Poem ~ Season Of Peace And War - Monday, 25 December 1916 - Tuesday 26 December 1916

Source: File: Ruheben Camp festive card. Sketch depicting the card as they might have appeared in 1917 ‑ had the war ended that year. See an original image at: <https://www.worldwar1postcards.com/christmas-postcards.php> [Accessed 15 December 2016]

Reaching a bridge of 24 months from

First war Christmas, came 1916 festivities -

Situations of moods had long changed,

Across bitter stalemate of frontlines.

For the dead there were no celebrations.

Many that had once kicked a football

Across No Mans Land, long laid below

Or scattered across its poisoned mud.

Verdun, Somme and many new names

Of battles marked the bitter losses - any

Type of fraternisation forbidden by orders;

No football games of Hun versus Tommy.

Yet such truces of peace were not totally

Diminished - many Germans called out

Across the void to the Tommy and the Poilu

For 'Trêve de Noël' and 'Weihnachtsfrieden.'

The French spirit for 'live and let live' saw

Sectors sing to each other in native songs,

Along with exchanged gifts thrown across

Closest spaces of their outermost trenches.

Still the season, though subdued, continued.

Back in blighty had been orgainsed programs,

To get Christmas puddings to the front troops;

Though jokes abounded, if they would arrive.

With frozen stalemate in mud and the worst

Weather for more that 30 years, shortages

Were taking a grip - seasonal telegrams did

Not halt to tell men’s families of their deaths.

Not to forget the detained, held in camps from

Either side - with those most talented devising

Festive postcards - the artistic in the Ruhleben

Civilian camp held since 1914, drew designs.

In a card for xmas two detainees stare beyond

The wire towards the rising sun in hope of 1917;

A version shows them dancing before a happy

Sun and posts without wire, had the war ended.

A cherub builds three blocks for each war year;

1916 atop 1915 and 1914 - while yet another

Card, a smirking cherub kicks away the blocks -

Tentatively wishing happy forebodings for 1917.

With many an unlucky Tommy still on duty

In the trenches - as witnessed by news reporters

Such as Philip Gibbs - where after frosts, sleet

And snow found Christmas Eve a mild day.

Winter sunshine reflected across swamps

And flooded holes described in poetic images;

As supply columns churned their ways through

Mud, delivering feast day supplies to troops.

Gibbs saw soldiers as Noah like figures building

Colonies of huts, with attempts to abate floods -

Figures everywhere, splattered stiff with pale mud,

Emerged from lines imbued with Christmas spirits.

By subdued daylight Tommy's, Jocks and Anzacs

Sought out trinkets in nearest of French village

Markets - while on eve of feast day the reporter

Found a crowded restaurant, ready to celebrate.

Characters at every table; Tommy’s and Poliu

In salute of Entente Cordiale; 'Bonne chance!'

'Nous Les Aurons' and counter Christmas wishes

To old Fritz - here and there sat puzzled faces.

Young faces of 1916 recruits, amid the mature

Old Contemptibles, drawn into other temporary

Moods - away from the easy warmth and light

He took a few steps into darkness, to see blinks

Of horizon shells - somewhere soldiers died.

by Jamie Mann.

Gibb. P.,1916. Tommy's Xmas Eve - Scenes And Contrasts - A Memorable Picture. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 26 December 1916. P.7. Col.1-2. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214032/Daily-Telegraph-December-26-1916.html> [Accessed: 26 December 2016].

Source: File: Picture Postcards From The Great War  - WW1 Christmas Postcards  by Tony Allen- 1914-1918. Available at: < https://www.worldwar1postcards.com/christmas-postcards.php> [Accessed 26 December 2016]

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214032/Daily-Telegraph-December-26-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ Soldiers' Identities - Monday, 25 September 1916 - Tuesday, 26 September 1916

Source: File: Identity Tags: Fergus Read. See an original image at: <http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/first-world-war-identity-tags> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Issued as an unseen part of uniform,

To be common amongst all armies

On each side - ideas of identity discs

Had been around since 1862 when

ID was worn by all Union soldiers -

Though the American notion was

Officially rejected, many soldiers

Chose still to wear them two years

Later came ideas of Hundesmarke.

Supposedly Koenig Wilhelm raged;

'My soldiers are not dogs!' forbidden

The Prussian soldiers continued

The reference - in and out of favour

The badge gave superstition - for

Some as herald of death - then1870

The Franco Prussian war officially

Provided the recognition tag to all

Prussian troops, obligatory by 1878.

Other countries copied France like

Belgium in the late 1880s - while

Britain already having description

Cards in tunic pockets from 1890s.

