Poem ~ Sussex Pledge Broken - Wednesday, 7 March 1917- Thursday, 8 March 1917

Source: File: torpedoed Cross-channel ferry Sussex at Boulogne, March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack. See an original image at: <http://study.com/academy/lesson/sussex-pledge-definition-lesson.html> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Within hours of the Laconia's loss, survivor

Reporter Floyd Gibbons of Chicago Tribune,

Composed his account of certain night, February

25 1917 - over the next few days newspaper

Debates expressed American opinions.

Only 11 months before a diplomatic crisis 

Had threatened America's neutrality; German
UB 29 in a grave error of judgment, had attacked 
What was believed to be a Mine Sweeper - 
A daily passenger ferry left Folkestone.

The situation at sea had seen declared

War zones; German frustrations at land-war

Stalemate turned towards the sea - from 1916

Unrestricted U Boat policy of attacks were

Made against shipping, though restricted.

The Lusitania that had been torpedoed

In May 1915 had initially riled America with

The deaths of 128 Americans - in order to pacify

USA, Germany curbed U-boat attacks; armed

Merchant ships again valid targets by 1916.

March 1916 the Sussex carried civilians;

Being a cross channel ferry sighted by UB 29

Believed to be a mine layer the ferry was targeted.

The Sussex did not sink yet damage was heavy;

Amid the 80 casualties were 25 Americans.

President Woodrow Wilson's reaction

Was a threat to cut off all diplomacy with

Germany - actions were swift to Wilson's angry

April speech - on 4 May came a promise

With Germany's 'Sussex Pledge.'

The Sussex Pledge promised that no

Passenger ships would be targeted - while

Merchant ships would only be sunk; after being

Searched for weaponry passengers and crew

Would be made safe - rescinded by 1917.

Germany confidently believed that

They might win the war swiftly by an act

At sea, whereby unrestricted warfare would
Defeat allied forces, before any chance

Of the USA joining in conflict.

The Laconia attack sparked debate,

As daily American newspapers endorsed

The Governments view, to see the Laconia

Sinking as an overt act - such event

Were changing opinions in USA.

Tuesday 27 February an address

Made by President Wilson saw mixed

Reactions, about ambiguous nature of armed

Neutrality; 'peace at all costs' had then

Been the central policy of USA.

President Woodrow Wilson, along

With legal advisor Robert Lansing, met

To confer how blatantly Germany had gone

Against their word of the 'Sussex Pledge,'

Resulting in a new congress policy.

A quote from the New York Times

Called on all Americans to defend their

Liberties of the nation - a right to sail the seas

Securely and without risk - any surrender

Would show a nation lacking courage.

Debates in arming of American shipping

Were yet to be tested - to stretch the mind

How America might enter a war centered purely 

In Europe - President Wilson believed only

An invasion of the US would cause war.

Only time might tell any future 
Direction; in the meantime all American

Consular officers, along with all diplomats,

Started a process of leaving Austria,

Breaking with the central powers.

At the foot of America on Mexican 

Border, stretching from Tijuana across

To Brownsville, had been brewing a line

Of adversity - although regarding war

The country shared USA neutrality.

Mexico itself was in the throws

Of lengthy revolution - with strained

Politics openly made the hispanic country

An ideal sideline for German intent -

To entice Venustiano Carranza.

The President of Mexico held key

To deflect the USA; the Zimmerman

Telegram decoded message had revealed

German intent to restart their submarine

Warfare, to curtail 'Sussex Pledge.'

Ideal was that America remained

Neutral - if this did not happen then

Germany proposed a Mexico alliance -

The carrot being financial support

For regaining all lost territories.

Arizona, Texas and New Mexico taken

In the 1848 Mexican cession in the treaty

Of Guadalupe Hidalgo; von Eckardt was given

Free reign to gain Mexico as an ally,
By a settlement to retake territory.

Von Eckardt instructions was to distract 

President's attention; that in a few months

England would be compelled to make peace.

'Make war together make peace together,'

Was motto of an alliance with Mexico.

