Poem ~ Ancre: Against All Odds - Sunday, 26 November 1916 - Wednesday, 29 November 1916

Source: File: Remains of Beaumont Hamel. See an original image at: <http://51hd.co.uk/history/battle_ancre_beaumont_hamel> [Accessed 26 November 2016]

Out of Gallipoli experience, the 63rd Naval

Division landed into the midst of Somme

Offensive - six months later, 7 October 1916

Brigades were stationed about Beaumont

Hamel - before the village 188th and 189th

Held trenches to banks of the river Ancre.

The situation was deplorable as October

Had sunk into atrocious weather - trenches

Had been wrecked by enemy shelling  and

All communication trenches ran throughout

A targeted area - without dugouts soldiers

Stood in restricted space of freezing mud.

Lying a right angle to the river valley

The 63rd Naval Division held a sector

1,200 yards wide north of the Ancre -

250 yards away lay the German line.

Numbers had dropped 200 to 500 men;

Finally orders came for planned attack.

Beyond a first objective on the ridge, stood

Second target, a fortified position - further

On higher ground Beaucourt trench, their

Third objective - after bombardment days,

Finally zero hour 13 November 5.45 a.m.

They stepped out behind a shrapnel wall.

5 minutes paced out 100 yards in a dense,

Dark mist - the left Naval brigades, to right

189th Brigade the Highland divisions set

Between the Hoods on the right - men fell

By positioned machine gunners to the right -

Still the fighters took over the German line.

The first waves of the Hood Battalions

Followed close to the barrage; the officers

Compass bearings kept them on track -

To swiftly take the three lines of trenches,

Relaying prisoners away - with sacrifice

Lt Commander Kelly took down a threat.

Kelly was killed in the action of putting out

Enfilade machine gun threat; the Drakes

Battalion suffered, losing half their force.

Despite wounded and killed officers

Lt Colonel Feyberg advanced, with 420

Men from both Drake and Hood forces.

Success was made, taking 400 prisoners

From Station Road dug outs to secure

The ridge - about the ridge and redoubt

Intensive fighting fought on and continued.

Lingering mists hid their target that had

Been missed by the artillery barrage.

German redoubt defenders occupied

With the Hawke Battalion, as the Nelson

Battalion pushed out, but with losses

At Station Road - Howe and Anson

Being right hand sections, had better

Gains; as Howe's kept to the barrage.

In tactics they reached the German line.

The third line was taken by 20 men led

By Lt. commander Sprange, but failed

To hold positions - enemy fighters from

The redoubt quickly emerged to re-take

Target; the Anson's men had more luck.

Leapfrogged and crossed Station Road

Valley to reach the ridge and their given

Objective - while 1st and 2nd Marines

Faced disaster with high losses under

German artillery - soldiers killed during

The first move, as followers had success.

3rd and 4th waves dropped into the two

Lines - low numbers formed the 2nd wave.

Dropped behind the barrage engaged in

Hand to hand fights, the advance had

Become scattered - the Redoubt proved

A headache to prompt HQ staff out.

They failed to make a difference, officers

Wounded or killed, yet Commander

Fairfax of the Howe formed a temporary

Center, to establish a hold on first lines.

A wait until 7.30 a.m. as the barrage

Indicated the attack of Beaucourt trench.

Freyerg's section had taken higher ground

Though Gilliland was in view of enemy -

To take advantage of gains came orders

Of a postponement for the village due

8.30 a.m. - advance took place 9.30 a.m.

Fairfax moved north in a bombing party.

Gilliland had led a southern push with

Enemy alongside in Muck Trench - while

Men pulled together under commanders

To take a hold on German third line - only

By early hour on 14 November did Anson

And Marine battalions join highlanders.

Into the darkness of 13 November was

Problematic - everywhere blown trench

Systems to make distance and bearings

Difficult - as seen by Private Macpherson

In the early hours, tanks rumbled out from

Auconvillers; mud became their undoing.

With one machine well bogged down,

Another tank was disabled by a hit from

A chance shell - while the third directed

By an officer, crawled a distance until

Succumbing to mud - but in a good position

Was able to fire on the enemy redoubt.