Then, January 1907 Army Order 9

Of British army produced identity

Disc - specifically stating stamped

Aluminum discs to be worn about

Necks on a cord, 42 inches long.

Amendments came at war's break -

1914 with cost of aluminium too great

Led to new discs being devised, from

Brick coloured vulcanided asbestos -

The disc still stamped as from 1907 -

Yet some choose to acquire privately  

Bought bracelet forms - while some

Had second disc; in want of a stamp

An alternative record was written in ink.

With such exceptions, identifying

The dead was made hard - methods

Of administration were to remove

The disc from the body - an enquiry

Run by Commission of Graves

Registration made recommendation;

By May 1916 making a second disc.

Highlighted by the Army Order 287,

By September 1916 was compulsory.

In the act of administration of dead

Newspapers publicized the fact that

Each British soldier were to wear

Two discs - Disc Identity no 1, green,

Also made of vulcanised asbestos,

Cut into a lozenge shape - while red

Disc would be Disc identity no 2 -

This latter disc in event of a soldier

Or officer dying would be removed.

The tan ID would hang from below

The green on 6 inch cord, on a longer

Cord, holding the green disc, would

Remain on the body into the burial -

As regulated by Army Order 287

Of 1916, every active personnel were

To wear them around the neck; any

Neglect to do so would be a breech

Of discipline, active from November.

The original pattern of aluminum

Was stamped with a man's name,

Regiment, rank, religion all along

With a service number - a change

Was made to drop religion and

Rank, but reconsideration restored

Religion - with any man's alteration

To rank led to a new one stamped -

Such was idea to solve problems.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Soldiers' Identity Discs. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 September 1916. P.6. Col.5. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213292/Daily-Telegraph-September-25-1916.html> [Accessed: 25 September 2016].

Source: File: Weapons, Equipment And Uniforms - Identifying the Dead: a Short Study of the Identification Tags of 1914-1918. Available at: <http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the-great-war/great-war-on-land/weapons-equipment-uniform/1033-identifying-dead-short-study-identification-tags-1914-1918.html> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Source: File: WWI Identity Tags. Available at: <http://fmlhw.webplus.net/ww1identitytags.html> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Source: File: Hodgkinson, P., 2007. Clearing The Dead. Available at: <http://www.vlib.us/wwi/resources/clearingthedead.html> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 September 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213292/Daily-Telegraph-September-25-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ 2 July 1916: Somme Survivor - Monday , 3 July 1916

Source: File: A British Soldier At The Battle Of The Somme: Private Cyril Jose. Available at: <http://www.clg-molieres-essarts.ac-versailles.fr/IMG/pdf/The_Battle_of_the_Somme.pdf> [Accessed 03 July 2016]

i

There was no time to

Give up - each slow minute

Had left day 1 to creep

Into day 2 - not to be

Forgotten, as hardened

Fights carried on.

Pathetic roll calls

Saw many unanswered

Names - though men

Lay dead many others

Had survived with

Treatable wounds.

The dark hours were

Short - a new day had lifted.

At 3.30 a.m. one private

Of 2nd Devons, Cyril

Jose had been

Prompted by shouts.

'Remember Belgium

And the Lusitania!' - yet this

Was at odds; in lack

Of Belgium hospitality

And rich Americans -

Then the Lieutenant fell.

Private Jose suddenly

Felt the thud of a bullet, to hit

His chest and shoulder.

Despite orders not

To stop, two men

Saw to his wounds.

They drenched iodine

Onto his injury - Jose laid

Behind the dead

Officer and batman,

Where he spent

Hours, in and out

Of consciousness.

Using water bottles

Nearby, Jose stayed very still -

He played dead when

German patrol passed.

The pin of a mills bomb

In his teeth, ready

To take them with him.

His presence ignored,

Private Jose remained prone,

As hours slipped into

Darkness - finally

In the still early hours,

He crawled away.

Through long grass

That hid his slow progress,

He came across men

Settled into death -

Until he met a regular

Soldier, Lamacraft.

They crawled as one -

Private Lamacraft wounded

In legs and back - until

Weakness and their

Movement attracted

Attempts of pot shots.

Jose pulled the other

Man into a dip of a shell crater.

'Lammy' could not go

Without being carried.

Jose left him ringed

With water bottles.

With slow eternal

Progress, Jose spotted

A gap in the wire

Ahead - a periscope

Indicated a sentry -

He crawled closer.

He lifted himself up

And toppled into the trench -

Officers encouraged

Rum down him - they

Said it was impossible

To send out bearers.

Lamacraft would have

To stay there, while private

Jose was moved

Down to Le Treport -

Months later he learnt

Of Lamacraft's survival.

