Poem ~ Hassler: Captain And Author - Tuesday, 23 January 1917- Thursday, 25 January 1917

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,

Based in Brest - some five years later

1905, in the month of April, Hassler was
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.

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 -

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). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214077/Daily-Telegraph-January-9-1917.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Officers

Poem ~ Hassler: Capitaine Et Auteur - Mardi 23 Janvier 1917- Jeudi 25 Janvier 1917

Source: Fichier: Joseph Hassler lorsqu'il est promu Général. Voir une image originale sur: <http://www.museedusousofficier.fr/musee/Histoire/ecoles/ecole/2/command_3.htm> [Consulté le 23 janvier 2017]

Une version en ligne du manuel «L'arme dans la grande guerre - méthode simplifiée de la baïonnette» - 1915 de Joseph Hassler et Emile André peut être consultée à l'adresse suivante:
Https://www.dropbox.com/sh/alrmqf5v3pa0dnh/AAB7NU5DJxk3OIqi5K5_epVAa?dl=0

Le soldat français Capitaine Joseph Hassler,

Avec des blessures à compter cinq fois,

Possiblement passé une partie de sa récupération

En complétant un livre pour d'autres soldats.

En revenant à la ligne de front avec son

Head encore bandé, a été publié

'Ma Campagne, Aout 1914 - Decembre

1915 '; Disant ce qu'il avait vécu.

Hassler avait commencé une carrière militaire

Des années avant à la fin de la période

Siècle - 1899 avait vu les 18 ans ancien

Bénévole au bureau de l'armée de Bethune.

Initialement dans le 19ème régiment d'infanterie,

Basé à Brest - environ cinq ans plus tard

En 1905, au mois d'avril, Hassler était

A l'école militaire de Saint-Maixent.

Avril 1906 Hassler était 2e lieutenant,

Avec le 13e régiment basé à Nevers -

En avril 1908 promu au lieutenant,

Il est devenu instructeur à Joinville.

Lors de la gymnastique et de l'escrime

École en 1913, lieutenant Hassler

Rejoint dans la défense de la France

Les jours d'ouverture d'août 1914.

Pendant ces premières semaines

De la guerre Hassler a soutenu cinq

Traumatismes; Il a décidé de chroniquez

D'abord seize mois de ses expériences.

La promotion est venue encore une fois;

Devenir capitaine 22 janvier 1915, suivi de

Prix ​​de la Croix militaire et plusieurs

Fermoirs - non affecté, il a écrit en honnêteté.

Dans une allocution à un ami et poète,

Ernest Jaubert, il a dit une vérité hâtive

Comment il avait été trépané - où

Une opération s'était creusée dans sa tête.

En utilisant un instrument chirurgical,

A trephine, chirurgiens enlevés

Fragments de métal - morceaux de casque

Et la coquille, enfoncée dans son crâne.

Avec la récupération, Hassler a vérifié

Le sur-guérison de la cinquième blessure,

Hassler ne se sentait un peu étourdi

Pour surprendre les chirurgiens.

Choc, pas seulement pour les médecins dans son

Constitution, mais pour voir la ressemblance

À la tête d'un veau - Hassler regarda

Dur dans un miroir à sa calvitie.

Hassler a informé Jaubert comment un peu

De persil dans les narines et les oreilles,

Ferait lui lui adapter pour un parfait afficher,

Dans n'importe quelle fenêtre de boucherie.

Déclaration de regret pour l'apparence

Hassler a ajouté, malgré son autre

Des blessures invisibles, que la forme d'un

La tomate rouge est le résultat de la coupe.

Probablement un rappel permanent de son

Être blessé - bien que chevronné

Soldat, Hassler a révélé un soupçon

De sensibilité par des descriptions honnêtes.

Le capitaine Hassler avait les hommes

D'abord - qu'ils étaient tous en sécurité

Dans une tranchée préparée - seulement

Après un creusé a alors été créé pour lui.

Dans les hommes qui creusent le sol,

Beaucoup de Boche morts ont été

Déterrés - dans l'obscurité, pourtant

Fatigué, il s'endormit et ronfla.

Mais l'obscurité atténuée et au réveil

Yeux il a vu la lumière de l'horreur -

Les parties du corps ont fait les murs

Intérieurs; pieds morts, mains et bras morts.

Il a plongé sous eux dans le jour

Lumière - deux têtes sans vie face à lui;

Allemands - un fraîchement coupé qui

Il le regarda avec un air de terreur.

Une bouche non respiratoire avait ouvert

Des yeux écarquillés, frozen dans une

Ooccupation délabrée - la vue au clair

De lune contenait des terreurs.

Hassler souhaitait comment il pourrait blot

Une fois de plus, les quatre jours

Et quatre nuits qu'il a vécu au milieu

La puanteur de leur compagnie morte.

Pourtant, la sensibilité du capitaine Hassler

Survivé - être respecté par beaucoup

Les hommes - plus tard un caporal l'a amené

Nouvelles d'un homme mortellement blessé.