The result to be 400 number of surrendering

Germans, likely seen by the reserves being

Marched behind the lines - 7.45 a.m. and

Brigade and fusiliers pressed towards

The village - forced to take cover along

With Howe, Drake Hawke and Nelson men.

Lieutenant Colonel Freyberg with a further

Wound, led the fight into Beaucourt village

As other troops curved in from south east;

With Beaucourt captured by hardly any

Resistance - the east edge secured from

Rounded up enemy pockets from dugouts.

10.30 a.m. marked the minute of official

Possession of the target commune - within

An afternoon hour, the consolidated area

Had possible threat of enemy troops that

Massed a mile away at Farm Baillescourt,

But an effective barrage halted any attempt.

Finally by evening Lieutenant Colonel

Freyberg left the field, having refused

Until his final instructions were given -

Initially confusion had resulted from

The first objective, but he rallied men

Who were separated from their units.

He pulled them together to take their

Second objective, where he twice took

Wounds, displaying contempt at danger

To those about him - he held position for

Day and night without support - under

Heavy fire Freyberg organized new attack.

Freyberg led the rush of the fortified village,

Again taking two more wounds - to impress

The men of his strength of mind - the officer

Gained a citation for his deeds that led

To capturing of the forces furthest objective

Beaucourt village, to be held by allied hands.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: 51st Highland Division. The Battle Of Ancre (Beaumont Hamel) November 1916. Available at: <http://51hd.co.uk/history/battle_ancre_beaumont_hamel> [Accessed 26 November 2016]

Source: File: Battle of the Ancre. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ancre_Heights> [Accessed 26 November 2016]

Source: File: Battle of the Ancre Heights. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ancre> [Accessed 26 November 2016]

Source: File: The role of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division in the Battle of the Ancre, November 1916. Available at: <http://www.ww1wargraves.co.uk/ww1_cemeteries/lt_colonel_tetley.asp> [Accessed 26 November 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 November 2016). 

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Ancre

Poem ~ Battle of Ancre: Heights and Lows - Sunday, 19 November 1916 - Saturday, 25 November 1916

Source: File: Battle of the Ancre. Prisoners taken in Beaumont Hamel by the 51st (Highland) Division, 13 November 1916.. See an original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_the_Somme,_July-november_1916_Q4507.jpg> [Accessed 19 November 2016]

i

From September's push for Thiepval Ridge,

Emerged a new allied fight in the battle

Of the Anrce Heights - when summers path

Had led into inevitable autumn weather.

The allied struggle found Thiepval fortified

And determinedly defended - organised

Issues and poor weather conditions played

Badly against General Joffre’s intentions.

Days fed into one another to reach date

27 September - after a night and morning

Of German shelling, Canadian patrols made

Discovery; Germans had made a withdrawal.

North east of Courcelette, Canadian brigades

Moved on the trenches of Dyke Road, to gain

Their set objective -1st Canadians at Kenora

Trench, omly forced back in fight for occupation.

6 p.m. on 27th, an enemy bombing party failed

To retake Dyke road trenches - another allied

Advance found Zollern Redoubt fully devoid

Of Germans - Canadian gains finally joined.

A postponed advance led to orders for 3 p.m.

Still a further delay gave no definite hour -

The south edge of Stuff Redoubt was reached;

Again links formed up by Brigades successes.

With Zollern and Bulgaren trenches secured,

Into the early hour of 28th September resumed

Advance via Thiepval - 5.45 a.m. - then on hour

Of 11 a.m. the area about Thiepval was gained.

ii

Over the last official days of Thiepval's

Battle, the fighting had intensified about

Redoubts of Stuff and Schwaben - where

The British objective had been reached.

Yet many stubborn, dug-in Germans halted

British attempts to completely clear out the

Redoubts; although they captured a good

Section of the Schwaben by 30 September.

Without any final outcome a new chapter

Began; September ended badly for Germany,

In the region losing 135000 soldiers - with

Prisoners taken by army reserves of 10,000.

The Somme push from the summer was not

Yet over, with another chapter about the river

Ancre - troops were quickly gathered around

The northern bank, as divisions converged.

