Poem ~ The Fight for Ezurum - Friday, 18 February 1916

Source: File: Turkish gun (15 cm Ringkanone L/26 Krupp) captured by the Russian Army, Erzurum, 1916.jpg. [online]  Available at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gun-erzurum-niva-1916-11.jpg> [Accessed: 18 February 2016]

Bleak days of Erzurum, the east

Turkish city, whose involvement

had acted in Armenian Genocide,

As a main centre of deportation.

With milder spring days came

The detainment of prominent

Armenians - held in April1915

By early May 450 were killed.

Before the year 1914 Erzurum

Had a strength of an Armenian

Community to number 20,000 -

In 1916 barely 100 were alive.

Months later this silent front

Stirred, with Russians to open

Caucasus front; the campaign

For Erzurum proved difficult.

Facing the Caucasus Russian

Army were mountainous forts,

To protect the main fortress

Of Erzurum - winter soon fell.

Depths of January could see

Up to four feet of snow - each

Bitter day would be a third

Enemy - to halt real progress.

Yet Russia equalled in such

Hardships, bred a hardy type

Of man and 10 January saw

First fights for Azkani village.

Mainly Ottoman complacency

First saw their XI corps broken

By the Russian forces, to gain 

Mountain crest of Kara Urgan.

Turks small numbers advantaged

The Russians to cut in weakest

Parts of the line - giving surprise

In Koprukoy's fight for Erzurum.

Knowing their lack of reserves,

With poor Ottoman defences

The Russian pushed out towards

Cakir-baba ridge in bad weather.

Siberian Cossacks, the hardiest

Russian troops, sent by General

Yudenich - yet the Ottomans fell

Back to west Erzurum fortress.

On day 18 January the Russians

Were only 25 miles from Erzurum.

On reaching the town Hasankale,

Then the Turkish began to worry.

Ottoman General of the 3rd army,

Mahmut Kamil Paşa, attempted

To strengthen lines of defence,

As Russian won battle of Mush.

Into days of February, Mahmut

Kamil believed Kargapazar ridge

Was impassable - yet just here

The Russian columns marched.

Turkish X Corps and Deve-Boyun

Ridge divisions could not halt

Russian determination - Erzurum

Was under north and east threats.

Under each Russian success,

Approaches to Erzurum opened -

Ranked the second best defended

Town of the Ottoman Empire.

The Erzurum fortifications formed

Two ringed arcs to number eleven

Forts at its centre - artillery made

From 235 strengthened elements.

11 February, Russian shells rained

Down on the Erzurum fortifications -

Ottoman's outnumbered by Russian

Battalions in a desperate defence.

Russian against Ottoman - onward

And backwards as Turkish saw

Russians gain heights of Erzurum

Plains - the Turks started to retreat.

12 February Fort Kara Gobek fell -

14 February Fort Tafet was taken;

The city’s rings were penetrated -

15 February saw other forts fall.

When dawn lifted 16 February '16,

Russian Cossacks rode into city

Of Erzurum - their armies success

Soured any Turkish Gallipoli victory.

News travelled on the same day

Via Constantinople and Amsterdam

To tell on Wednesday 16 February,

Of Russian held Erzurum fortress.

Optimism held high, how Turks

Became depleted of 3 army corps;

9th 10th and 11th - in allied belief

For entire loss of a Caucasus army.

Achievements were high, to see

In only five days of Russian

Action - to storm an seemingly

Impregnable Erzurum fortress.

Gains would likely include booty

Of Erzurum's gunnery - possibly

1000 pieces of varied calibre -

Both Turkish and German types.

While success celebrated by

The west, what might be likely

Reactions of Ottoman minister

Of war, Ismail Enver Pasha?

Along with German allies

They would be bound to play

Down their failures, to keep

Truth from public and army.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. The Russians at Erzerum - Enormous Booty - 1,000 Guns In The Fort - Enemy's Plight. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 18 February 1916. P.9. Col.4. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12161940/Daily-Telegraph-February-18-1916.html [Accessed: 18 February 2016].

Source: File: Erzurum Offensive. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erzurum_Offensive> [Accessed 18 January 2016]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12161940/Daily-Telegraph-February-18-1916.html

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Poema ~ Bor'ba za Erzurum - v pyatnitsu, 18 Fevralya 1916

Istochnik: Fayl: Turetskiy pistolet ( 15 sm Ringkanone L / 26 Krupp ) zakhvachen russkoy armiyey , Erzurum, 1916.jpg. [ Onlayn ] Dostupno po adresu: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gun-erzurum-niva-1916-11.jpg> [ Accessed: 18 fevralya 2016]

Mrachnyye dni Erzurum, na vostoke
Turetskiy gorod, ch'ye uchastiye
deystvovala v Genotside armyan,
V kachestve osnovnogo tsentra deportatsii.

