more.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. Battle Stories - 1st Devons in a Hot Corner. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 10 Sept. p.4. Col. 1. Available at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11077817/Daily-Telegraph-September-10-1914.html [Accessed: 10th September 2014].

Anon., 1914. Battle Stories - Behind a Wall at Mons. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 10 Sept. p.4. Col. 1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11077817/Daily-Telegraph-September-10-1914.html [Accessed: 10th September 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 10 September 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11077817/Daily-Telegraph-September-10-1914.html

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

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Poem ~ Escape from Mons – Monday, 7 September 1914

An unnamed Private and a Sergeant Smith,

Both being of the Somerset Light infantry,

On arrival, soon experienced the fighting

Outside Mons - the men bustled from train

Being sent charging into the fray, before

Even before knowing where they were.

Some hours later after a big fight,

The Germans were moving about,

To take ground between many men

And their regiments. Effectively cut off,

The private and Sergeant hid,

Alongside many other soldiers

Waiting silently until darkness fell.

Then throwing rifles aside

They crawled Slowly on knees

And elbows, through German pickets.

The Private and Sergeant Smith

Finally got through and looking

For others, found themselves

At the homes of simple peasants.

Taking some brief respite,

They were given civilian clothes.

Disguised in the hope to return

And rejoin their fighting force,

Quickly proved quite Impossible,

As their regiment

Had retired too far back.

So together they made a plan.

Making their way along the coast,

In various incidents on route. 

Being stopped many times,

Not just by French soldiers,

But cyclists riding about,

On lookout for any German spies.

On success in reaching Boulogne

They saw the consul and acquired

A pass to sail back to England,

Where they re-joined their depot -

Still in clothes given them,

By helpful French people.

They could only assume,

Other men that had stayed,

Had been taken prisoner.

While some other soldiers,

Escaping that situation,

Cut off from their regiment,

Did the same as them.

But unable to speak French

Soldiers may have been taken

As German spies and possibly shot.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. Battle Stories - Cut Off At Mons - Rifles Thrown Away. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 7 Sept. p.3. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11073408/Daily-Telegraph-September-7-1914.html [Accessed: 7th September 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 7 September 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11073408/Daily-Telegraph-September-7-1914.html

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

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Poem ~ Zeppelin over Antwerp - Saturday, 29 August 1914

The Secretary of Royal Society of Architects of Antwerp,

Alfred Portielje arrived at Charing Cross with wife

And child, having departed Antwerp with news of attacks.

Came a Zeppelin above the city of Antwerp at night.

In the established darkness of Monday night gone

Was the sudden blast of an explosion in a square,

Nearby to where Mr P. was staying – being about to run

Out to find what had happened, Mr P. took a call

From the fire station - being a member of that brigade.

Then running out to the nearby square, he helped people

Escape from a house, destroyed by the Zeppelin bomb.

Six families were saved along with 2 children 

And a woman of 76 years - who all stated that there was

No one else – within the next three hours groans

Were heard to find a female servant had been left behind.

Having fallen in the middle of the square, the blast

Had wrecked a lot of houses – six people were killed;

A child, four women and a policeman on duty.

Fragments of the bomb were found being 9' in diameter.

An ordinary gun shell, encased in a sack, acting as a tail

Keeping the point down to strike the ground on impact.

Following this night Antwerp by 8pm, is plunged into darkness

To provide no guide to any further Zeppelin raid.

Although Antwerp fears such dropped shells, there is no panic,

Nor shortage of food - the population are led to believe

It will be sometime before any German can reach their city.

Witnesses to this night are London news agency photographers,

Stephenson and Horton. These men were staying close to where

A bomb fell – at 10pm the men were walking about the town.

On hearing the hum of an aeroplane, all pedestrian eyes

Looked up to follow the searchlights cutting the dark sky,

But nothing could be seen. Soon after midnight, the hum

Was heard again. Then, by 1pm, the Zeppelin was visible.

The enormous sight marked by 6 explosions over 15 minutes.

The noise from the retaliating guns, only added to the confusion.

From this attack some considerable damage was done.

300 yards from the Royal residence opposite the Café Sport,

In Rue Douze Mois, a bomb had hit a house, the front blown.

Shell fragments were found to have gone through seven walls,

Traces being found at the back of the property.

Little was reported in the press for fear of stirring panic,

But few slept soundly that night in the city of Antwerp.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. Bomb Dropping Scenes. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 29 Aug. p.4. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11062042/Daily-Telegraph-August-29-1914.html [Accessed: 29th August 2014].

Anon., 1914. Scenes in Antwerp - Zeppelin Shell Terror. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 29 Aug. p.4. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11062042/Daily-Telegraph-August-29-1914.html [Accessed: 29th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11062042/Daily-Telegraph-August-29-1914.html

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

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Poem ~ Fighting in the Hills - Thursday, 27 August 1914

From a field hospital a wounded French soldier,

Makes correspondence to his London friend.

