Source: File: Joseph
Hassler when promoted to General. See an original image at: <http://www.museedusousofficier.fr/musee/Histoire/ecoles/ecole/2/command_3.htm>
[Accessed 23 January 2017]
An online version of the manual, 'The Weapon
in the Great War - Simplified Bayonet Method' - 1915 by Joseph Hassler and Emile
André can be viewed at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/alrmqf5v3pa0dnh/AAB7NU5DJxk3OIqi5K5_epVAa?dl=0
French soldier Captain Joseph
Hassler,
With injuries to
count five times, had
Possibly spent
part of his recovery
In completing a
book for other soldiers.
On returning to
the frontline with his
Head still
bandaged, was published
'Ma Campagne, Aout
1914 - Decembre
1915'; telling what
he had experienced.
Hassler had begun
an army career
Years before at
the end of the prior
Century - 1899 had
seen the 18 year
Old volunteer at
the Bethune army office.
Initially in the 19th infantry regiment,
Initially in the 19th infantry regiment,
Based in Brest - some five years later
1905, in the month of April, Hassler was
At the military school At Saint-Maixent.
At the military school At Saint-Maixent.
April 1906
Hassler was 2nd lieutenant,
With 13th Regiment
based at Nevers -
By April 1908
promoted to Lieutenant,
He became an
instructor at Joinville.
While at the
Gymnastics and Fencing
School in 1913,
Lieutenant Hassler
Joined in the
defence of France from
The opening
days of August 1914.
During those first weeks of the war
Hassler
sustained five different
Injuries; he decided to chronicle first
Sixteen months
of his experiences.
Promotion came
once again; to become
Captain 22
January 1915, followed by
Award of
Military Cross and several
Clasps - unaffected
he wrote in honesty.
In an address to a
friend and poet,
Ernest Jaubert, he told a hasty truth
How he had been
trepanned - where
An operation had
burred in his head.
By use of a
surgical instrument,
A trephine,
surgeons removed
Metal fragments -
bits of helmet
And shell, driven
into his skull.
With recovery Hassler told how they
Checked him over - healing from
The fifth
wound, Hassler felt only
A little giddy to surprise surgeons.
Shock, not just for the Doctors in his
Constitution, but to see resemblance
To a calf’s head - Hassler stared
Hard into a mirror at
his bald plate.
Hassler informed
Jaubert how just
A little parsley in
nostrils and ears,
Would make him fit him for
a perfect
Display, in any butcher's window.
Stating regret for
the appearance
Hassler added, despite his other
Unseen wounds, that a shape of a
Red tomato was a result of the cut.
Likely a permanent reminder of his
Being wounded -
though a seasoned
Soldier, Hassler
revealed a hint
Of sensitivity by
honest descriptions.
Captain Hassler had seen to the
Men first - that they were all safe
In a prepared trench - only afterwards
A dug out was then created for him.
Men first - that they were all safe
In a prepared trench - only afterwards
A dug out was then created for him.
In the men's digging of
the ground,
Many dead Boche were
unearthed -
In darkness these were shadowed -
Yet tired, he fell
asleep and snored.
But the dark
abated and in waking
Eyes he witnessed
light of horror -
Body parts made the inside walls;
Dead feet, dead
hands and arms.
He ducked beneath
them into day
Light - two
lifeless heads faced him;
Germans - one
freshly severed that
Stared at him with
a look of terror.
A non-breathing
mouth had opened
Wide, unseeing
eyes stared hard,
Frozen in a
decayed occupation -
The sight by moonlight
held terrors.
Hassler wished how he
could blot
Out again and
again, the four days
And four nights that he lived amid
The stench of
their dead company.
Yet Captain Hassler's
sensitivity
Survived - to be respected
by many
Men - later a corporal
brought him
News of a fatally
wounded man.
With injuries so
severe he found
Him dying - Hassler
greeted the
Trooper almost
casually, to know
He was dying; both of them knew.
The soldier
confirmed this aloud,
To show his stomach, shattered
By a shell and
asked to be able
To say something
to the Captain.
Hassler though
advised that only
Once he was safe
in ambulance,
Should he then consider a remote
Idea of dying - but the man insisted.
He knew he was
close to death
And asked the
Captain a favour -
A large tear fell
over his cheek,
On asking him to
write home.
To tell his last
thoughts were with
His wife and
children, with whom
Love was deeply
shared; 'Mon
Capitaine could I
kiss your cheek.'
The dying man's
request was to
Say the kiss was
for them. Hassler
Held him close
until the end, to lay
Him back against
the trench wall.
Captain Joseph Hassler admitted
How such events rip out the heart -
How such events rip out the heart -
That he could not think of what
Befell such men without crying.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1917. Fragments From The Trenches - A Soldiers Book. The
Daily Telegraph, [online]
6
January 1917. P.7. Col.4. Available
at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214077/Daily-Telegraph-January-9-1917.html>
[Accessed: 22 January 2017].
Source: File: Joseph Hassler. Wiki Pas-De-Calais. Available at: <https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.wikipasdecalais.fr/index.php%3Ftitle%3DJoseph_Hassler&prev=search
Joseph Hassler> [Accessed 22 January 2017]
Source: File: Romani During World War I.
Wikipedia. Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania_during_World_War_I#1917_campaign_and_armistice>
[Accessed 22 January 2017]
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 22 January 2017).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Officers