Avec des blessures si sévères, il a trouvé

Lui mourant - Hassler a salué la

Trooper presque casuellement, pour savoir

Il était mourant; Tous les deux savaient.

Le soldat le confirma à haute voix,

Pour montrer son estomac, brisé

Par un obus et a demandé à pouvoir

Pour dire quelque chose au capitaine.

Hassler a toutefois une fois qu'il était

En sécurité en ambulance, devrait-il

Alors envisager une idée de mourir -

Mais l'homme a insisté.

Il savait qu'il était proche de la mort

Et a demandé au capitaine une faveur -

Une grande larme tomba sur sa joue,

En lui demandant d'écrire à la maison.

Pour dire ses dernières pensées ont été

Avec sa femme et ses enfants, avec qui

L'amour était profondément partagé; 'Lun

Capitaine, je pourrais embrasser ta joue.

La demande du mourant était de

Dis que le baiser était pour eux. Hassler

Il l'a tenu près jusqu'à la fin, pour

Lui contre le mur de la tranchée.

Capitaine Joseph Hassler admis

Comment ces événements arracher

Le cœur - qu'il ne pouvait pas penser

A quoi befell ces hommes sans pleurer.

Par Jamie Mann.

Anon., 1917. Fragments des tranchées - Un livre des soldats. The Daily Telegraph, [en ligne] le 9 janvier 1917. P.7. Col.4. Disponible à: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214077/Daily-Telegraph-January-9-1917.html> [Accès: 22 janvier 2017].

Source: Fichier: Joseph Hassler. Wiki Pas-de-Calais. Disponible à l'adresse suivante: <https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=fr&sl=fr&u=http://www.wikipasdecalais.fr/index.php%3Ftitle%3DJoseph_Hassler&prev=search

Joseph Hassler> [consulté le 22 janvier 2017]

Source: Fichier: Romani Pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Disponible à l'adresse suivante: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania_during_World_War_I#1917_campaign_and_armistice> [Accès le 22 janvier 2017]

Mann, J., 2016. Il ya 100 ans - Poèmes de Jamie Mann. [Lettre] (communication personnelle, 22 janvier 2017).

Poem ~ Ploegsteert Violets: For Vera - Thursday, 23 December 1915 - Monday, 27 December 1915

Impression sketch of Lieutenant Roland Leighton. [online] see an original image at: <http://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar1/poets-and-poetry/roland-leighton/> Accessed: 22 December 2015].

i

'Vera Loves Roland' - such words

As those that might be cut by lovers

Onto a tree - always as a promise,

Done between two loves - to return

As time over years to stay forever,

Despite a slow covering of moss.

As when one unforgettable year

Unfolded, mulled over with worry

And hope, as did for many - among

Them a young lady of Buxton,

Vera Brittain; from a middle class

Fortune - a writer and feminist.

A year of snatched, shared time -

Of moments that unfolded from

Winter, to meet Roland Leighton;

Amid train stations that became

Terminals of joyful reunions -

Unbalanced by sad departures.

While time apart goes ever slower

Time together unfolds much faster-

With arrival of each letter to hold close

That Roland had written - as Vera

Opened an amethyst brooch of amity,
That transfers all light between lovers.

With gifts exchange in simplicity -

For a fountain pen that his hand

Might hold, that traces with each

Curve of his fingers, to make words

That he might write just for her;

A veil that drew over all anxieties.

Separations are never easy - then

Letters finally arrive to tell a soldier's

Life only five miles from a firing line -

In spring's blooms of flowing letters

Written honestly, to tell how a bullet

Past Roland's head while he shaved.

ii

With dull green enveloped letters,

Sworn by the writer in censors trust -

That no secrets held within except

For family and private matters -

Each one received like a light beam

Over sick seconds, to think him lost.

Within the maze of war arrives

Blaze of summer days, as officers

Escape - behind but close to lines -

Ploegsteert in June when Roland

Stood, to hear waking of every bird

Of the world, call in the early light.

His unconscious breath drying

Each line, as he tells how he has

A farm to himself where a family

Stay - indifferent to shells - the wife

Sending his servant with bowls

Of milk in which to bathe, perhaps.

At odds in reality of young men

Who bury young men - Roland

Stood amid the crowd of youth

In one simple, hurried burial

Of a lance corporal, who died from

Wounds, never to receive his DCM.

Slowly Vera unfolded each letter

Roland had once folded - to touch

The place he hurriedly touched -

She unsealed paper, his mouth

Had once sealed - his male fragility

Carefully unlocked by her solidity.

Each word Vera held, devoured

Every line - almost to feel that

She was there - beside him at

Night, in the quiet with Germans

Mending wires - There to tread

Alongside him over grassy lands.

Where grass concealed the dead;

Unburied bodies of their enemy.

Interrupted by those intervals

Of normality - to long for pictures,

Where he might sit, to see views

Of distant hills or close cornfields.