Two years in the army

Private Cyril Jose was aged 17,

As he survived day 1

Of the Somme - a keen

Soldier, writing home for

Comics and pocket money.

ii

Behind survivors

Departures, day 2 grinded

On in weary irony for

A day of rest - Sunday

2 July, would see

Hand to hand fights.

Renewal of a major assault

Focused on the German second

Lines - amid battered

Areas of Mametz

And Trones woods, came

Hand to hand encounters.

The fourth army's job

Was to secure the devastated

Villages - Lieutenant

Colonel Ronald Fife

Suggested withdrawal

And new artillery attack.

With agreement,

Fife then later took steps,

After cease fire, for

Patrols into Fricourt.

Following advances

Amid the laying dead.

He sent a messenger

To ask an escort into Forecourt

Without quick response,

Fife decided to enter

Alone - as he walked

Fife called, 'Come out!'

There were no sign

Of souls as messenger returned.

The Lincolns were

To attack - he waited,

As their line passed

Away into the village.

No resistance came

From German trenches, as they

Moved up to the lines

Beyond - Fife watched

Progress, then enemies

Emerged in surrender.

by Jamie Mann.

Brown, M., 1997. The Imperial War Museum Book Of The Somme. Pan Books.  Ch. 6 The Second Day - And After.

Source: File: The Battle of the Somme - Albert. Available at: <http://www.cwgc.org/somme/content.asp?menuid=2&id=2&menuname=Albert&menu=main> [Accessed 03 July 2016]

Source: File: A British Soldier At The Battle Of The Somme. Available at: <http://www.clg-molieres-essarts.ac-versailles.fr/IMG/pdf/The_Battle_of_the_Somme.pdf> [Accessed 03 July 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 3 July 2016). 

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

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

Poem ~ 1 July 1916: Fields Of Death - Sunday, 2 July 1916

Source: File: First World War - Battle of the Somme and experiences of trench warfare (Mr Allsop History). [online] [Accessed: 01 July 2016]

Source: File: The British Capture Montauban. See an original image at: <https://17thmanchesters.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/montauban-1-bell.jpg> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

Source: File: Defence of  Montauban - Digging Trenches. See an original image at: <https://17thmanchesters.wordpress.com/the-big-push/the-defence-of-montauban/> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

i

The earth has turned red -

Not by any hint of sunlight

That hung bright above earth,

But by the blood of men -

Any difference of German or

Allied blood was impossible

To tell - a Soldier of the 14th 

Royal Irish Rifles moved on.

Across the lines similar

Stories played out - early

That morning C Company,

Of 2nd Battalion Essex

Regiment, was south

Of Serre - 2nd Lieutenant

Gilbert Waterhouse was in

The assault of 606 ranks.

The Lieutenant had joined

As a private and applied

For a commission - Aged 33,

A distinctive man of varied

Talents - his observations

Honed into lines of poetry.

Although little known, he

Knew the tread of a private.

Already with 24 compositions

To his name, Waterhouse

Considered how 1 July would

Give him more to write - yet

Within 120 minutes after zero

Hour, would be his last sighting

Alive - Lieutenant Waterhouse

Last seen by Private Atkins.

Action had led them on from

Serre to Beaumont - thirty

Yards ahead Atkins saw him.

Distinctive, he stood revolver

In hand, ahead of the platoon -

He dropped to crawl, as others

Followed suit - assumption

Being he was avoiding gunfire.

Amid the poets that took

To the call, Sergeant Streets

Had, like all pals, undertaken

Training prior to that fateful

Day - a Sheffield man amid

Pals that had already served

In Egypt - they sailed back

In preparations for the push.

John Streets in civvy days

Had developed an artistry -

Inspired by Derbyshire

Countryside - with his love

Of writing continuing to days

Of army life - amid public

School types, miner Streets

Found himself west of Serre

Sergeant Streets had written

In a red note book of their

Training days - carefully

Prepared they were ready

For the attack - Streets told

His family he might never

Return - but he felt no anger

Leading his men to assembly.

The trenches there already

Battered, mainly by weather -

To lay behind their pals, thirty

Yards ahead - zero hour

Saw the Sheffield soldiers

Rise into the fray of machine

Gunners; Sergeant Streets

Was hit, so made his return.

Others said how they saw

Him go to aid of another

Wounded fellow, where

He was last seen - with

No proof of death, Street

had declaration of 'missing'

Status - while lying still,

Might then give no grave.

ii

Seconds into minutes

Into hours of 1 July 1916;

It was impossible to halt

Time - Schwaben Redoubt

Morale lay in disintegration -

A weary rabble of soldiers

Was quizzed by an officer -

But they were all incoherent.

As horses he led them all

to water - the men drank. After

This the officer pushed them

Back into battle - the Irish

Were fighting determinedly -

In a tactic they stayed amid

Shell holes to see Germans

Repopulate their trenches.

Hun large numbers formed

Their own trap, as the Irish

Pulverized them; with

Grenades they charged -

Under bayonets they wiped

Out all Germans to purloin

Enemy ammunition. The

Hour turned to 16:38 p.m.

About the area of Montauban

Village ruins were the German

Fighting lines, with three major

Points of strength; Dublin,

Glatz and Pommiers Redoubt -

The crumbling remains had

Been well fortified - Trones,

And Bernafay woods lay east.

Montauban lay in divisional

Sights - Manchester men

Found hardly any opposition,

As they pushed in to clear

Way by bombing parties -

With no recognisable streets

The ruins harboured remaining

Germans, to quickly surrender.

From the new British line,

A Private Kennedy returned

To the old line, for grenade

Supplies - the afternoon drew

On as he returned, across

What was an eerie No Mans

Land - the sun shone, about

Were cries of the wounded.

While picking his way slowly

Came the agony of inability

To help those around - he

Saw their faces and raised

Arms - he shut them out -

His orders were to deliver

A vital load of grenades to

Manachesters at Montauban.

In uniform with Brodie hat,

Geoffrey Malins, without

Any gun, aimed his camera -

At significant points of day;

Fresh footage had mounted

Up in the can - Malins turned

His lens to returning Seaforth

Highlanders, falling into lines.

Men were 'utterly worn out

Body and soul'  - Malins saw

How their sergeant stood,

Resting his small notebook

On his rifles end - the men

Heaved themselves up into

Two small, wavering lines - his

Pencil struck out the missing.

While at Montauban, Private

Kennedy delivered his load

Of grenades - They explored

The German's fortified village;

Find they are places of home,

Solid and well lit. Kennedy

Found a nervy little kitten, He

Carried the black cat in his pack.

iii

Kennedy and the tiny kitten

Spent the evening with pals,

Awaiting their next orders -

Other soldiers with success

Their sector taken, discover

A dead machine gunner - the

German had been chained

To his gun; causing rumors.

Yet the day is not yet over

For many forces - success

At Schwaben Redoubt  saw

Ulsters come under assault

By German Regiment - now

The opposite applies, when

British machine guns aimed

At waves, to cut them down.

Darkness had yet to fall

On this bloody day  - a third

German wave are crushed,

Under sudden artillery -

Into evening light, the full

Weight of what has taken

Place begins to haunt

The survivors of the battle.

With pockets of conflict

Still going on, the fields

Of the Somme are scoured -

Stretcher-bearers and medics

Set out to recover as many

Of the wounded as possible.

Blinding evidence stat to fill

Casualty clearing stations.

Medical Deadlock occurs,

Injured soldiers await their

Moment of triage - varied

Wounds will see yet many

Die - worse still, only 3 out

Of 18 ambulance trains are

Filled - pressure intensifies

For the Doctors and nurses.

One infantry officer, Edward

Liveing, had survived the first

24 hours - in the early minutes

Of the attack he had reached

Wire of Germans - behind

The fourth wave of attack

Had all but been obliterated -

Within 15 minutes he was hit.

A bullet cut into his thigh, like

Boiling water - he had tried

To urge on the attack, but

His voice yelled unheard -

He crawled slowly back,

Nearly shot dead by friendly

Fire, his Blighty leads him

To safety of an ambulance.

Edward Liveing is one

Of the lucky ones - some

Battalions had lost all

Their officers - in a whirl

Of slowed time, he lies amid

Rows of stretchers - patched

Up, he's transported to a train,

Where he accepts lemonade.

About Liveing, the train

Is soon packed with shapes

Of the wounded - to fill air

With aroma of bloodied

Khaki - eventually evening

Passes into twilight and

Darkness; many injured

Are still lying, left in fields.

With few success, as at

Montauban, the worst day

For the British army begins

To draws to a close - final

Numbers were still to be

Confirmed - to rise around

21,000 - with Germans killed

Reaching numbers of 8,000.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Battle of the Somme. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

Source: File: The Battle of the Somme, as it happened on July 1, 1916 - The Telegraph. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/01/the-battle-of-the-somme-as-it-happened-on-july-1-1916/> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

Source: File: East Surrey Regiment’s ‘football’ charge July 1st 1916. Available at: <http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/military/east_surrey_regiments_football_charge_july_1st_1916/> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

Source: File: W. N. Hodgson Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._N._Hodgson> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

Source: File: William Noel Hodgson (1893 – 1916). Available at: <http://www.warpoets.org/poets/william-noel-hodgson-1893-1916/> [Accessed 02 July 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 02 July 2016). 

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

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