A sad story is told of the Chateau of Gue,
By the village of Cougis, North East of Paris.
Where Germans established their headquarters,
During the siege of Meaux.
The commandeered castle was well furnished,
In the typical French manner.
Filled with art treasures and priceless tapestries,
To be found by the allies,
Being hurriedly abandoned, and in a despicable
state.
Little remained intact – with bare walls,
And tattered tapestries that Germans had used
To clean their boots – about were remnants
Of Buhl furniture and Empire Chairs.
Forced open, a Buhl bureau, containing owner’s
letter,
had all its contents of correspondence torn,
to be scattered upon the stairs from terrace to
gardens.
Paintings by old masters torn from walls,
Were slashed beyond recognition by knife blades,
Even the linen was used in filthiest manner.
In
the Grand Salon, used as a ward,
Were
German wounded, left upon the mosaic floor.
For
those who did not survive operations,
Carried
out upon three card tables, were deposited
Back
into the Grand Salon ward, among living
Groaning,
wounded men –, the live lain with the dead.
The
German commanders,
Unperturbed
by the close, moaning presence,
Of
this hideous spectacle, had eaten and dined
In
the adjoining dining room.
Remnants
of an abandoned feast, with 32 chairs,
Were
arranged about the grand dining table.
Lavishly
decorated by the orders of the General,
With
rare orchids from the Chateau conservatories.
Strewn
on table and floor, lay the finest vintages
Of
wines, liqueurs and champagne –
Many
with necks hurriedly broken,
To
get quickly to the contents – Plates of food,
Being
half eaten, marked a hurried departure.
In
an act of contempt for the Chateau’s owner,
German
officers had forced their servants,
To
carry the billiard table, onto the lawn,
And
shot at it with revolvers until destroyed.
About
the garden lay several dead Germans,
Unburied,
elsewhere a fresh grave of two officers
Strewn
with flowers, with a note for the French
To
respect these bodies, until collected by relatives.
In
the servants quarters, had been left thirty,
Less
severely wounded -having no ambulance space,
These
men continued with further destruction
Of
the chateau. Finally descending to the kitchen,
They
ordered the mistress to make coffee,
Then
pushing her side for being too slow,
Made
their own coffee, forcing the owner and servants,
As
they drank, to remain still.
Once
news had reached French General Staff of events
At
Chateau Gue, some men were sent,
To
take possession of the castle and the intruders.
On
taken prisoner, being fearful of execution,
For
vandalism the Germans pleaded great regret.
by Jamie Mann.
De
Bathe, P., 1914. German Vandalism – A Chateau Pillaged –Orgy Among the Dead. The
Daily Telegraph, [online] 18 Sept. p.7. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11077945/Daily-Telegraph-September-18-1914.html
[Accessed: 18th September 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100
years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 18
September 2014).
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