Although the telegram kept options

Open, von Eckardt was requested to use

His initiative; also to mediate some agreement

With Japan, who was then fighting alongside

The allied powers; signed Zimmerman.

Strains of mutual dislike lay all around;

America was anti Mexican, with element

Of anti British - with anti Germany in Mexico

Was anti America - German held hopes

For a Mexico-American war to break.

So a scene was set - with the 'Sussex

Pledge' trashed, to see by start of March
Defensive arms to be carried by American ships.

A direct result of overt act; diplomacy ties

With Germany fell - time might tell.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: US Department Of State: American Entry into World War I, 1917. Available at: <https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/82205.htm> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Source: File: Wikipedia: Sussex Pledge. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_pledge> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Source: File: The First World War, East Sussex. The Sussex Pledge. Available at: <http://www.eastsussexww1.org.uk/the-sussex-pledge/> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

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

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Poem ~ Role Of Honour - Wednesday, 29 March 1916

Impression sketch of Army Chaplain tending  graves - by Jamie. Original image can be seen at: <http://www.army.mod.uk/firstworldwarresources/archives/1607> [Accessed: 29 March 2016]

From out of the common fields of battles,

Records were compounded by

Circumstances, of situations within action -

Accuracy of details could easily

Be omitted, or become lost within latter

Battles - to lead to easy confusion.  

Daily lists had become commonplace,

To show role of honour

Of the fallen, the wounded and those

Who died of wounds.

Within adjustments new arrangements

Formed the casualty lists.

Governmental decision for the future

Would be to omit

Particulars in battle location of war -

By military necessity,

And for reasons of public interest,

Being given for changes.

Exactly why remained unexplained -

To add in the release

That soldiers particulars could not be

Mentioned in published

Obituary notices of the press, provided

By friends or relatives.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Casualty Lists - New Arrangements. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 29 March 1916. P.5. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12203514/Daily-Telegraph-March-29-1916.html [Accessed: 29 March 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29 March 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12203514/Daily-Telegraph-March-29-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ Fighting French Dogs - Tuesday, 28 March 1916

Impression sketch of French War Dog - by Jamie. Original image can be seen at: <http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f241/war-dogs-wwi-140711/> [Accessed: 28 March 2016]

London based Pall Mall Gazette,

Went into detail how the French

Were using dogs as auxiliaries

In war zones - a fact was told how

Shooting dogs were not the best

To assist the army.

An initial belief was overruled by

Presence of mountain and sheep

Dogs, these breeds placed into five

Ranks; messengers, patrols, watch,

Pack and ambulance dogs - all with

Good noses.

Ideally the canine recruits needed

To be gentle and obedient - attempts

To beat a dog into obedience, would

Only heighten their fright - making

Them a danger.

Female animals proved themselves

As better messengers, to carry notes

Over distances; reaching four miles,

To be reliable returning with replies

Without hesitation, or apparent worries

To gunfire.

Ambulance dogs had been taught

To return a wounded soldier's cap

Or handkerchief - the technique was

Changed to avoid mistaking bandages

For handkerchiefs.

The process had altered, for the dogs

Taught not to touch vital dressings -

Instead to retrieve an item close by;

Equipment, a pipe or a stone to show

They had discovered a wounded soldier

Needing attention.

Those trained for watch dogs would

Pick up any nearby hostile presence

Or approach - indicated by their alert

Attitude - or by giving a low growl; not

By barking.

A newly trained dog brought into

The front trenches one night, kept

His attention to a corner of trench

And would not turn away - guards

Said the handlers idea of Germans

Nearby as absurd.

While the men felt this impossible,

The handler replied - nothing could be

Impossible - as one soldier asked

If he perhaps had detected a enemy

Listening post;  they believed one lay

Nearby, undetected.

The leading captain was informed

Of the watch dog's alert, to ordered

Fire rockets be launched - the light

Showed three Germans were holed

Up, 12 yards away.

That French regiment had tried

To find out the enemy post for over

Two months, which the watch dog

Had detected by his senses within

15 minutes.

