Paris, Sunday 11 October.
At least three explosions,
Occurred between noon
And 1pm – The instigator,
A German Taube plane.
A French biplane took
Chase but the German
Aviator took cover in low,
Dense clouds – people
On the Champs Elysees,
Observed the swerve
Of hide and seek - yet
The crowds had no fear.
Eyes and field glasses,
Lifting to gaps of blue,
Sky – no more was seen.
Sunday afternoon,
In the French Capital,
And it became clearer,
That two German planes,
Had target different
Quarters of the city.
With some chaos near
Lafayette, more damage
Was done in Faubourg
St Antoine, quite near
Place de la Republique.
Notre Dame was hit,
But the bomb landed
On the roof, without
Any explosion made.
Close to Gare St Lazare,
In the Rue du Rocher,
A bomb struck, but
Without much effect.
As in the Rue de
L’Aqueduc, the bomb
Splintered a paving
Block and made marks
Of a school façade.
Paris, Sunday night,
And the design of
The attack was clearer.
Between Gare de l’Est,
And Gare du Nord
An explosion happened,
Causing casualties.
Out of several 2 people
Died - In reassessment
Of the bombing in
Rue de l’Aqueduc,
At where Layfayette
Cuts across, a hole dug
In the tramway lines.
Shattering the glazed
Frontage next to antique
Store as well as the glass
Of adjoining buildings,
Such as distant houses.
The Eastern Rail Company,
A chemists and a coal
merchant’s plate glass.
Causing damage as high
As windows up to five
Storeys, the front being
Hit with shrapnel bullets.
The afternoon crowds
Lingered, in study of
All this bomb damage.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Bombs on Paris – Notre Dame Struck – 3 Killed; 14 injured –
Twenty Bombs Dropped = Sinister Design. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 12
Oct. p.8. Col.7. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11149684/Daily-Telegraph-October-12-1914.html
[Accessed: 12th October 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 12 October 2014).
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