i
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.
ii
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.
iV
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).
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