An army dog of the French named

Cadet, had been assigned tasks -

He worked to challenge and catch

German dogs - with daily frequency

Cadet caught them.

Often the dogs were bigger than

Cadet, as he grabbed them by their

Ears to march them back - this led

him to be mentioned in despatches

More than once.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Use Of Dogs In War - How They Serve The French. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 28 March 1916. P.5. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12202449/Daily-Telegraph-March-28-1916.html [Accessed: 28 March 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 March 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12202449/Daily-Telegraph-March-28-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ Shackleton's War - Friday, 24 March 1916 - Monday, 27 March 1916

                Sir Ernest Shackleton & The Endurance

A documentary on YouTube giving an overview of the voyage.

                               Other films are available.

Source: File: Mrs. Chippy on the shoulder of Perce Blackborow.jpg. [online] An original image is available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Chippy> [Accessed: 27 March 2016]

Source: File: Dogs next to the Endurance as it finally sank.jpg. [online] An original image is available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition> [Accessed: 27 March 2016]

i

With months of no news, came news

From a Trans-Antarctic Expedition,

And the leader Ernest Shackleton -

Within the first days of war, explorers

Had sailed to lower regions of earth.

Following on from tradition of previous

Crews, Shackleton's Expedition headed

For the Weddell Sea of the Southern

Ocean, from Buenos Ayres in October

1914, to reach island of South Georgia.

There, at the half way stage of the lonely

Sandwich Islands rested the Endurance,

Until departure December 1914 - after

Which the explorers became shrouded

By a silent 15 months, till March 1916.

On route a discovery was made onboard

Of a stowaway - a keen young Welsh sailor

Perce Blackborow - helped aboard to hide

In a tank locker by two able seamen, who

Believed the crew would be shorthanded.

Blackborow unable to stand from three days

Confinement sat, as Shackleton raged at him

Before the crew - his promise to eat stowaways

If starvation hit them - his reply, Shackleton had

More meat on him; so he became cook's help.

Messages and telegram had expectations

Of the expeditions return to the Argentine

Port, for first news over the Weddell Sea.

Amid words were extracts of Shackleton's

Diary, accounting the stay in South Georgia.

Though isolated in the sea the island

Was home to 2000, with ample electricity

At each station - as well as stock of hens

And pigsties - to share lands with cattle,

A bull, goats, sheep, ducks and a monkey.

Although a British overseas territory, they

Found most population was Norwegian -

Except for 20 British with another stray

National - when whalers told of poor winter

Conditions, they held up in Weddell Sea.

Though Whalers stated pack ice remained

Unbroken, they left Georgia 5 December

1915 - their hope was to reach 77.30

South latitude - but as ice lay north 57.26,

Endurance was forced to negotiate the ice.

The sailing frustrations led to enforced

24-hour halt - to stop again 3 days later -

Only by 22 December 1915 a break came;

Sailing over 14 days steadily southwards

Into the Weddell Sea, until the new year.

Rumours had it Shackleton had advertised

In a London Newspaper; 'men wanted

For hazardous journey low wages, bitter

Cold, long hours of complete darkness,

Safe return doubtful' - the promise ended.

To gain honour and recognition in event

Of success, brought over 5000 applicants -

Among them were three sporting girls

Happy to wear male attire - at years end

The journey had lived up to leaders words.

ii

Across the Weddell's Sea eastern shore,

They came close to 100 feet ice walls

Of Coats Land - deciding against a glacier

Landing, they moved onto Caird Coast,

Named in honour of Shackleton's Patron.

Vahsel Bay being their destination,

They reached eastern limit of Luitpold

Land - yet the Endurance was forced

14 miles southerly - again halted by

Pack ice, failing all to free a passage.

Still in a vice like grip 21 February 1915,

They drifted with the ice until 24th - decision

Was clear the Endurance would have to 

Hold for the winter - the dogs were housed

In ice kennels, with winter quarters aboard.

Shackleton thought like the Deutchland

In 1912, they would break free without any

Issue; to attempt an Antarctic spring landing

At Vahsel Bay - in depth of winter the drift

Increased, as ice about the ship rattled.