This was in the early days of October, when

Attacks were due on 4th to last until the 12th -

Intent had been to create a pocket by artillery

Hits about Irles, Pys, Puisieux and Miraumont.

Slowness on the Ancre's south bank sought

To gain Regina trench - determined Germans

Held on; inclement conditions made for delays

Both sides of the river to be almost impossible.

Mid October's turbulent conditions weighed

Down body and spirit into a trial - any plan

That Haig had made had become reliant

On pockets of environmental improvements.

iii

A shorter, sharper battle plan had emerged

By mid October, when a previous operation

From September was finally cancelled, for

Favour of a converging attack of river Ancre.

With fourth army failures and postponements

From dire weather, plans were again revised.

Haig and Gough desires different planned

Dates of attack, settled to wait for fair weather.

A need was for freedom of saturated ground.

With a conference called, no firm dated could

Quite be agreed; Haig and Foch 4 November,

Debated 4th army plans at Querrieu chateau.

Further came talks on 8 November at fifth army

Toutencourt headquarters where Gough, with

Corps commanders, proposed further attacks -

If the weather remained dry on 13 November.

Three days before, the time 5.45 a.m. was set

By Gough - Haig looked over the plans to give

Agreement; depended on weather if all went

Well, they would push towards Irles and Pys.

Five divisions would act alongside the river -

Gough's plan was to shrink the enemy salient

Between Serre and Thiepval; set out were

3 objectives, initially from Beaucourt Station.

First to gain 800 yards over Beaumont to Redan

Ridge; secondly 1000 yards west of Beaucourt

Onwards to Star wood - the third target to be

Puisieux road out of Stuff trench and Schwaben.

iV

From redoubt to line of Hansa, edging them

Out of defences to secure Beaucourt road

Bridges, target time 7.25 a.m. - a tactic was

Set to keep Germans in their comfort zone.

Each morning, 30 minutes prior to dawn,

Heavy artillery struck German frontline;

Hoping for the enemy to be complacent,

So they would not react to actual attacks.

Zero hour was set for 5.45 a.m. followed

By specific timed activity - 18 pounders

Would curtain advance - six minutes later

This would creep ahead over five minutes.

A barrage paused on German reserve lines,

Then onwards - giving 56 minutes to their

First objective - also using a machine gun

Barrage against their German equivalent.

Into the night of 11 November 1916, the rain

Ebbed away - a full moon rose to shine

Over a battered scape - as dawn came a mist

Manifested and general visibility quickly fell.

The curtain of dense fog helped the troops

Hiding their advance - though many soldiers

Lost the course of the barrage, further disabled

By heaving selves through thick, glutinous mud.

6.15 a.m. 117 Brigade advanced from Mill

Road, working to clear enemy dugouts along

The Ancre riverbank, meeting with lost troops;

Together to attack and take St Pierre Divion.

V

The 39th and 118th, unseen by Germans,

Advanced to Hansa line 7.30 a.m. - while

Battalions North West fought across to Mill

Trench, to reach Beaucourt Mill by 10 a.m.

Taking part in the forward force three tanks

Were to be involved, to set off from Thiepval.

But with one breaking down another found

Itself bogged; only one made the German line.

There the tank had tipped into a dug out, to be

Attacked at 7 a.m. - a pigeon was released

To get help, but for two hours none arrived.

Infantry appeared 9 a.m. and the enemy fled.

Amid the divisions the 9th Royal Scots were

Held in reserve - in keeping a diary Private

A. Macpherson had witnessed the approach

Of those tanks towards front on 12 November.

Near Auchonvillers they heard sounds of an

Engine running - odd reflective shapes lifted out

A trench, in its chinks of armour light escaped.

Without any time to stand and watch they left.

Waking from a few compressed hours of sleep,

Private Macpherson with his brigade, readied.

Being in position before the time of 5 a.m. then

Under sudden thunderous drumroll of gunnery.

Later he said, 'hard to believe humans could live

Through such a whirlwind of fire' - then a pensive

Wait, after columned shapes of prisoners came,

Marched down Mailly Maillet; a sign of success.

