A chap writes to a Glasgow chum,
From his post with the Company
Of Artillery Infantry - His intention,
In his address, is to give a picture,
Of the ‘lighter sides of War.’
In his very first experiences
Of manning frontline trenches,
He noted how the company arrived
In pitch darkness - with need to peer
About, to see where they were –
All about them weird eerie noises,
And strange moving lights.
As our chap stumbled towards
The corporal, with intentions
Of asking him for information,
An unearthly wild wail blew up -
As If from the very ground.
A chill passed into his blood.
And he grasped the Corporal’s
Hands ‘Heavens,’ he uttered,
Shakily asking. ‘What was that?’
‘You’re standing on a cat.’
The chap found the poor thing
Under foot – in recovering
From the boot, the cat remained
About the trench and company,
For quite some time in the day.
After hours of daylight,
Once again in darkness,
A German attack to the left
Made them 'man trench!’
Then orders ‘sights at zero, fire low.’
In excited quaking, waiting -
When our chap saw a shape
Moving over the edge, feeling
Its' way about in front of him -
With bayonet ready he sprang
Forward to face that same cat.
Our chap met an Irish Tommy,
To hear experience of fierce
Action - Describing a hell of flying
Bullets and bursting shelling -
Out of some12 men, not one man
Didn’t gain something –
Tim, his brother shot in stomach,
And Jack Summers in the head.
The Irish man went to the wagon
Finding two drivers, whose bravery
Had turned to praying – in wagon
They faced each other, hands folded,
Ducking as shells came over -
Still they prayed – hearing them say
‘Oh God, put a German
Onto the Sergeant Major –
Oh God put a German onto him
Soon’ - having their way, in some part;
The Sergeant-major was shortly hit,
With a wound to his buttocks.
In moving elsewhere nearer the line
Of fire, his morning’s work was done,
Digging sleeping huts - scooping
Out a hole and roofing it over - clean
But lacking much comfort - our chap
Chooses to sleep soundly on a pigsty.
Our chap out of shellfire range,
Awaiting a return in the next two days,
Was still able to see bursts of light,
Not so far away -
In the night it is a pretty sight -
As are shells firing at planes in the day -
A point of flame forms a compact cloud,
To remain hanging mistily in the sky.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. London Territorials in the Firing Line – With the
H.A.C – Lighter Side of War. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 Dec. p.12. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11285856/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1914.html [Accessed: 15 December 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 15 December 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
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