A worry was amid the ice, Endurance might

Crack like an egg - May, June, July sank

Into depths of winter months - after time

Of daily activities the ice began to break

By Augusts’ start, ice danced about them.

Ice forced beneath the keel then prompted

A heavy list to port - when the danger past

Came a few weeks respite, until a major

Squeeze returned - between the ice floe's

Pressure, came point of no return on the hull.

Ships timbers started to shatter, described

Like gunfire and fireworks shooting splinters -

When icy water then poured into Endurance,

27 October 1915, came decision to abandon

In conditions of −15 °F moving boats to ice.

Yet the Endurance held still on for weeks,

To allow salvage of supplies - in necessity

To abandon transcontinental plans, needs

Became for shoes made from scavenged

Wood of the Endurance in a plan to march.

Both Frank Hurley and George Marston

Had been in charge of recording progress

Of the expedition - salvaged from the loss

Of their boat, Hurley only kept 150 plates;

To smash 550 plates of excess weight.

iii

To get to safety various options were quickly
Considered; Paulet Island where a likely food

Supply was stored from Swedish Antarctic

Rescue of 1902 - then there was Snow Hill

Island, once used for winter quarters base.

Alternatively was Roberton Island; from one

Of these Shackleton then believed they could

Cross Graham Land over to Wilhelmina Bay

And whaling outposts; the Endurance Captain,

Frank Worsley, worked out walking distances.

Such distances over 300 miles Worsley believed

Too dangerous and should wait until ice carried

Them out to open waters, then use the boats -

But Shackleton quashed the Captain's decision,

So that they began to march 30 October 1915.

Under difficult situations Shackleton gave

Cruel orders, to destroy the weakest among

The team - these being sled dogs, the surgeon's

Pet puppy and the carpenter's cat Mrs Chippy -

McNish was never able to forgive Shackleton.

About the sea ice, conditions fell across ridges

And hummocks  - and progress over three days

Was only two miles - then waiting for the ice

To break, they made ocean camp with relays

To the Endurance, until she sank 21 November.

Ice began to shift them seven miles a day, with

5 December moving too far to make Snow Hill

Island, while Paulet Island was 250 miles -

To reduce lifeboat distance Shackleton gave

Order for another march 21 December 1915.

Slight rises in temperatures led to softer

Snow - in struggle to pull the boats McNish

Rebelled and refused to help; quoting loss

Of ship's articles to hold him - but Shackleton

Finally brought the angry carpenter to heel.

Another seven miles made over two days

Enforced another halt - so they settled

To put up tents in Patience Camp, for three

Months - with food low a return to Ocean

Camp and regained abandoned supplies.

January 1916 and Shackleton, stating

The dog teams excessive needs, led them

To be destroyed - while crew’s food needs

For regular seal meat - with two lifeboats,

A party was sent back to recover the third.

With events taking a dire turn since

Loss of Endurance, destruction of extra

Mouths to feed and painfully slow march

Across ice and snow, news had only just

Got home of the team about to start out.

iV

Shackleton’s extracts praised the team

That would cross the sub zero continent

Crean, Hurley, Marston, Macklin and Wild.

Fit splendid men described as able to look

After the dog team on which they would rely.

Nearly twenty months passed in parallel

To war on the other side of the world -

The Endurance had carried a wireless

Plant - but likely very little news reached

The expedition, of any fighting fronts.

By March 1916 the truth was the team
were down to the last two teams of dogs,
That were now in danger - the floating

Camp took erratic course teasingly close

To Paulet Island; yet to reach safety.

To follow on from previous days news,

Came further information of matters

Closer to the truth, as part of the trans

Antarctic expedition had included SY

Aurora, in purpose to set supply depots.

These were to furnish Shackleton's

Team for the last part of their march -

Well built the 40-year-old whaler boat

Hit problems, from the Australian

Edge, to be adrift in Antarctic Ocean.

Reflecting same difficulties Endurance

Had experienced, the Aurora exposed

To severe winter weather ashore -

On the ice a party of ten men were

Stranded, as Aurora broke from anchor.