Describing how he arrived there, and how

A hole has appeared now his left shoulder.

Praising the patient nurses who never tire,

But just smile back and make a comic reply.

He starts his account, in mellow mourning; 

Replacing his journalistic pen for a rifle -

Which can be as sharp as a bayonet.

His civilian occupation has led him to

Experience battle as both soldier and journalist.

On that day the army, of which he is a part,

Marched upon a cultivated plain - on either flank

The field being dotted with groups of harvesters.

Girls and old men, creating scenery of peace,

Amid rolling land of hills and wooded crests,

Marching, marching kilometre upon Kilometre,

Forms a snaking line of fighting men.

Atop one hill this French man looks back

To see the serpent, of which he is apart.

Their colour's are not just for show,

But a force going to war because they wish to.

Being ‘A superhuman power of determination.’

Each solder having everything he needs,

To keep his spirit high. Then a dust cloud

To their left flank, rises up and they hear

Sounds of moving troops and horses hooves.

A Parallel marching troop,

Which they glimpse through the field crops.

Muttered rumours pass between them.

They are surely the British. But French officers

Do not disclose if they are British, French

Or Belgian - only that they are their allies.

The landscape about, starts to darken,

With dispatch riders hurrying by them -

Now come orders to quicken their march.

Part of the Serpent army suddenly divides off

To marches across a pasture land.

The rattling of gunfire has been growing

For a time - then the clearer thud -

Thud of artillery. More dispatch riders

Coming from the battle scene,

Meet their officers in a kicking up of dust.

Now our man hurries across a grass field,

Reaching a crest of a hill, to drop flat,

Viewing the hill opposite, where a keen fight

Is on between enemy and an allied division. 

Shapes of German artillery-men move like toys

Quickly operating their artillery gun –

The gun sends out a flash, the sound

Re echoes in the hills. Our Frenchman

Feels he is a spectator and others too,

As they too look to see where that shell has fallen.

It is like a grand outdoor theatre,

With them lying prone as a curious audience.

The surreal situation causes humour, which

To any other than the soldier sounds ill at ease –

The barks of orders are made to return fire.

So volley after volley is made at the enemy’s stand

Our man notes Germans are good at parades,

But they are bad shooters - bullets and shells fly

Past over their heads.  After a time

The French heavy guns join the maelstrom,

As reinforcements come up behind.

Our Frenchman is in the front line,

Ordered to race for the plain ahead.

He lifts to stoop into the raining bullets.

When hearing the whizzing sound,

Means the bullet has already passed.

Therefore the metal hits in silence.

Within the depth of the hailing,

Comes over him a feeling like a fever.

Dropping then lifting to rush forward again -

Nerves on edge as time is stretched.

The earth shakes, quaking the body -

As the air blazes in rattling rifle fire.

To his right a man is shot through the chest

Dropping without a sound - then to the front

Of him a man throws up his arms,

Falls, gets up again, but falls again,

Calling out his last words.

The Frenchman finds the rush

To take the ground surrounded by dykes

Is gained. There comes the blast of a shell,

And five men lay dead. A man without legs

Cries out to die, a moving officer stops

To look at him, then shoots him in the heart.

The officer, about to make a command,

Is promptly shot through the mouth.

Spinning twice he falls across a dyke.

At a distance Red Cross soldiers stoop,

Through the wounded, lifting them to an ambulance.

A shell explodes – only two of them are left.

Casualties lay about in the green grass  -

Then a French voice calls out the retreat.

Our French man makes his way back,

Glancing to a German battery, which turns

To aim at them, but is hit simultaneously

By two shells and is then swept away.

There is a pause and they turn back,

To inflict more fire upon the enemy.

Finding some calmness in the carnage,

He lifts his rifle to any moving, living target.

With each bullet fired he looks for a second

To see the resulting effect of a falling man.

The numbers of enemy are still too great

So the retreat is made, running from the plain,

Back to a hill where he reaches a crest,

To feel a slight shock in the left shoulder.

Moving on there comes a burning pain,

And the arm becomes heavy – he is wounded.

Some time later, finds himself, in a field hospital

Happy to be attended to by a keen nurse,

Who, to stop him writing in order to eat,

Threatens him with punishment.

Our Frenchman wonders what that might be.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. Soldier's Story of a Terrible Fight - Grim Incidents - Heroic Nurses. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 27 Aug. p.8. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034852/Daily-Telegraph-August-27-1914.html [Accessed: 27th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034852/Daily-Telegraph-August-27-1914.html

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

#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1 #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1battle

Poem ~ Reading Between the Headines - Tuesday, 25 August 1914

Cricket reports on page two describe how the home team,

Is having the great advantage - elsewhere reports of war

Conflict - of course, the truth is a casualty. A main heading

Declares how home casualties are light for troops in action.