S prishli boleye myagkiye vesenniye dni
Zaderzhaniye vidnym
Armyane - provedennyye v April1915
K nachalu maya 450 byli ubity.

Do 1914 goda Erzurum
Yesli by sila armyanina
Soobshchestvo na nomer 20000 -
V 1916 godu yedva 100 byli zhivy.

Cherez neskol'ko mesyatsev etot tikhiy front
Vzvolnovannyy, s rossiyanami, chtoby otkryt'
Kavkazskiy front; kampaniya
Dlya Erzurume okazalos' trudnym.

Oblitsovochnyye Kavkaz Russian
Vooruzhennyye sily byli gornyye forty,
Dlya zashchity glavnoy kreposti
Erzurum - zima skoro upal.

Glubiny yanvarya mog videt'
Do chetyrekh futov snega - kazhdyy
Gor'kaya den' budet tretiy
Vrag - chtoby ostanovit' real'nyy progress.

Tem ne meneye, Rossiya uravneny v takikh
Tyagoty, razvodyat vynoslivyy tip
Muzhchiny i 10 yanvarya piloy
Pervyye boi za sela Azkani.

V osnovnom Osmanskaya samouspokoyennost'
Vo-pervykh uvidel ikh XI korpus slomany
Po rossiyskim silam, chtoby poluchit'
Gornyy greben' Kara Urgan.

Turki nebol'shoye chislo blagopoluchnykh
Russkiye sokratit' v slabykh
Chasti linii - davaya syurpriz
V boyu Kopryukoy dlya Erzurume.

Znaya ikh otsutstviye rezervov,
S plokhimi osmanskikh oborony
Rossii vytalkivayetsya v storonu
Dzhakir-baba khrebet v plokhuyu pogodu.

Sibirskiye kazaki, vynoslivyye
Rossiyskiye voyska, prislannyye General'nym
Yudenich - poka osmany upal
Nazad k zapadnoy Erzurum kreposti.

Na 18-y den' yanvarya rossiyane
Byli tol'ko v 25 milyakh ot Erzuruma.
Dostignuv goroda Khasankale,
Togda turetskiy nachal bespokoit'sya.

Osmanskaya general 3-y armii,
Makhmut Kamil Pashi, pytalsya
Dlya usileniya linii oborony,
V Rossii vyigral bitvu Mushe.

V dni fevralya, Makhmut
Kamil' veril Kargapazar khrebet
Byl neprokhodimymi - yeshche raz zdes'
Russkiye kolonny shli.

Turetskiy X Korpus i Deve-Boyun
Ridzh podrazdeleniya ne mogli ostanovit'
Rossii opredeleniye - Erzurum
Byl pod severnoy i vostochnoy ugrozy.

Pod kazhdym uspekhom russkikh,
Podkhody k Erzurum otkryt -
Zanimayet vtoroye mesto luchshe vsego zashchishchal
Gorod Osmanskoy imperii.

Ukrepleniya Erzurum formiruyetsya
Dva kol'chatykh dugi na nomer odinnadtsat'
Forty v yego tsentre - artilleriya iz
Iz 235 elementov usileny.

11 fevralya rossiyskiye snaryady posypalis'
Vniz na ukrepleniy Erzurum -
Osmanskaya-kh prevoskhodili russkiy
Batal'ony v otchayannoy oborone.

Rossii protiv Osmanskoy imperii - vpered
I v obratnom napravlenii, kak turetskiy pily
Rossiyane nabirat' vysotu Erzurum
Ravniny - turki nachali otstupat'.

12 fevralya Fort Kara Gobek upal -
14 fevralya Fort Tafet byl vzyat;
kol'tsa goroda byli pronikali -
15 fevralya videli drugiye forty padayut.

Kogda na rassvete podnyal 16 fevralya '16,
Rossiyskiye kazaki v"yekhali v gorod
Erzurum - ikh armiy uspekha
Isportilis' lyuboy turetskiy Gallipoli pobedu.

Novosti puteshestvovali v tot zhe den'
Cherez Konstantinopol' i Amsterdam
Skazat' v sredu 16 fevralya,
Iz Rossii provel Erzurum kreposti.

Optimizm vysoko podnyatoy, to kak turki
Stala obednen 3 armeyskikh korpusov;
9-ya i 10-ya 11-ya - v soyuznicheskoy very
Dlya vsey poteri armii Kavkaza.

Dostizheniya byli vysoki, chtoby uvidet'
Vsego za pyat' dney russkogo yazyka
Deystviye - shturmovat' na pervyy vzglyad
Nepristupnaya krepost' Erzerum.

Dokhody, veroyatno, vklyuchayut v sebya dobychu
Iz artilleriyskom Erzurum v - vozmozhno,
1000 yedinits raznoobraznogo kalibra -
Kak turetskiye i nemetskiye tipy.