The event had taken place May 1915,

With first officer Stenhouse in charge

Of the ship, leaving Captain Mackintosh

Ashore – Aurora was to gain damage

In loss of anchors and destroyed rudder.

Adrift, the Aurora shifted through a frozen

Graveyard; ice blocks standing on end -

Such dangers passed to abandon ship,

But came again in July, as caught between

Pincer ice floes, for a final crushing blow.

Shift of ice led Aurora to a safer place

Although the rudder was smashed beyond

Repair – Aurora staying firm, an August

Drift carried them into the southern ocean -

As work began to create a jury rudder.

The makeshift construction was placed

Over the side, like a giant rudder - while

Sea swells could almost be felt - when
A storm destroyed the radio ariel, to halt

Attempts to contact any nearby islands.

V

Days into weeks and months passed

On, with little to do but sustain morale,

With ice games, as Stenhouse tried
To boost crew's morale - by January

1916, the sun began to crack the ice.

Concerns all along had been for those

Stranded at Cape Evans, with limited

Supplies and further effects of loss

Of assistance to the Shackleton team -

It seemed they might remain trapped.

With the melt timbers opened to let

In water daily - with pumps working

The Aurora finally received release;

After came need to use the engines,

Despite low coal in stops and starts.

With start of March the edge of ice

Was seen and on the 14^th day, after

312 days adrift, they met the open

Sea - working to repair the wireless,

Gave their transmission of position.

Only by use of 80 foot rigged ariel,

Did Hookes message reach Bluff

Station, New Zealand and Tasmania -

To tell of Aurora's position with freak

Weather then allowing signals to carry.

News began to spread of dire serious

Events around Shackleton's expedition -

To even believe that the continent had

Been crossed; whose party might see
Another year - facts remained unclear.

Reuters further cablegrams told of Aurora

Adrift, but close within reach of Australia -

To believe the expedition had returned.
Reality was Shackleton's team were still

Drifting between possible safety of islands.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Sir Ernest Sheckleton - News Of The Expedition - Extracts from the Diary. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 24 March 1916. P.7. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12200321/Daily-Telegraph-March-24-1916.html [Accessed: 24 March 2016].

Anon.,1916. Serious News Of Shackleton's Party - Explorers Stranded. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 March 1916. P.7. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12202441/Daily-Telegraph-March-25-1916.html [Accessed: 25 March 2016].

Source: File: Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition> Accessed 24 March 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 24 March 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12200314/Daily-Telegraph-March-23-1916.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12202441/Daily-Telegraph-March-25-1916.html

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Poem ~ British Brodie Versus French Adrian - Thursday, 23 March 1916

Impression sketch of Brodie versus Adrian - by Jamie. Original images can be seen at:  <http://thebrodiehelmet.weebly.com/war-office-pattern.html> <https://www.worldwarsupply.com/cart/French-Adrian-Helmet> [Accessed: 23 March 2016]

Learning by experience of wearers

From the French casque, designers

Of the British Brodie then perfected

Their final design to be distributed.

Taking over from the War Office,

Ministry of Munitions made articles -

Final idea combining various designs,

Within weeks from different origins.

By compacted time a scientific evolution

Was described, in design of effective

Headpieces formed from hardest steel,

To have circumference of a narrow lip.

A fault detected from the French casque

Was the higher dome, allowing cool air

To collect at the top - the fit being tighter

So the metal pressed on wearer’s head.

Therefore the Brodie was constructed

With a lower pitch than French, made

To make a lower target - smooth steel

Without projections or any weak flutings.

Made at Armaments House, developed

A comfortable fit - rubber studs in dome

Absorbed any shock, with a double lining

Of felt and wadding against wearers head.

The wadding would act to absorb blood

With some antiseptic, should a bullet

Cut through metal to cause scalp wound -

While a chinstrap held helmet to the head.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. The British Helmet. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 23 March 1916. P.9. Col.6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12200314/Daily-Telegraph-March-23-1916.html [Accessed: 23 March 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 23 March 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12200314/Daily-Telegraph-March-23-1916.html

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

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