Vi

Beaumont Hamel stronghold had been taken,

Only to be tempered by failure - one division

Had not succeeded. The Royal Scots brigade

Were ordered to move out by that afternoon.

Private Macpherson and others readied

Under greatcoats and haversacks, to drag

Gun barrow through Mailly Maillet - while

Over their heads German shells whined.

From right of Auchonvillers Macpherson saw

Further prisoners - many dazed and fearful;

As one voice called, 'Guerre fini pour moi!'

Their guards searching them for souvenirs.

The reserves orders were to leave the gun

Barrows and ammo - with the battalion they

Moved along a rail-line near Auchonvillers

Where tanks edged outwards in snail pace.

Into slow hours of night they paused by old

Trenches and fresh shell holes - a salvo

Of shells aimed at the batteries, prompted

The whole battalion to get down to cover.

In seconds of silence blurted megaphones

Ordering - 'Number... ready to fire... fire!'

A stereo of 'bang, bang, bang' edging all

Along the line, to shake bodies and souls.

Seeping cold, edged into their fitful waiting

Game - someone illegally lit a fire - almost

Immediately were yelled orders, 'put it out!'

Soon they edged along Tipperary Avenue.

Vii

Filing down the communication trench was

Slowed by numbers - each having to weave

About collapsed walls left by tank tracks -

Briefly climbing onto Auchonvillers road.

Then dropping down into St Johns Road

Support trenches - some confusion flowed

Between them - without any officer present

The battalion stretched out, down the road.

Then a thunderous enemy bombardment.

The curse of shells hit a point on the trench.

Shouts of casualties were called out, a gun

Crew's lost survivors turned, about to move.

Back down in the narrow Tipperary trench, being

Shallow it lacked total safety, as Hun appeared

To have it in site - huddled down, they waited

For another shells arrival, like an express train.

A roar over hunched heads, tearing the ground

Throwing debris over them - a torture of a few

Minutes between each salvo - all expectant

Of death, sharing out words of casualty names.

Waiting, damning lack of orders - word of mouth

In Chinese whispers to say, 'back to the trench

Opening' - they edged down, fully knowing there

Was no authority in the order but glad to be safe.

They followed steps of companies to Auchonvillers,

Where police guards stopped them to quiz, why

They were leaving the line? But no one knew -

Came a random officer - confusion still continued.

Viii

Companies for White City? or for Auchonvillers?

Two were told to turn back in advance - not

Attached to them the Scots remained, to await

Correct orders - they roosted on the duckboards.

Night passed long and cold - cramp and dawn

Came. Combined efforts utilised bits of wood

To make a fire. Boiled water for tea and warmed

Tins of kippers served all a satisfactory feast.

14 November opened little better than the 13th -

A procession of souvenir hunters passed on route

To Mailly Maillet - the Scots advanced to Brooke

Street cutting into St Johns road to see results.

The bombardment of the last night very evident

In parapet damage - they stepped over bodies

To be guided by a runner sent by their officer;

Ordered down line to man some battered dugout.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: 51st Highland Division. The Battle Of Ancre (Beaumont Hamel) November 1916. Available at: <http://51hd.co.uk/history/battle_ancre_beaumont_hamel> [Accessed 19 November 2016]

Source: File: Battle of the Ancre. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ancre_Heights> [Accessed 19 November 2016]

Source: File: Battle of the Ancre Heights. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ancre> [Accessed 19 November 2016]

Source: File: The role of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division in the Battle of the Ancre, November 1916. Available at: <http://www.ww1wargraves.co.uk/ww1_cemeteries/lt_colonel_tetley.asp> [Accessed 19 November 2016]

Source: File: 51st Highland Division. Pte. MacPherson Account of 154 Brigade at Beaumont Hamel 12-14 Nov 1916. Available at: <http://51hd.co.uk/accounts/pte_macpherson_beaumont_hamel> [Accessed 19 November 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 19 November 2016). 

