Poem ~ Frontline Fears - Thursday, 30 November 1916

  Source: File: Victoria Station 1916. See an original image at: 
<https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/543739354994519159/> [Accessed 30 November 2016]

In the daily movement of war, London train

Stations remained busy - crowded platforms

Milled with khaki figures amid numerous

Civilians and women in uniform; nurses

Posted over to western front hospitals.

On a platform stood Royal Marine Light

Infantry members, among them two

Brothers; Harold Paul Bland, aged 20

And his older brother of 27, Reginald

Ashton Bland - they stood aside from rest.

Under backpacks and great coats, the two

Brothers loitered - both shivering but not

From cold  - for some time they had dwelt

On their futures, or what remained, once

They arrived in France and the front line.

Reginald Bland pushed a lit cigarette into

The lips of Harold Bland, who kept asking

'What are we going to do Reggie? What

Are we going to do? - We are under orders

To go. Reggie, what are we going to do?'

Taking a lengthy intake of tobacco Private

Bland the older, looked about to observe

The company NCO's - they were occupied.

Reginald had purposely positioned them

Near a place of privacy - it was time to act.

Now or never before they left English soil.

He clutched the shape in his greatcoat

Pocket - 'Well they can't make us march

Without us feet can they? Leave your pack

Here.' A puzzled Harold did as he was told.

Reginald did the same, dropping his pack

By a post and propping their rifles there.

'What are you doing?' Harold found his

Arm grabbed. Reginald pulled him under

The sign of 'gentlemen' to finish the deed.

For a moment or two the lavatory seemed

To be empty as Harold again asked, what

He was doing? The sound of flushing water

Came from the other end - Reginald turned,

Stomped to the cubicle in an agitated mood.

He confronted the man who emerged -

A civilian fastening his flies was shocked.

the soldier grabbed his collar - 'get out!'

Yelled Reginald, pushing him towards the

Door, ignoring protests to wash his hands.

The stranger hurried on seeing a hatchet

in the soldier's hand - in barring the door

With a mop handle Harold stepped back

Observing the hatchet produced from his

Brother’s greatcoat; 'I don’t want to die.'

A frightened Harold protested. Reginald

Took him by the shoulder - 'trust me, we

Will get out of going to the front - come

Over here and stand in the doorway.'

Petrified, private Harold Bland staggered.

He stood frozen as he brother yelled;

'Take your boots off!'  'What!' Reginald

Stooped and yanked at the laces - he

Pulled Harold’s boots off and threw them

Aside. A shaky Harold watched his brother.

They then stood barefoot in the public

Lavatory, facing each other - terrified

Reginald still determined he would save

Them both - 'the army cant force us

To march, if we don't have any feet.'

Reginald stooped and poised holding

The hatchet - outside some man found

The public lavatory door shut and

Walked off - two NCOs stood by two

Abandoned packs and abandoned rifles.

'Deserters you think?' said one NCO

As a short, bespeckled civilian came

Over, furious to tell how disgusted

He was by two soldier’s behavior

In the lavatory - close by all heard.

A sound of a sharp cry came beyond

The lavatory door - the two NCOs ran

Forcing the door open - a soldier laid

On the ground in a pool of blood; a toe

Half hung from the man's foot bone.

This soldier was out cold with another

Quaking soldier propped up, shaking

In one of the cubicle doorways a bloody

Axe on the floor, a handkerchief about

A wound from his blood-stained foot.

An NCOs looked to him, discovering he

Also had toes half hanging off - the other

Private moved, dazed giving an answer

To NCO's question; 'yes, I must have

Done it - I don't know what made me.'

'We were under orders and it worried

Me.' Two days later, Thursday 26 October,

A hearing at Westminster Police court

Saw Private Reginald Bland hobble over

To the stand, his foot heavily bandaged.

Private R. Bland 1531 S Royal Marine Light

Infantry: Portsmouth Division-Short Service

Was informed of his being in remand to be

Detained in prison for the actions of maiming
His brother Harold; he was carried from court.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Mutilation With A Chopper.The Daily Telegraph, [online] 16 November 1916. P.4. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213737/Daily-Telegraph-November-16-1916.html> [Accessed: 30 November 2016].

Source: File: The Bland brothers, Royal Marines. Available at: <http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/240417-the-bland-brothers-royal-marines> [Accessed 30 November 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 30 November 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213737/Daily-Telegraph-November-16-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ Somme Optimism - Tuesday, 27 June - 1916

Source: File: British Artillery, end of June 1916. National Army Museum. [online] See an original image at: <https://ww1live.wordpress.com/category/western-front/> [Accessed: 27 June 2016]

French roads from all ports to Arras and Albert

Buzzed - a Lieutenant Liveing commented

On packed roads, loaded with war articles;

Sandbags, wire stakes, shells, trench mortar

Bombs with  'a thousand articles for offensive.'

Lieutenant Liveing had witnessed the great

Movements of lorry columns, thundering

Along, with signalers who weaved their

Motorbikes among them, as full staff cars,

Frustrated, were slowed by the military traffic.

Ceaselessly rolling by were batteries moving

To their positions, as caterpillar transports

Heaved out the heaviest guns - endless

Lines of intent troopers and khaki sappers,

Moving out to assigned tasks across the lines.

Surprise came with gauge railways apparently

Appearing over night - trees everywhere cut

Down for building of gun emplacements

And dugouts - while miles of water pipes were

Laid, ready to be extended out across battlefields.

Lieutenant Liveing told how miles of telephone

Lines were being laid down into earth, while

Amidst greenery dumps of ammunition

Bloomed - not to forget electric generators 

Power readied and wells dug to feed pipelines.

Such grand ambition of the operation could

Not go unnoticed by the side opposite.

Lieutenant Steele, a Newfoundland

Soldier described on 21 June, in equal

Manner, that Fritz was seen to be very busy.

Over hours, night and day the Germans

Worked - under darkness reinforcing

Wires - in theory their efforts had

Little matter, in total annihilation they

Would be crushed by a creeping barrage.

The fact of warning signs were being missed

By British, captured Germans questioned

Stating how their men were sheltered

In deep bunkers - solid British belief had

Decided; nothing could survive bombardment.

A coded alphabet countdown had marked

24 June as U day - but thunderstorms

Of 23 June developed into a dull

Day of heavy rain - this then continued 

The thunderous air of deadly British batteries.

The following day, 25 June being marked

As V day gave bright warm sun, there

Was no let up - enemy dumps

Reported to have exploded by RFC

Pilots, who shot down enemy balloons.

With W day 26 June intervals of sun were

Interrupted by heavy rain - operations

In cutting enemy wires were good -

500 shells fired by every single gun over

Each day; the countdown moves on a day.

Still hefty rain tumbles down by 27 June,

Day X - shells pummel chalky ground

Adding to dank mist of the Somme -

The storms of steel continue to add

To waiting enemy’s sombre entrapment.

Only at Loos had such concentration

Of gunnery exploded at the enemy.

Now the fourth army held twice

As many guns; 32 4.7'' guns against

12 at Loos - 36 6' Howitzers now 104.

The thunderous roll carried northwards

Across the western front as a Royal

Fusilier Officer, Stanley Spencer,

Told of a sky, lit by flashes to cause

Earth below to rise, fall and shudder.

Evidence of sound and deadly sights

Could have not been previously

Imagined - darkness slashed 

By hesitant lights - any grounded

Object, a flickering chaotic silhouette.

One bright slash of light against another.

Stark flashes emitted from crashing

Shells in a violent competition -

Those cursing cries of explosions,

Carried by wind to be heard in London.

Shell after shell after shell, fired in all

Capacities - the spent canisters

Discarded into thrown metal

Mountains; useless heaps of husks.

Order kept by officers with neat charts.

An observer, American war Journalist

Frederick Palmer, compared sight

Of cost - one shell that killed

Could give funds to send a youth

To college for a year, or raise a child.

Any act of extravagance was curtailed,

As every shell was accounted for -

How by the end of one day,

The simmering crop of spent shells

Could have funded a maternity hospital.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  The Great War 1914-1918. The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

Source: File: The Long, Long trail. The British Army In The Great War of 1914-1918. Logistical preparations necessary before the Somme offensive, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/logistical-preparations-necessary-before-the-somme-offensive-1916/> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

Source: File: WWI Centennial: Somme Bombardment Begins. Online. Available at: <http://mentalfloss.com/article/82214/wwi-centennial-somme-bombardment-begins> [Accessed 27 June 2016]

WWI Centennial: Somme Bombardment Begins

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 June 2016). 

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

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Poem ~ Somme Preparations - Monday, 26 June - 1916

Source: File: Soldiers and 18 Pounder Shells. National Army Museum. [online] See an original image at: <http://www.army.mod.uk/firstworldwarresources/somme-1916/soldiers-leaning-on-a-pile-of-18-pounder-shells-somme-1916> [Accessed: 24 June 2016]

With plans for a battle formed 1915, began by

French Commander-in-Chief Joffre,

Adjustments resulted due to French occupied

In Verdun - their allies of British force

Stepped into the breach; preparations took time.

Changes of dates from April to August finally

Settled for mid summer, at start of July -

A summer strike of large proportions needed

Careful preparations - the meticulous

Slow methods gave General Joffre frustrations.

After the Chantilly agreements led to decision

Over which western sector for their

Agreed strike - developments began which

Would take months; the total of logistics 
To be involved included transport and supplies.

Shelter, water, war materials and medical back

Up, all had to be planned - the sector of the

Somme river up to Arras was the chosen area -

The major needs of transport led all plans

To this quiet sector; here 400,000 men gathered.

Alongside required 100,000 horses, logistical

Reserves had to be called on for physical

Manpower - the railway was central to shift

From ports to the front - the third army needed

58 supply trains daily, while fourth army 70.

These tactics were a challenge, with only

Two lines then running into the town of Albert -

One of the closest frontline towns - the line

from Arras and Albert clearly was a no go run;

Across the Ancre Valley into German area.

While movements between communes,

Doullens, Acheux and Albert areas were fine,

Decision was finally made to build another

Light gauge rail - in total of 55 miles of tracks,

Their building was left in the infantry hands.

Between Acheux and Candas 17 new line

Miles would give 15 trains daily, while Contay

And Daours would add 10 track miles -

With a spur extension created the loop from

Dernancourt to Fricourt, to add depots.

Spur rails lines off Albert and Acheux gave

Links to Thiepval Wood, Martinsart, over

To Aveluy - such a massive operation made

Challenges to the road systems, within

A quiet area given to farmland of chalky earth.

Suited to small population of farm workers

And carts, roads for heavy machinery

Of military was another matter - any stones

To build roads had to be brought there,

And labour was too short to make dumps.

While stone dumps were rare other

Ammunition dumps were quickly formed

Close to rail lines, as at Gezaincourt,

Contay and Puchevillers - while all horse
transports used the timber roads.

One lesson learned from prior battles

Was the need of medical services -

Close to the frontline would be Casualty

Clearing Stations - near to rail lines

Ready to move all injured away to safety.

Six sites saw main C.C.S's at Puchevillers,

Vecquemont, Corbie, Contay, Doullens,

Heilly and Warlincourt - others at St Ouen

Amiens, Beauval, and Gezaincourt - but
An enemy walk-over they would be unused.

Interrelated cogs turned in a build up

For the day - all villages between Ameins

And the front, filled with tents to house

Gathering armies - every soldier provided

A grave sized space; 2 foot by 6 billet.

Even at that stage the presence of French

Civilians had remained, living close

To daily fight, holding onto villages - their

Mayors advised they had 48 daylight

Hours to leave - given only 10 days supplies.

Effectively civilians would be ensnared,

Being informed from Sunday 25 June

They could not move - shells would start

To fly over civilian heads, their homes

Would then be on wrong side of firing lines.

In a none silent method, the countdown

Began on Saturday 24 June 1916 -

A bombardment began artillery lines fed

By Blighty shells, spewing across

Farmland; a warning of something coming.

Over eight days the continual raking action

Of British gunnery would pulverise any

German defences - ready for gathered armies,

Waiting along the chalky land each slow

Minute, hour, day rang with thud, thud of shells.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File:  The Great War 1914-1918. The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/> [Accessed 26 June 2016]

Source: File: The Long, Long trail. The British Army In The Great War of 1914-1918. Logistical preparations necessary before the Somme offensive, 1916. Online. Available at: <http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/logistical-preparations-necessary-before-the-somme-offensive-1916/> [Accessed 26 June 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 26 June 2016). 

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme 

Poem ~ German Break Out At Knockaloe - Saturday, 29 January 1916

 Impression sketch of Knockaloe prison camp railway - by Jamie.  See an original image at: <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/history-of-the-first-world-war-in-100-moments/a-history-of-the-first-world-war-in-100-moments-britain-s-enemy-aliens-get-their-own-railway-9334403.html> Accessed: 29 January 2016].

Possibly surprising locations

For alien detainees, included

Islands about Britain - one was

The equidistant Isle of Man -

The landmass of 221 square

Miles, sitting in the Irish Sea.

To play its part, the chosen

Isle held two prison camps -

In Douglas a one time holiday

Site, held detainees - while close

To the town of Peel, Knockaloe

Was built on agricultural lands.

Constructed across a wide area,

Knockaloe was to be made

Of four compounds, to become

Like a small town - to include

Railway link - all made to house

1000's in prefabricated huts.

The camp was close to the sea,

With Peel being a fishing port -

Four detainees of Germany
Successfully existed their way

12 January 1916 from Knockaloe;

Two days later to be at Peel port.

The sailors of the German navy;

Robert Clauss, Richard Karlsen

Alexander Hoffman - the fourth

Georges Sudman, had ingenuity

To steal the yacht Genesta, from

The quay - but they were seen.

Shouts rang out at the daylight 

Theft of a local man's boat -

Close by was Constable Clague

Who quickly followed in a yawl -
With assistance of others, to make

Pursuit in a two mastered craft.

The group formed with harbour

Master and a Private Karran -
Crossing the harbour they caught

Up the yacht - the two Germans

On board lifted up their hands

To surrender, along with others.

Two more men were on a boat

Alongside - Germans and boats

Were searched, to find items;

Wire cutters, pincers, a compas,
Marlinspikes, sailmaker's thimble, 

Charts, log line and log books.

In addition; paraffin oil bottles,

Matches, along with a variety

Of food supplies, for their eager

Plan to flee - owner of Genesta

Stated how that two motorboats

In the harbour had been doctored.

A sabotage done to halt pursuit

Of the escaping German sailors -

28 January 1916, the four men

Before a military court charged

With escape and stealing - to be
Told of the men's good characters.

Along with this recommendation,

That came from two imprisoned

Officers, a court heard of Georges

Sudan's other escape at Douglas

Camp, to be held at Knockaloe - 

The military court considered.

Also in that court Franz Rignisky

Had stolen tobacco, while another,

Carl Hench had tried his luck

To escape - walking out with false

Pass - Hoffmann, Clauss, Karlsen

And Sudman all awaited verdict.

Already prisoners of Knockaloe,

What punishment might then be

Given? The final decision was

A deferred sentence, pending

The Governor's confirmation -

Very likely they were well guilty

Of building a discovered tunnel.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Escaped Germans On Yacht - Well Supplied With Provisions. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 29 January 1916. P.6. Col.5. Available http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12120482/Daily-Telegraph-January-29-1916.html [Accessed: 29 January 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29 January 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12120482/Daily-Telegraph-January-29-1916.html

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

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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

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