Vera always in nursing distractions;

Ever in the company of waiting.

iii

Minutes into hours, into months,

Marked out by endless letters

Back and forth on wary nerves -

When Vera learned of potential

Leave, as Roland told of facts

Of trench mud, rain and fleas.

Never again to feel clean or dry -

Then suddenly the news Vera

Heard how Roland was on his way

Home - inadequate words of joy

To arrive St Pancreas - wary, Vera

Detects a figure of familiarity.

Face to face, Vera and Roland

Shook hands to stand apart,

Stare, bemused and reserved.

Eventually another train carriage

Conveyed them amid company;

Eventually left alone to travel.

Dimly, swiftly travelling through

The dark, Vera almost afraid

To ask why he smiled - Roland

Confessed to an idea to make

Everything right - to be engaged

All mixed emotions filled Vera.

Not quite the romantic action

To accept, but then question

All motives, to know if that was

The right thing to do - if he still

Wanted her - just ‘alright,’ built

An odd tension through the air.

As with a journey of two souls

That knows but cant quite see,

Or understand - time together

Played its role as when her lover

Revealed a poem of Plug-street

Violets to reflect Roland's depths.

iV

Left alone together in darkness

Above cliffs, two would embrace

And kiss to send shudders of lips.

Rare love breaks its resistance,

As all too soon St Pancreas calls

Him away, amid intrusive crowds.

In suppressed despair as Roland

Stooped to pervade a passionate

Kiss, as Vera paused on carriage

Step that might carry her with him.

A whistle is blown - he cannot look

Back, pale and fixed - light dimmed.

Renewed letters, brief or long, filled

Days through September's haze -

To agonize over days with no news.

Grasping moments to hold onto -

That unreadable Roland face in day

Or night duty, hindered empty hours.

Deeper into days of December when

Smallest notes of Roland's declared

Leave; to see him home for Christmas

Burned in Vera a thrill of turmoil, wary

How leave might also be cancelled;

Joy curtailed by cautioned reality.

V

All can change in a day, without any

True reasons - when rumours state

A pending push on the western front

May cancel all leave - but halted by

A lover's note of promise to be home;

The hours tick along to Christmas eve.

Holding stillness in any one moment,

Roland no doubt held onto a vision

Of Vera, ready before a mirror - silent

In preparations of Christmas dinner.

To comb her hair; a beauty in a dress

As he fulfilled his last night of duty.

Above the trench, a single moon hung

Bright - as some officer given Leighton

Orders to repair the broken wire, before

The trench - Lieutenant Roland Leighton

Climbed, crawled forwards; the pale light

Of one moon's glow across no mans land.

A noise or movement caught by keen

Eye and one sniper's bullet sang out -

Pulled back to safety, the injured man

Told how his stomach had been hit -

And it was bad. Lieutenant Leighton

Was hurried to Louvencourt hospital.

In Vera's expectations of his landing

On English soil of Christmas day,

No word came - with likely problems

In delays and difficulties, young Vera

Paused to look across a grey sea,

With slow dreams to see his face.

A morning message, 27 December

Finally came in expectation to hear

His voice - but another's tone told

How a telegram had been received;

In regret that Lieutenant Leighton

Had suffered wounds 23 December,

From which he died - with sympathy.

27 December, a morning telephone

Call came - in expectation to hear his

Voice - but another's tone told Vera

How a telegram had been received;

In regret that Lieutenant Leighton

Had suffered wounds 23 December,

From which he died - with sympathy.

Suddenly light can dull every day,

And every day comes darkest grey.

by Jamie Mann.

Bishop, A., 1981. Chronicle of Youth - Vera Brittain's War Diary 1913-1917. Victor Gollancz Limited.  1914

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

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Poem ~ Seeing the Wounded - Monday, 16 August 1915

Impression sketch of visiting wounded - by Jamie.

The French and British army requirements,

Had introduced necessary regulations,

Over civilian relatives visiting sick

And wounded men or officers.

In hope these needs would be understood,

The process had simplified regulations

For those relatives given permission;

Rules being four in total.

For any soldier or officer, due to wounds

Or sickness being in danger, would

Be no military or medical objection

For any visits by their relatives.

A letter would be posted, prior to telegram,

Sent by Military Records or War Offices

To allow permission to a relative – no

Passport or permit necessary.

Only the letter or telegram was needed

To be produced – the recipient would

Need to follow all instructions given,

Having to travel to a named port.

Once at the specific port, the document

Was to be shown to the Embarkation

Commandant - the third rule being

Only one relative per patient.

Regarding accommodation only a limited

Number were allowed to have free

Travel and lodging, limited to any

Who could not afford expenses.

Directives from War Office in limited cases

Granted this - for all other acquaintances,

Or family would need to pay own costs -

Noting limited lodgings as expensive.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915 Wounded in France  - Regulations for Visits. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 14 August. P.4. Col.1. Available at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11788269/Daily-Telegraph-August-16-1915.html [Accessed: 16 August 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 15 August 2015). 

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11788269/Daily-Telegraph-August-16-1915.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Wounded