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Ancre

Poem ~ Somme Optimism - Tuesday, 27 June - 1916

Source: File: British Artillery, end of June 1916. National Army Museum. [online] See an original image at: <https://ww1live.wordpress.com/category/western-front/> [Accessed: 27 June 2016]

French roads from all ports to Arras and Albert

Buzzed - a Lieutenant Liveing commented

On packed roads, loaded with war articles;

Sandbags, wire stakes, shells, trench mortar

Bombs with  'a thousand articles for offensive.'

Lieutenant Liveing had witnessed the great

Movements of lorry columns, thundering

Along, with signalers who weaved their

Motorbikes among them, as full staff cars,

Frustrated, were slowed by the military traffic.

Ceaselessly rolling by were batteries moving

To their positions, as caterpillar transports

Heaved out the heaviest guns - endless

Lines of intent troopers and khaki sappers,

Moving out to assigned tasks across the lines.

Surprise came with gauge railways apparently

Appearing over night - trees everywhere cut

Down for building of gun emplacements

And dugouts - while miles of water pipes were

Laid, ready to be extended out across battlefields.

Lieutenant Liveing told how miles of telephone

Lines were being laid down into earth, while

Amidst greenery dumps of ammunition

Bloomed - not to forget electric generators 

Power readied and wells dug to feed pipelines.

Such grand ambition of the operation could

Not go unnoticed by the side opposite.

Lieutenant Steele, a Newfoundland

Soldier described on 21 June, in equal

Manner, that Fritz was seen to be very busy.

Over hours, night and day the Germans

Worked - under darkness reinforcing

Wires - in theory their efforts had

Little matter, in total annihilation they

Would be crushed by a creeping barrage.

The fact of warning signs were being missed

By British, captured Germans questioned

Stating how their men were sheltered

In deep bunkers - solid British belief had

Decided; nothing could survive bombardment.

A coded alphabet countdown had marked

24 June as U day - but thunderstorms

Of 23 June developed into a dull

Day of heavy rain - this then continued 

The thunderous air of deadly British batteries.

The following day, 25 June being marked

As V day gave bright warm sun, there

Was no let up - enemy dumps

Reported to have exploded by RFC

Pilots, who shot down enemy balloons.

With W day 26 June intervals of sun were

Interrupted by heavy rain - operations

In cutting enemy wires were good -

500 shells fired by every single gun over

Each day; the countdown moves on a day.

Still hefty rain tumbles down by 27 June,

Day X - shells pummel chalky ground

Adding to dank mist of the Somme -

The storms of steel continue to add

To waiting enemy’s sombre entrapment.

Only at Loos had such concentration

Of gunnery exploded at the enemy.

Now the fourth army held twice

As many guns; 32 4.7'' guns against

12 at Loos - 36 6' Howitzers now 104.

The thunderous roll carried northwards

Across the western front as a Royal

Fusilier Officer, Stanley Spencer,

Told of a sky, lit by flashes to cause

Earth below to rise, fall and shudder.

Evidence of sound and deadly sights

Could have not been previously

Imagined - darkness slashed 

By hesitant lights - any grounded

Object, a flickering chaotic silhouette.

One bright slash of light against another.

Stark flashes emitted from crashing

Shells in a violent competition -

Those cursing cries of explosions,

Carried by wind to be heard in London.

Shell after shell after shell, fired in all

Capacities - the spent canisters

Discarded into thrown metal

Mountains; useless heaps of husks.

Order kept by officers with neat charts.

An observer, American war Journalist

Frederick Palmer, compared sight

Of cost - one shell that killed

Could give funds to send a youth

To college for a year, or raise a child.

Any act of extravagance was curtailed,

As every shell was accounted for -

How by the end of one day,

The simmering crop of spent shells

Could have funded a maternity hospital.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  The Great War 1914-1918. The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

Source: File: The Long, Long trail. The British Army In The Great War of 1914-1918. Logistical preparations necessary before the Somme offensive, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/logistical-preparations-necessary-before-the-somme-offensive-1916/> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

Source: File: WWI Centennial: Somme Bombardment Begins. Online. Available at: <http://mentalfloss.com/article/82214/wwi-centennial-somme-bombardment-begins> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

WWI Centennial: Somme Bombardment Begins

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 June 2016). 

