Poem ~ France and England, Tunnel Link - Friday, 11 August 1916 - Sunday, 13 August 1916

Source: File: Albert Mathieu-Favier put forward the first ever design for a cross-Channel fixed link. See an original image at: <http://www.eurotunnelgroup.com/uk/the-channel-tunnel/history/> [Accessed 11 August 2016]

Source: File: French mining engineer, Aimé Thomé de Gamond, spent 30 years working on seven different designs. See an original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Channel_Tunnel_1856_idea_from_Gamond_1a.png> [Accessed 11 August 2016]

An interest had been proposed

Before and shelved - revived

And again put aside - then a new

Call came for construction

Of a tunnel that could closely link

England to her ally of France.

114 years previously a proposal

Made by Albert Mathieu-Favier

A French Engineer, for a tunnel.

Oil lamps would light the path

For horse drawn stagecoaches,

To mid point of an artificial island.

An Island where horses changed
Yet political anxiety and friction

Over security prevented such an

Idea - yet within 12 months Henry

Mottray suggested submerging

An iron tunnel into the channel.

Nothing happened until the 1830s -

Over the next 3 decades another

French engineer, Aimé Thomé

De Gamond, developed thoughts

Of steam trains travelling under 
The channel waters, by 7 designs.

Aimé Thomé de Gamond's ideas

Were approved by Napoleon

III and Queen Victoria - perhaps

By the early twentieth century

The dreams of submerged, easy

Travel to France to be a possibility.

Then in 1880 on both sides

Of the channel were attempts

Of a boring machine - starting

To dig down, underground

At Shakespeare Cliff towards

The sea to reach 6,211 feet.

From French Sangette 5,476

Feet were reached, but by 1882

The project shelved, regarding

Defence of British Isles - only

To rise again by 1916 - into wars

Third year plans where revived.

Despite all previous security

Issues, Council of Department

For the Sine by a vote, sought

To revive a channel tunnel -

Work to build a link, would

Start as soon as possible.

United by their war against

Germany - a post-war link

Would somehow increase

Strength against enemy’s

Economic plans, currently

Being devised, if defeated.

More immediately digging

A link tunnel, as historically

Proposed, would allow by

Their military union, safety

In transport of materials and

Troops from channel attacks.

By Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Channel Tunnel. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 August 1916. P.8. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212489/Daily-Telegraph-August-8-1916.html> [Accessed: 11 August 2016].

Source: File: Groupe Eurotunnel History - Early Projects. Available at: <http://www.eurotunnelgroup.com/uk/the-channel-tunnel/history/> [Accessed 11 August 2016]

Source: File: Channel Tunnel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel> [Accessed 11 August 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 11 August 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212489/Daily-Telegraph-August-8-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ Private Brown Aged 16 - Monday, 17 July 1916

Impression sketch for Private Brown aged 16

While well known how youth

Was keen to take part in war,

With older peers or brothers -

Determination was told of one

Particular boy, Fred Brown.

Home of the family was Gould

Road, Twickenham - August

1914 saw young Fred Brown

2 months after he turned 16 - 

His older brother was aged 17.

Already in the army, stationed

At Gibralter, the older Brown's

Battalion returned to Hounslow,

Ready to go to France - at a time

When volunteers were drafted.

Fred Brown was among those

That wanted to go and fight

But due to his age, unaccepted.

Yet 'no' was not an option for

This boy, who followed the draft.

As they collected their kit, Fred

Made a request that he might

Be allowed to join them - but

He was told he should stay; 
Only his brother was to go.

When the draft moved onto

The train station, Fred Brown

Followed - still, 'no' was not

An option - as the train pulled

Out, a carriage door opened.

Amid eager youths there was

A scramble to get aboard, Fred

Brown among them - already

Ahead at Southampton, a wire

Alerted the waiting authorities.

Having had their fun, the boys

Were rounded up - all except

Fred Brown - most likely helped,

He was smuggled to the boat,

Which set off across to France.

As they sailed, Fred Brown's

Civilian appearance and years

Gave him away - Fred aged

16 persisted, requesting that

He became an officer's servant.

Finally his desire was granted -

Over the next months of war

Fred recovered from shrapnel

Wounds - an eager, willing duty

Took Private Brown to Ypres.

During this time young Private

Fred Brown suffered in a gas

Attack, to leave him in serious

Condition - but as a soldier

He was ready for the Somme.

June 26 1916, close to his 18th

Birthday Private Fred Brown was

Killed, during a bombardment -

No mention of his brother, to say
Their father served on east coast.

By Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. 1916. British Boy's Courage - Killed On The Battlefield. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 July 1916. P.3. Col.7. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212090/Daily-Telegraph-July-17-1916.html> [Accessed: 17 July 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 17 July 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212090/Daily-Telegraph-July-17-1916.html

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

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Poem ~ Wounded Perspective - Thursday, 6 July 1916 - Friday, 7 July 1916

Source: File: Collecting names of the wounded at the Somme. See an original image at: <http://greatwarproject.org/2016/07/01/extra-extra-disaster-at-the-somme/> [Accessed 06 July 2016]

i

Survivors had started to arrive

In London, back from the Somme

Plains - their stories a continuation

Of correspondent war reports,

Where words described the moves

Of battalions across French fields;

The wounded gave a new level.

'Things too big for words,' were

Conveyed in short sentences -

Curt, succinct and to the point.

In terminology of the soldier,

They hesitated over their own

Experience, but spoke easier

About the deeds of their pals.

In one aspect came accounts

Of non fatal wounds - an officer

Proudly spoke of the men who,

As soldiers, yelled in charges,

Eager to take their enemy down.

In contradictions men were all

Around, falling with minor wounds.

By exaggerations Germans that

Amounted to dozens, fled from

Dugouts into sudden death - 

Half starved, without equipment -

Suggestions of abandonment
By their own side - as their guns
Retreated to rear, expecting attacks.

These guns, once the front were

Taken, would defend their other

Positions - imagine 'Vesuvius

With a Belfast riot,' was how one

Irish soldier described the show -

While most prisoners they took,

Believed they would be shot.

ii

Without making allusion to

Likely common practice of 'take

No prisoners' - one officer

Taking a wounded German, spoke

Of terror in his eyes at sight

Of his revolver - both then took

A dash back across the open.

A sprint with death saw him

Lead the German to a dressing

Station, under orders to 'sit

And be good' - this officer before

France had been in Dardanelles,

A more sporting place where

He gained wounds to lower spine.

His recovery from operation

Then led him to active service

In France - a discovery when

Reaching the German trenches,

Revealed well built dugouts -

Some deep as 25 feet - with two

Exits, to be secure and solid.

Mark, Mathew, Luke and John

Were names of copse' around

Which pals regiments had dug

In - from where another officer

Had been observing Serre Wood;

At last, four monotone months had

In heated fight, ended in capture.

iii

Wounded and casualties scales

Had not led to any official figures -

The suggestion of which was

Only hinted at - eye witnesses

Accounted how, after shells

Had stopped, out of concrete

Emplacements emerged enemy.

They set up their deadly machine

Guns, ready for allied advances.

One diversionary attack had been

At Gommecourt salient, where

London territorials fought -

An enemy trick had been to wait

Until the first wave had passed.

They then emerged to attack

Support waves - cutting off allied 

Supplies of bombs - the 56th

London Division had at 7.30 a.m.

Crossed the first of two German

Lines - a strongpoint at the third

Called 'Nameless Farm,' resisted. 

British waves were trapped behind

A barrage of heavy German artillery.

Attempts to send reinforcements

Failed, with a cost of casualties.

German infantry set to regain lost

Trenches - though isolated truces

Allowed allied wounded to escape.

A strange unofficial, mutual respect

Passed back and forth, with guns

Of the German sides to earn points, 
Credited as good shots - though

British guns were keenly described

As 'wonderful' - all methods used

In the attack had been well planned.

iV

A meticulous operation had led

To 1st July - many had expected

The launch to start 27 July, which

Was a Thursday - but heavy rains

Had led to badly flooded grounds.

The conversation of wounded

Stated everything was planned.

Nothing was to be left to chance -

This being admitted in open talk

By men and subalterns, who had

Been trained and clearly told, in

Every role for advancing routes

And objectives to be reached -

As laid out by high command.

An eavesdropper amid these

Wounded, the reporter shared

Questions with a South African

Gunner - a ready-made veteran

Who had given up his farming

To join active service, against

German South West Africa.

Heat and thirst were his main

Memories - over a year's service

There, to beat any such like

In France - he spoke from

His London bed, among other

Men that had been in the push

Of the Somme, from day one.

V

The smiling gunner wanted

News of the gunnery action -

After eight weeks in France

The young man was invalided,

Disappointed in being unable

To operate his own 5.9 guns,

In opening bombardments.

From the neighboring bed

Lay another soldier - he had

Lost an eye at the point when

They reached German parapets -

He smiled in admittance how

They took no prisoners, to have

Killed around 50 Germans.

The fierce battles evidence,

Lay in Red Cross trains that

Still delivered the wounded -

Meeting those men earlier from

The fight, who might read

Between the lines of severe

Situation, to form a real picture.

A column might advertise

Pockets of cheery optimism

As the norm, with the new

Army as 'cheerful grumblers' -

To suggest happy wards filled

With men - wounded more

Than once, eager to return.

The quote of a catchphrase,

'Stick it like the regulars' -
Spoken from trenches to 
Stretchers of glory eyed
Wounded - who held high

Esteem for the first army

Of Mons, setting a tradition.

Stories would have a public

Believe of sanitized places

Of hospital wards, that held

Teeth clenching men, to hold

Back pain - cheery in wounds

With smiles that hid truths

Of Casualty Clearing Stations.

Men red raw in bloodied khaki

Saw a triage of a nurse, whose

Back of a hand might touch a

Man's skin, to know if he is worth

An attempt to save, or let

Him die from hopeless injuries -

But there was another story.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Wounded From 'The Big Push' - Graphic Stories. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 5 July 1916. P.9. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211869/Daily-Telegraph-July-5-1916.html>[Accessed: 6 July 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 6 July 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12211869/Daily-Telegraph-July-5-1916.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