Showing posts with label 1915_0311. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1915_0311. Show all posts

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Poem ~ Prisoners of Neuve Chapelle - Friday, 19 March 1915


Source: File: Wounded from Neuve Chapelle.jpg, 2015. British,Germans and Indians The Daily Telegraph, [online] 19 Mar. P.12. Col.3-5. [online] Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11480912/Daily-Telegraph-March-19-1915.html > [Accessed: 1 March 2015].

Accounts came
Through, of the fight for the ruins of Neuve Chapelle.
11th March and how battered German troops were to out
To make regains.

On the following morning,
Came renewal of counter attacks about Neuve Chapelle -
Only to suffer losses, but with gains of many prisoners
Into the British hands.

Effects of exhaustion,
Led many Germans under fire to raise their hands.
At Port Arthur - south of the village Neuve Chapelle,
Lay a communication trench

From which seventy
Enemy were captured as one  - while north East, an
Enemy in British Trenches about Neuve Chapelle
Were driven out.

Germans believed weary,
The infantry stormed houses into Neuve Chapelle -
About Moulin Dupietre - to rush at them with bombs,
Catching eighty prisoners.

Then entire companies
Threw up their arms about the village Neuve Chapelle  -
Exhausted, by lack of food and in trenches full of water
Without rations on their line.

Bombardment effects
Saw German survivors crawl out in dazed conditions -
As on the 10th, in approach to lines of Neuve Chapelle -
Taken by surprise.

The village had by then
Become a ruined shambles - about all the ruined houses
Bodies were strewn, as dead occupants of Neuve Chapelle;
Became prisoners of death.

Within one night,
A patrol moved under darkness, about Neuve Chapelle,
To come across a figure before a trench - a dummy trap
To explode on contact.

Then on the 13 March,
German Counter attacks reserves behind Neuve Chapelle -
At Bois du Beiz - but guns retaliated to melt them away
From the woods.

Still more prisoners -
So by the 4th day, totaled 1,700 - during the 12th and 13th,
Pilots carried out their mission above Neuve Chapelle,
To hit railways of Douai and Don.

A quite lapse fell
By the 14 March, with enemy efforts turning to other parts
About St Eloi - leaving the village of Neuve Chapelle
Devoid of fighting.

Bombardments continued,
To turn on settlements affected away from Neuve Chapelle -
A station at Quesnoy and Aubers - where a tower hit, shot
Into the air and crumbled in dust.

An event to rankle
British troops occurred, when in a break at Neuve Chapelle,
Settled down to eat and drink rum - a hit caused evacuation.
Once regained all food was gone.

Now prisoners told,
Who had been in fight from start, that at Neuve Chapelle
A terrific attack never before witnessed - angered captured,
Stating this was total murder.

They had forgotten
Their own methods of intense concentration in field warfare,
Which the allies gave back, to cause at Neuve Chappelle
Resentment and effrontery.

Despite enemy conditions
Of exhausted troops and reports of undernourished men,
German discipline kept them clean, about Neuve Chapelle's
Filthy living conditions.

A German promise made,
Was to first finish off the Russian front within a short time  -
To turn on the British - perhaps not now at Neuve Chapelle;
Still their optimism remained.

A Spirit to match
The weary troops of the British - whose own companies
Marched back with trophies of their time in Neuve Chapelle,
With captured 'picklehauben.'

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Battle of Neuve Chapelle - Splended Story of British Heroism - Trenches Rushed - Enemy Taken by Surprise. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 19 Mar. P.9. Col.2-3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11480912/Daily-Telegraph-March-19-1915.html [Accessed: 19 March 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 19 March 2015). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1NeuveChapelle

Saturday, 14 March 2015

Poem ~ A Hard Lesson: Neuve Chapelle - Sunday, 14 March 1915



Christ figure and soldiers, sketch by Jamie.  taken from original images of Neueve Chapelle at
http://pippopluto2.altervista.org/lettguerra/owen.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/08/the-cross-at-neuve-chapelle/373454/

By close of first day's
Fight, success and failure
Came at Neuve Chapelle -
Success made by objectives
Gained - as communication
Failures made advanced delays.