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme

Poem ~ Somme Preparations - Monday, 26 June - 1916

Source: File: Soldiers and 18 Pounder Shells. National Army Museum. [online] See an original image at: <http://www.army.mod.uk/firstworldwarresources/somme-1916/soldiers-leaning-on-a-pile-of-18-pounder-shells-somme-1916> [Accessed: 24 June 2016]

With plans for a battle formed 1915, began by

French Commander-in-Chief Joffre,

Adjustments resulted due to French occupied

In Verdun - their allies of British force

Stepped into the breach; preparations took time.

Changes of dates from April to August finally

Settled for mid summer, at start of July -

A summer strike of large proportions needed

Careful preparations - the meticulous

Slow methods gave General Joffre frustrations.

After the Chantilly agreements led to decision

Over which western sector for their

Agreed strike - developments began which

Would take months; the total of logistics 
To be involved included transport and supplies.

Shelter, water, war materials and medical back

Up, all had to be planned - the sector of the

Somme river up to Arras was the chosen area -

The major needs of transport led all plans

To this quiet sector; here 400,000 men gathered.

Alongside required 100,000 horses, logistical

Reserves had to be called on for physical

Manpower - the railway was central to shift

From ports to the front - the third army needed

58 supply trains daily, while fourth army 70.

These tactics were a challenge, with only

Two lines then running into the town of Albert -

One of the closest frontline towns - the line

from Arras and Albert clearly was a no go run;

Across the Ancre Valley into German area.

While movements between communes,

Doullens, Acheux and Albert areas were fine,

Decision was finally made to build another

Light gauge rail - in total of 55 miles of tracks,

Their building was left in the infantry hands.

Between Acheux and Candas 17 new line

Miles would give 15 trains daily, while Contay

And Daours would add 10 track miles -

With a spur extension created the loop from

Dernancourt to Fricourt, to add depots.

Spur rails lines off Albert and Acheux gave

Links to Thiepval Wood, Martinsart, over

To Aveluy - such a massive operation made

Challenges to the road systems, within

A quiet area given to farmland of chalky earth.

Suited to small population of farm workers

And carts, roads for heavy machinery

Of military was another matter - any stones

To build roads had to be brought there,

And labour was too short to make dumps.

While stone dumps were rare other

Ammunition dumps were quickly formed

Close to rail lines, as at Gezaincourt,

Contay and Puchevillers - while all horse
transports used the timber roads.

One lesson learned from prior battles

Was the need of medical services -

Close to the frontline would be Casualty

Clearing Stations - near to rail lines

Ready to move all injured away to safety.

Six sites saw main C.C.S's at Puchevillers,

Vecquemont, Corbie, Contay, Doullens,

Heilly and Warlincourt - others at St Ouen

Amiens, Beauval, and Gezaincourt - but
An enemy walk-over they would be unused.

Interrelated cogs turned in a build up

For the day - all villages between Ameins

And the front, filled with tents to house

Gathering armies - every soldier provided

A grave sized space; 2 foot by 6 billet.

Even at that stage the presence of French

Civilians had remained, living close

To daily fight, holding onto villages - their

Mayors advised they had 48 daylight

Hours to leave - given only 10 days supplies.

Effectively civilians would be ensnared,

Being informed from Sunday 25 June

They could not move - shells would start

To fly over civilian heads, their homes

Would then be on wrong side of firing lines.

In a none silent method, the countdown

Began on Saturday 24 June 1916 -

A bombardment began artillery lines fed

By Blighty shells, spewing across

Farmland; a warning of something coming.

Over eight days the continual raking action

Of British gunnery would pulverise any

German defences - ready for gathered armies,

Waiting along the chalky land each slow

Minute, hour, day rang with thud, thud of shells.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  The Great War 1914-1918. The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/> [Accessed 26 June 2016]

Source: File: The Long, Long trail. The British Army In The Great War of 1914-1918. Logistical preparations necessary before the Somme offensive, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/logistical-preparations-necessary-before-the-somme-offensive-1916/> [Accessed 26 June 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 June 2016). 

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme