Source: File: wounded smile
for the camera.
First World War Hidden History. See an original image at: <https://firstworldwarhiddenhistory.wordpress.com/page/2/>
[Accessed 28 August 2016]
Among the wounded travelling
Home for convalescence, officers
Gave sketches of their experience
-
A second lieutenant told of
laying
Lines to the front; the signallers
To number sixteen, had a 'hot
time.'
Rolling out
communication wires
Only two men were
left unscathed,
But the lines
were successfully
Laid. At Bazentin
le Grand a colonel
Praised the work
as 'best event' -
All ran to
clockwork by artillery.
Shells were pumped 30
to the minute,
Turning heat up
on the enemy - while
Lewis guns
sprayed across the
Field - they caught a haughty general,
Whose dismal look was reflected in
His refusal to
speak to the colonel.
Another second lieutenant spoke
How his Brodie hat would become
A souvenir - a 'ping' of a tap as
he
Laid in a shell hole - then a
thump
To his crown, after which he
found
The steel helmet had a bullet indent.
Furthermore surprise came with
A jagged inch sized hole, where
A bit of 'shrap' marked how close
Matters were - spending a further
Three hours there without a
scratch;
At 20 yards, shells burst both ways.
In the Army
Service Corps a second
Lieutenant told
how life could be
Very unquiet in
their logistical role
To supply army - at
Maricourt taking
Up the limbered
wagons something
Of a 6in howitzer
cut him down.
In commenting
about Guillemont
A Captain also
praised the artillery,
At rate of
pumping hell at the Boche;
'Marvelous' - one private added how
Shelling was relentless night or day;
Safety generally better at the front line.
Communication
trenches had proved
Little use - the
private and others
Had conveyed
rations down a route,
When a German 5.9
shell hit - this
Crump sent 14 of
them sideways -
A corporal from High Wood agreed.
One keen skill among the men was
Ability to load and fire
machine guns -
They had put the
wind up the Boche,
Surely they could not
take much more?
He had gained his
Blighty ticket down
At High wood,
thanks to a 'Bon Santy.'
Close to Glatz
Redoubt a Captain
Told of the
wonders of the batteries,
Spitting at such a
rate to see 30 shells
At a time in the
air - one proud private
Told of filling
his tunic with souvenirs,
Although someone
pinched them all.
Work at Trones
Wood was to convey
Masses of Small
Arms Ammunition
And rations, a
big issue being water -
Thirst built quickly
in the heat, while
Flies and the
stench of hundreds of
Dead put a
taint on all food and drink.
Souvenirs taken
from three Boche
Included a clip
of cartridges - one
Was opened to find
liquid contents;
They concluded
poisoned bullets - in
One trip to
Trones the private was hit,
As another
private was knocked out.
A bomb hitting his foot had exploded -
But the German
stuff were known to
Be poor quality - had it been friendly
Fire he would have been killed outright,
Fire he would have been killed outright,
Noting Hun's lazy
habits to stay in deep
Dugouts only
worked against them.
One corporal's claim was Tommy's
Skill to crawl forwards, as they
had
At Guillemot having no trenches -
A shared belief was how Boch
close
To being finished - in his
experience
The Hun quickly held their hands
up.
By Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916.
Battlefield Souvenirs - Boche Fire At Wounded. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 25 August 1916.
P.5. Col.2. Available at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212859/Daily-Telegraph-August-25-1916.html>
[Accessed: 28 August 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 28 August 2016).
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