Poem ~ Bapaume Triangle - Thursday, 1 March 1917- Friday, 2 March 1917

Source: File: Men of 30th Battalion AIF among ruins of Bapaume - the day they entered the town. See an original image at: <https://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2007/04/03/bapaume-to-bullecourt-the-fighting-in-france-1917/> [Accessed 01 January 2017]

i

Time moves on a pace -

The bite of winter starts to fade.

February's end sees news

Of Gommecourt, which German

Troops abandoned.

A hammered commune

8 miles north of Albert, within

The Bapaume triangle -

A two-man patrol had set out.

Members of the Durham

Light infantry entered the park

Of Gommecourt chateau;

The ruins striking a stark line.

The commune remnants

Being easily taken, without any

Fight - 9 months before

Had seen a London regiment.

Then an assault had

Been taken on the impregnable

Position, to threaten

Them with total annihilation.

For reasons the Germans chose

To retreat during dusk -

Their way had been protected,

West of Bucquoy.

With a wedge formed

By rear guard posts - machine

Guns lined about

Rossignol and Biaz woods.

Return to normality

Saw resurgence of dirty tricks -

Booby traps set out

To catch out unwary hunters.

Souvenirs of abandoned
German helmets concealed

Explosives set to blow
If touched, as were trip wires.

Insignificant devices

Were seen as less of a threat

Than machine gunners

And snipers concealed all about.

ii

Work of the troops being

To hunt them out from hiding -

Not so far very far

Away Puisieux village hid many.

A manhunt took

Place within the maze of brick

Ruins, in the night

Of Tuesday 27 February 1917.

In the clearance

The British line had expanded;

Gommecourt, lay

Left to Puisieux, right to Irles.

All such communes

Destruction were thorough -

To include Irles

And Achiet le Petit churches.

In German occupation

Churches were destroyed to halt

Advantages as platform

For their enemies observers.

The clock tower

Of Bapume had also gone -

Noted how in the

Somme this had told time.

South of Bapaume,

North of Ligny-Thilloy - yet

Another village fell

Into allied hands -Thilloy.

Speculation makes

For reasons, in the ease

Of taking the line

Within these communes.

Steady pressure

Of allied attacks, perhaps had

Pushed enemy; back

To poorer, shorter grounds.

Yet a concentrated

German line set to rebuild their

Offence and defence;

Annoyance came via new shells.

iii

Bapaume lay under

A mile away 'he' i.e. Germany,

On the other side had

Big guns, on railway mounts.

Over the bubble that

Was Bapaume shot quick fire

Artillery - barbed rolls

About Achiet and Bucquoy.

The loop continuing

At Loupard wood - what then

Was plan of German

High command to pull back?

His tactic perhaps

To regroup along a shorter,

Stronger line - a pivot

At Le Transloy held his lines.

Allied anticipation

To perhaps reform before

Arras, Cambrai

And Douai - in speculation.

Beyond Bapaume

Were eastern strongholds

Of an enemy, set

In French woods and villages.

These British gains

Were results of consolidation

To re-strengthen,

Maybe against losses of 1916.

by Jamie Mann.

Gibb, P., 1917. German Retreat - More British Gains. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 1 March 1917. P.7. Col.2. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214348/Daily-Telegraph-March-1-1917.html> [Accessed: 1 March 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 1 March 2017). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214348/Daily-Telegraph-March-1-1917.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Bapume

Poem ~ Habits of a Turkish Sniper - Thursday, 21 October 1915

Source: File: Gallipoli 1915 a sniping pair.jpeg An observer is looking for targets through a periscope, while the sniper is ready with rifle with periscope sight Photo taken by a soldier of the London Rifle Brigade (1/5th Battalion, The London Regiment) - [online] see an original image at: <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A05767/> [21 October 2015].

Back two months to Summer’s August

Date 25^th the location Gaba Tepe, Turkey.

In the midst of the Dardanelles Imperial

Force Representative, Captain Bean

Told of the Turkish sniper’s ways.

Another environment; hot open spaces

In which to fight an opposition, whose

Acquaintance of rocks and gorse gave

Challenge for a determined invader.

Not the glutinous mud of Flanders

Nor the altitude of Alpine mountains -

But a long open valley, once silent -

Then filled with concealed fighters,

Those being the Turkish snipers.

Captain Bean's explanations gave

Two likely ways to deal with situations

Of the waiting, watching gunmen -

With ideas out of theoretical manuals.

One way to build across valley's length,

An imperial formation of a sandbagged

Wall - alternatively to put in place

A counter sniper buttress  - this would

Allow a man to stroll in sight of enemy.

The idea was that the Turkish shooter

Would find a score of rifle fire from

Hidden posts, would get bullets home -

Such is theory’s extension of cover fire.

An obvious strategist’s actions that sets

To protect advancing body of troops,

As they set from shelter of one trench

On way to take next - Thus this was

Adoption taken on by Anzac presence.

Assigned by that line’s Australian

Officer, one New Zealander was given

Reign to organise system of protection -

A sport that appealed to all Anzacs.

In tourist’s approach they made out

Lay of the land hillsides and valleys

Came under close scrutiny - in days

They were familiar with each and every

Hole, tunnel or corner of the enemy.

By recognition respect of the bravery

And cleverness of the Turkish sniper,

Realization of the fire he was under set

Him to suggest alternative source of fire.

The brave Turk took to stand breast

High at night, to face flashes shot

From a dozen loopholes - who then

Are countered as that lone gunmen,

A volunteer target draws their fire.

In darkness of the Gaba Tepe valley,

Silence was broken - snaps and cracks

Of flashes - like momentary candles -

Flash and speed in hopeless mockery.

Night firing in Dardanelles lacked

Accuracy - the Turks that lean from

Parapets, to attempt to focus down

On any possible figures in gullies -

Waste their shots over opposition.

Lights like star flashes - night skies

Merge with earth to form harmless

Night snipers - but in daylight’s promise

A periscope of a Turk was dangerous.

Endeavours came in all types and sizes;

Endless mirrors on sticks, in cases

Of metal, with dead and green leaves -

As a sandbag or sacking shreds,

To be part of a torn sandbag in wind.

A small tubular type, believed bullet

Proof, distracted by a larger dummy

Or even waved back and forth briefly;

All the cleverest types being smashed.

Night is when work was carried out

With the Turk no different - in pitch

Dark they left their murky trenches,

To curse as they stumbled amid scrub;

Sound and smell drift out to watchers.

The noise of work; a shovel or carpentry.

Then by light a newly built V, with hole

For a sniper appears, or a new sandbag -

Obvious to Anzac sniper who shoots it.

In one strange experiment one morning,

There appeared a wicker work shape

Over Turkish parapet a weird beast -

Between a pig and alligator - a snout

And openings like eyes, looking out.

Warily, not knowing it’s meaning, this

Thing was watched until one Anzac

Fired at it - paused to reload to see

The beast look directly towards him.

With no hesitation he fired rounds

Into its muzzle and the construction

Broke, being ripped to tiny bits, never

To reappear - Such strange sports

Captain Bean describes never ended.

Only after the British army landed in

Suvla Bay, Anzac snipers assigned

To join them - having lost sportsman

Who had been their first  organizer.

Within that July and August standoff

Another Australian, a polo player

Took over - then recalled to an attack

Turks on 6 August, before his snipers

Were ready, he fell amid the scrub oak.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Epic of Anzac -The Turkish Sniper. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 21 October. P.7. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11936798/Daily-Telegraph-October-21-1915.html [Accessed: 21 October 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 21 October 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11936798/Daily-Telegraph-October-21-1915.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Dardanelles

Poem ~ Sorley: Secret Poet - Wednesday, 13 October 1915

Source: File: Captain Charles Sorley.jpeg [online] see an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sorley> [13 October 2015].

Among the many talented who chose

To go to war, was the son of a University

Professor, William Ritchie Sorley -

His son Charles Hamilton Sorley, born

Aberdeen, educated at Marlborough. 

Already proving his talent for debate,

Charles Sorley gained a scholarship

To University College Oxford - aged 18

The young scholar decided to take his

Study in 1913 to Germany for a year.

August 1914 in Germany at University

Of Jena, Sorley found that in the war’s

Opening, he was held in Trier for a day -

Released, he was told by authorities

To promptly leave their country. 

Putting aside university Charles Sorley

Sought a commission - this he did

Joining the Suffolk’s, as an officer -

2nd Lieutenant - to arrive on the line

Of France and Belgium, by May 1915.

Sorley was to fight at Ploegstreet

In Flanders - which led to promotion -

Now a Captain, the young officer

Was to find himself in the biggest

Battle of the year, so far, at Loos.

After only a month as Captain Sorely,

The allied attack began September  -

The BEF and French army role would

Be to divert German numbers from

Russian Front, to relieve their pressure.

While allies had superior numbers,

The Germans fought back the French 

Attacks at Champagne and Vimy Ridge -

An overview of unfolding events were

Made in the 7^th Suffolk’s war diaries.

13 October saw the morning create

Heavy bombardment onto the German

Lines - into a haze of smoke, British

Commenced the attack, when German

Machine guns opened up on them.

British loses began to rise, to number

70 of ranks to include; a major, a Captain

And lieutenants - Suffolk’s found selves

In situation with all grenade supplies

Used - then to assist Norfolk Regiment.

In loss of trained bombers and leaders

Captain Sorley was suddenly in charge

Of D Company – A Captain who had

quietly recorded such experiences

into collection of some collated poems.

That morning, perhaps adding some

Line to a composition, he secured

The 37 he had so far written, into his

Kit, before leaving his dugout; maybe

A new idea played in back of his mind.

Alongside the Norfolk bombing crew

The 20 year old Captain Sorley, found

Himself leading support to catch a sap -

This was his job; like many others any

University career had been put on hold.

In thickest battle he did all he could -

With those men about him pulled

Out from normal lives, to eagerly threw

Bombs at other men - they scrambled

Against an equally keen bomb crew.

An officers average life of was six weeks - 
Charles Sorely had reached four of them -
The Captain shuffled with his men into haze

Of chaos - his presence caught by sniper’s

Opportunity, who fired into a poet’s head.

Placed under the earth close to where

He had been killed, his resting place

Would never be found again - only when

His kit was opened were seen 37 poems;

One amid millions now devoid of a voice.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Poet Charles Sorley killed at Loos [online] Available at: <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/poet-charles-sorley-killed-at-loos> [Accessed: 13 October 2015]

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 13 October 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11914698/Daily-Telegraph-October-11-1915.html

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

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Poem ~ Teeth of a Sniper - Sunday, 3 October 1915

Impression sketch of Sniper with good teeth - by Jamie. 

Somewhere along the trench

Border of France, a tale became

Told of an unusual sniper.

One Tommy told how their

Allied trench lay some 100 yards,

From nearest German trench.

Like many other regiments,

They had suffered shortages

Of regular, drinking water.

This Tommy stated that half

A mile directly behind their lines,

Lay a clear, shallow stream.

A regular practice involved

Soldiers, to leave safety of trench

At night, to gain water supplies

In this important mission,

Some eagle-eyed sniper, started

To interrupt the process.

In usual attempts at night,

Two Tommy’s were almost hit,

While two others wounded.

Strangely, the shots came

From a direction, somewhere

Behind the British lines.

Taking a day time search,

With intention to find the snipers

Lair - without any success.

With another attempt just

Before dawn, on 23 September,

Searched by soldiers.

They worked their way back

To the line, swiping at the ground,

Like beaters on a shoot.

Nothing was found, except

An old shabby farmer - who eagerly

Attended to potatoes crops.

Working on the furrows,

The angry old man scorned them,

Treading all over his ground.

While he ordered them away,

Some Tommy's, being able to speak

French, questioned him.

The old man’s expression

Was worried, knowing no ‘espion’

Or hearing any kind of noise.

The French farmer vowed

He would report them to their senior,

If they did not get off his field.

The Subaltern, Mr Jones,

Reported to commanding officer,

To tell about the old farmer

He had 'gnashed his teeth'

Which were jolly fine and white -

The officer exclaimed.

The order was to go back

And speak to the old man - as two

Men take him from behind.

Ashamed and enlightened,

The Subaltern did as he was told -

The famer fought like a beast.

The three detainees forced

Him to the ground, rolling over and

Over, as the man resisted

Finally tied, they found him

To be a young man, with German

Made automatic pistols.

A search showed he carried

A rifle cartridge belt, another search

Revealed the old famers lair.

In a ditch was a dugout,

With a rifle carefully hidden behind

A screen of brushwood.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Catching A Sniper Betrayed by Nice Teeth. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 October. P.10. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11902168/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1915.html [Accessed: 3 October 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 3 October 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11902168/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1915.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Sniper