New positions held suggest has little hint of pulling back.

Under the decreasing size of headings is described

The British army in action at Mons, with the importance

Made to ‘held their own’ - only in passing statements,

Comes admittance of how the allied army has fallen back

Yet we as the reader, should not make any assumptions,

That any defeat has occurred. Paper distraction comes

In giving an overview of the fight - how a series of battles

Are in place, from Swiss border west across to Mons.

And to mention there are only 3 British casualties so far,

The prominent one being Lord Leven being wounded

Dangerously in making a cavalry charge – Freely adding

How Austrians are in a confused retreat, taking heavy losses.

In further shrinking headings, casualties now move

From 'light' to 'not heavy'. The official Press Bureau’s

Statement declares how the British troops In Belgium,

Took ‘meritorious’ part in the recent Mons battle.

Beginning on Saturday, with an engagement on Sunday

Where steadfast British Forces held their ground.

Officially operations under commanders of the First

And Second Army Corps, being executed in great skill.

Caution comes with exact British casualty estimates -

‘But are not heavy’ yet quick to add that German corps

And cavalry were depleted and even hint at the French

Suffering the same - still though German losses

Are considerable - our artillery has affirmed its superiority.

The cavalry has not suffered at all, is a proclamation

Strangely under the heading of ‘a lively fight’

Curiously though, the final heading finally admits

‘Considerable Losses' in subdued hypocrisy.

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. British Casualties - Earl Of Leven Wounded. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 Aug. p.7. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034792/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1914.html [Accessed: 25th August 2014].

Anon., 1914. Daily Telegraph August 25 1914. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 Aug. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034792/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1914.html [Accessed: 25th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034792/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1914.html

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Poem ~ Lady's Must Have Corsets - Monday, 24 August 1914

In reflecting the serious three week move into war,

Advertisements continue to add to the effect -

As additional publications are already underway,

Creating awareness in recording instant history

Of the ‘titanic conflict’ already entitled the Great War.

The term having been coined from the outbreak

Is a complete and authentic account of the progress

Of struggles of nations giving ‘vividness and colour,’

Made In black and white by special correspondents.

The selling of which illustrated by an Armour gauntlet

Wielding a quill (is the pen mightier than the sword?)

With parts 1 and 2 are already in great demand

Somehow downplays the enormity of it all…

The store of Selfridges follows up their effort to the war.

Where Oxford Street calls out to the discerning lady,

And the importance of fashion playing their part.

From the commercial salons of Selfridges,

Comes 'le dernier cri' in exclusivity of Paris

Fashion Houses – the ladies mission as a priority

With gowns and costumes, coats for steamer, Auto

Or travel wear, hats blouses, tea frocks and silk kimonos,

In colours of Velours, Ponycloth or Crepe de Chene.

So the discerning lady cannot avoid this link to war,

With a drawing of soldiers marching from the store,

Under a billowing cloud of good-bye and good luck.

Beside the prominent heading of a Red Cross Depot,

To supply everything required by Red Cross ladies.

From Aprons to nightshirts for every discerning lady,

Involved in organizing private hospitals or Nursing Corps.

Even giving guidelines to make a fitted hospital kit bag,

To buy, being of strong canvas 20 inches wide.

Elsewhere, under the bold black heading, is a call

To every unit of commerce, involving the corset -

Declared as a master stroke war is now declared on

German ladies corsetry and their suspicious trade.

So stirs the ‘old fighting spirit in every Briton.’

With an appeal for calmness against West-end houses

Who are sending their corset orders to Germany!

Such is the scandal to astonish all patriotic drapers -

Comes the cry ‘Ladies must and will have corsets.’

In the closing of continental markets come underhand

Forces of deceptive sellers, as German corsets

Continue to enter the country under false disguises,

Labelled French creations - some still use busks and steels

From stashed German bulk supplies. So up comes the call,

From Royal Worcester makers, who with superhuman effort

And Lancashire supplies, provide the emphasis:

The dedicated patriotism of their workers gone to war -

Being paid in absence and promise of jobs on their return -

So strikes the needs of growing War commerce,

Making use of adverts in disguise of a report

With catchy titles ‘Royal Worcester corsets to the Front’

And of course how ‘Ladies must and will have corsets.’

by Jamie Mann

Anon., 1914. Good - Bye and Good Luck (advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, [online] 24 Aug. p.5. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034714/Daily-Telegraph-August-24-1914.html [Accessed: 24th August 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 24 August 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11034714/Daily-Telegraph-August-24-1914.html

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

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