Poem ~ A Call for Barbed Defences - Tuesday, 08 December 1914

Among many articles needed for war,

And possibly, in part, to sympolise

The fight from 1914 - is use of barbed wire.

The metal twine, with its stars of spikes,

Defined as having defensive values.

What in peacetime fenced in cattle,

Now employed its thorn’s to use

Between humankind –

For nations at war, the practicality

Of barriers building, is a necessity.

Thus boomed American industries,

In the production of spiked wire.

A ban of such fences, had across

States a backing of law - within state

Of New York were restrictions -

Within its uses of fencing, even out

To the West, barbed wire remained rare.

The rolls of spike metal had been

An all American invention -

Its uses had been hardly seen

In any European country - until then,

When entanglements were devised.

Placed before trenches, these

Rolls of vicious wires,

Would halt charges of enemy men.

Cheapness and ease of use,

Of thorny wire in multiple impale,

Could quickly make barricades -

That after any shell barrages,

Construction was easily remade -

So came creation in a necessity

With the usage of wire cutters.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. Boom in Barbed Wire. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 Dec. p.6. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11275709/Daily-Telegraph-December-8-1914.html [Accessed: 8 December 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 08 December 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11275709/Daily-Telegraph-December-8-1914.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Unitedstates

Poem ~ Sergeant’s Final Cry - Friday, 4 December 1914

An officer of 1^st Battalion,

Artillery Company,

Writing on 26 November,

Described a loss and

His dislike of snipers

On the previous occasion,

Of writing home, he had

Been in expectation

Of 48 hours in the line -

The officer expressed,

How he would rather

Not experience it again.

The day of 25 November

Had subjected them,

To all day shelling -

Luckily they avoid

Being hit.

It was later observed

How the enemy

Had started to advance,

Resulting in exchange

Of rapid rifle fire.

With the platoon isolated,

And two of the men lost,

Gave this officer problems.

When need came,

To communicate

With the major,

This officer had to cross

200 yards of broken ground -

Being totally exposed.

Having gained a dislike

Of the journey’s  necessity,

Which was the result

Of the night before -

When he had become

The subject of snipers,

On helping out wounded,

From the trenches.

Charging that same ground

Had occurred that night

Over five occasions -

Making for ten journeys.

With the attack going well,

A message then reached him,

To say the platoon sergeant

Had been seriously hit.

The officer went to him,

Sergeant Thomas,

A skilled sportsman,

Lay quite still -

His condition was fatal.

Having been the platoon’s

Popular father figure

And a right hand man,

His death was great loss.

He learnt the Sergeant

Had yelled, as he fell,

‘Stick to ‘em boys!’

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. ‘Stick to ‘em Boys’ – H.A.C Sergeant’s Cry. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 December. p.7. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11271104/Daily-Telegraph-December-4-1914.html [Accessed: 4 December 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 4 December 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11271104/Daily-Telegraph-December-4-1914.html

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

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

Poem ~ War Over Neutral Territory - Friday, 27 November 1914

Questions over Neutral territory,

Were given issue

Within the House of Commons,

By a Mr Booth of Pontefract.

This issue was raised,

Due to flying attacks

On Zeppelin factories -

Based at Friedrichshafen.

The sheds based on Northern

Shoreline of Lake Constance -

Spanning the borders

Of Austria, Switzerland,

And Southern Germany.

Requests for clear instructions

Were required from the Prime Minister,

For Governmental Policy -

For flights of their war machines,

Passing over neutral lands and waters.

Mr Churchill stood in reply to Mr Booth,

Saying Naval flying officers,

Had been given orders to avoid

All such neutral territories.

They had been issued maps,

Which were marked with courses,

That indicated them to keep clear,

Of Switzerland's air space.

It was noted how in 1910,

At the Paris conference,

No agreement

Was finalised, with regard

To crafts in any act of war,

Above neutral territories.

In taking any accurate

Course, when flying at height

Makes for problematic

Decisions – except possibly

For those most skilled

Observers – the house agreed.

What was not said –

Is fact that those flying

Had not been allowed maps -

In case of capture - in fact

In their flying from France,

The route had to be memorised.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. Swiss Neutrality. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 27 Nov. p.10. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11253900/Daily-Telegraph-November-27-1914.html [Accessed: 27 November 2014].

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11253900/Daily-Telegraph-November-27-1914.html

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

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