Germans gained their aims
For the night into 11 March -
Working on their second lines
Of defences - hours worked
During night, completed strong
Points and connecting them
With the trench lines.

Their delayed second aim
Was for rear troops readied 
For counter attack - but they
Remained too far back - to leave
20 battalions to hold their line.

By 7 p.m. on the 10th, Haig
Sent out operational orders,
For 6.45 a.m. on the 11th -
A bombardment on Germans,
To allow IV corps and Indian
Attacking fronts - but morning
Mists hindered observations,
So shells missed trenches
Only to hit their strongpoints.

An onslaught was needed
To hit the German defences,
Sufficient enough to break
Them, yet the Corps divisions
Being bogged in the mud,
The Meerut Indian Division,
Awaited the 8th to move - but
Unable to the Indian forces
Did not move - despite other
Attempts through the day.

German firing had succeed
To cut the telephone wires
Of batteries and observers -
The day moved to evening
When General Haig, in an
Appearance, ordered that
They would only resume
The next day at 10.30 a.m.
So allowing the German
Presence, to prepare for
Their dawn counter attack.

4.30 a.m. a ready German
Artillery, ahead of game, started.
But shells fell far to the back,
To hit on the reserves troops.
A 'four pronged' German move
At 5 a.m. launched into mists
But for most part, driven back
At Moated Grange - then north
Of Neuve Chapelle and south
Where Garhwal Brigade were
Warned - ready and waiting.

The case was very similar
About Port Arthur, in holding
Back the German attacks
Yet the mist was not clearing
Sufficiently for the British
Plan - delaying their barrage  
To midday - by 12.30 p.m.
The attack would finally start.

Events then went disastrously
Wrong, with enemy guns near
Layes Bridge wired and built
Defences lay untouched by
Artillery. With machine gun
Cross fire, holding back Indian
Troops, only slow, confused
Information returned to HQ.
Misled by rumours of success
Haig gave orders for Indians
To push through, regardless.

Haig went to the Indian HQ
To learn truth - now the Indian
Force was to turn right to Boiz
Du Biez - but the plan could
Not be worked to organise this.
So by 21.00 hours the General
Gave orders went out that
All attack attempts were to stop.

Another part of front remained
In confusion - as information
And orders could not get back
Or forth - with darkness falling 
By 18.15 hours, when divisional
Officers had all been gathered,
No reconnaissance could be
Made - so commanders of 8th
Division went to gather the men.

The men's exhaustive state
Meant that they were prone
To falling asleep, only woken
By force - a great many dead
Were lying about, so time
Was lost in officers trying
To wake up the dead men.

Despite various problems
All the leading battalions
Were mustered and ready
To hit back - at 21.30 hours
They waited north of village
Of Neuve Chapelle -

As time moved to zero hour
Of 23.30, Haig at 22.40
Made communications
With Indian and Corps HQ,
To be informed that no further
Positions had been made,
So cancelled his instruction
To attempt to break through -
Across from Neuve Chapelle
Would bring no advantages.

Now the allies were to hold
Neuve Chapelle ,a defensive
Line to be secured and held.
With no further advances
To be attempted on the next
Day, the fight was ended.

Both sides claimed success.
For the British, ground had
With three objectives been
Taken, despite higher losses
Than the enemy and the fact
Of failure to breakthrough
To Lille; it could only be a bitter
Victory - The French though
Now held a higher regard
Of British army, to see how
The enemy could be breached.

Neuve Chapelle, for Germany
Was a victory, in their ability
To man second defence lines,
After their enemy's break-in.
Their policy of losing frontline
Was not serious, proving their
Theory right - any loss of control
Helped by the British slowness.

Neuve Chapelle ended in
Something a balance act -
Tipping a little in either favour -
Something of an experiment,
Yet the allied made neglect
Of results - in their ignoring
The use of surprise, after brief
Bombardment - in preference
For shell fire after shell fire.

by Jamie Mann.

BAYNES, J. Lieutenant-Colonel  (1966) Neuve Chapelle. Purnells History of the First World War. Volume 2  (Part/Month unknown). P. 741-743

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 14 March 2015). 


#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered  #WW1NeuveChapelle