V to vremya kak uspekh prazdnovali
Na zapad, chto mozhet byt', veroyatno,
Reaktsii osmanskogo ministra
Voyny, Ismail Enver-pasha?

Naryadu s nemetskimi soyuznikami
Oni budut obyazany igrat'
Vniz svoi neudachi, chtoby sokhranit'
Pravda ot obshchestvennosti i armii.

Ot Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Russkiye v Erzurume - Booty - Ogromnuyu 1000 pushkami v Fort - bedstvennomu protivnika. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 Fevralya 1916. P.9. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12161940/Daily-Telegraph-February-18-1916.html [Accessed: 8 Fevralya 2016].

Istochnik: Fayl : Erzurum Offensive . V seti. Dostupno po adresu : <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erzurum_Offensive> [ Accessed 18 fevralya 2016]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12161940/Daily-Telegraph-February-18-1916.html

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Poem ~ Sniper Sing Tips Turks - Monday, 17 January 1916

Source: File: Billy Sing.jpg. [online] see an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sing> Accessed: 17 January 2016].

From Gallipoli, by way of Cairo,

Came a tale of an Australian marksman,

While not told by himself but from

Another Australian, Private Frank Reed.

The man himself Trooper Sing

Had bagged over 200 Turks, in snipers

Sights - the number very likely

Higher, during events of enemy attacks.

Private Billy Sing had developed

A method that matched the Turkish

Sniper in his game - having set

Out targets left to him by his mates.

Most distant at 1000 yards

Was a gully track, while 500 yards

A communication sap - then

At 300 yards lay an enemy trench.

Situated in a positioned nest

To look over these targets, Trooper

Sing's snipers method

To lay in wait with his telescopes.

These focused on the most

Likely spots - to assist an officer had

Another telescope - realising

The danger the Turks would hide.

This could leave Trooper Sing

A whole day without seeing any Turk -

If Billy Sing felt his conscience

Pricked, he recollected the early days.

In the first landings the Turk

Snipers had taken down Australian

Officers - thus his heart became

Hardened in his mission to shoot back.

Other days all seemed too easy

When most likely those fresh enemy

Looked boldly for trouble;

As they stood Trooper Sing tipped them.

Billy Sing would exclaim;

The task 'Too easy to be called a sport.'

While he turned a blind

Eye to those out to rescue wounded.

The trooper did not get

Totally away without Turkish revenge,

When an enemy bullet

Expertly entered through the loophole.

Both he and an observing

Sergeant were wounded - after

Being dressed, Private

Sing resumed his sniper's post.

On another day a general

Observed for Sing who, in a poor

Mood over gusty weather,

Causing him to miss an easy target.

The Turk had been seen

At only 300 yards - he grunted

How he would have

To 'start and learn to shoot again.'

When at the 500 yard point,

A hat - he took aim as a head lifted -

He shot as a gust of wind

Made him realise a likely miss by a foot.

Discouraged he again fired -

One more head lifted, for a Turk to be

Hit in the face - Trooper Sing

Turned and addressed the general.

Billy Sing felt sad for the Turk,

Having wanted to hit the other man

Not him - the Australian sniper

Then decided not to count him as a hit.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. 'Two Hundred Turks' - Australian Sniper's 'bag'. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 January 1916. P.4. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12093326/Daily-Telegraph-January-17-1916.html [Accessed: 17 January 2016].

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12093326/Daily-Telegraph-January-17-1916.html

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Poem ~ Truth of War Stories - Tuesday, 28 December 1915

Impression sketch of Sniper's Duel.

In a release by High Commissioner

For Australia, spoke the official agent

Of the Press, Captain Bean, on war

Stories - to tell many were incomplete.

As stories are want for completion

To reach an end - as when regiments

Of opposition met in a wood, to shoot

Each other down until the last man.

These tales begin with elements

Of truth, but weaved by ornament

When untangled by threads of gilt -

The truth is lacking in all effects.

At times stories are only given in half,

As when the German officer, seen

By an Anzac ambulance man, to then

Pull out a gun and shoot him down.

Hence a story left in the air, lacked

What followed, that every Anzac close

By aimed a rifle to end the German;

Such stories miss out the final outcome.

Early In Gallipoli campaign a stretcher

Bearer to treat a Turkish soldier, used

His a knife to cut clothing about a wound -

That Turk grabbed the knife to stab him.

His belief was that he was about to be

Eviscerated - his reaction being to fight

Back - the obvious reaction was calmed

By the bearer, to complete the dressing.

Captain Bean had learnt the truth

From the ambulance crew - how the

Bearer, barely hurt, had became source

Of the embellished tuppenny version.

To relate a story two months before -

In October a battalion captain, known

To Captain Bean, came across a man

Shooting, standing above the parapet.

Head and shoulders in view, the Anzac

Fired at something - the Captain told

Him not to be a fool and to stand down -

The second he went, the man stood again.

The truth was the Anzac was in a duel

With a Turk - to have a shot at the other -

Who then took a return aim - what way

Of signalling to do game, was unknown.

In the undertaking, men of the section

On both sides observed with periscopes

And loopholes, as duellists continued

The Turk's shot grazed the Anzac's ear.

Close observation to game's rules held,

Until the Australian fell, hit in temple -

In fact that bullet came from another

Source - unaware of any agreed duel.

The idea of recklessness in any war

Situation, could only be a positive trait -

As in trench and ravines night fighting;

Which had taken place at Saris Bair.

Captain Bean learned that on 7 August

At Dawn a Light Horse Brigade charged

Turkish position - as the Light Horsemen

Made it, the remainder fell to their knees.

A conversation with one wounded man,

An officer, told how first line left the trench -

With the men they waited for two minutes;

The first line crumbled ahead at 10 yards.

A third line was all too aware - the second

Line lifted, to reach a little further than first -

He fell to wait for the third to piggyback -

And man rushed past, right for the Turk line.

The third line did not seem so lucky as

The others - he was alone and nothing

Moved close by - bullets spat up dust -

The earth about blurred in shrapnel haze.

From somewhere a man edged close

To ask what to do? 'Rush or jump?'

'Get back anyway you can,' he said;

The officer lay, a bullet lodged in his foot.

With head towards enemy, he shuffled

Himself backwards - a pull came upon

His sleeve; a dead man's bayonet held

Him with a tug, the sleeve stopped fast.

The officer, forced to move forward into

Snapping bullets to pull free - then again

Backwards till his feet hit space, where

He fell into a sap, finally reaching safety.

One brigadier was on duty about lines,

When he came across a well-built man -

To take a second look, gave him orders

To remove his cap - to be questioned.

How old was he? - The reply being 45

Was challenged, to admit to being 60.

Asked why he was there, the fellow
Told of his sons, both killed at the start.

Such are the reckless risks that many 
Men make, to form a force's backbone. 

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Epic of Anzac - Some War Stories - Australian Recklessness. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 24 December. P.5. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12064917/Daily-Telegraph-December-24-1915.html [Accessed: 28 December 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 December 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12064917/Daily-Telegraph-December-24-1915.html

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Poem ~ Gallipoli: Calculated Withdrawal - Tuesday, 21 December 1915

Impression sketch of Gallipoli evacuation.

Without hint to any kind of disastrous campaign,

Came Press announcement of troops situated

At Gallipoli, in retirement from Anzac and Suvla

Bay - released 8.25 p.m. from War Office source.

A given strategy stated the to need to move away

From Peninsula of Gallipoli, to other operational

Spheres - the scheme possibly already decided by

Kitchener as he landed North Beach, 13 November.

With arrival by boat at 1.40 p.m. the Field Marshall

And commander in Chief of the British Army had

Travelled, to see for himself the Gallipoli Peninsula;

There to assess the theatre of war against Turkish.

The distinguished figure stood, his recognisable

face, topped in the wearing of a red cap - walked

Along the pier amid Generals - soldiers in every

Direction ran to see him, in a soldier's welcome.

When two hours passed Kitchener in company,

Moved amid the Australian trenches to survey

Turkish lines - from a decision with commanders

Of seniority, deciding on evacuation of Gallipoli.

Factors he had seen and heard discussed,

Were to be difficulties during winter storms

To supply the peninsula - furthermore would

Be little gained against the Turks strongholds.

Even with more artillery and more reinforcements,

Attacks had been locked into impossible situations.

In the decision was the problem of the evacuation;

A plan taken on by Lt. Col Charles Brudenell White.

The first phase began while awaiting London

Word, approving Kitchener's plan - in order not

To alert the Turks were set hoax and deceptions -

With late Novembers' silent stunts of Anzac lines.

Without snipers or artillery fire they hoped Turks

Believed preparations were underway for winter -

That silence was not a withdrawal - to continue

The irregularity of fire the Turkish would expect.

Next the intermediate phase; soldiers On Anzac

Would be reduced, but still to hold off a chance

Of a full week Turkish attack - reduce to 26000

From 41000 in 2 days, in fact just left 20277.

While the withdrawal would be from Anzac Cove,

Many soldiers departed from the piers at North

Beach - under darkness endless movements

Of Maltese, Egyptians and British Labour corps.

Beside the flickering flares, that lit Walkers Ridge

And Williams' Pier, ammo carried on Indian gharies,

With loads carried in carriages down small railways;

Between hill 60 and Walkers Ridge moved a line.

The Indian Mule Cart Corps large loads, pulled

By the mules, in union moved silently even passed

Close to coast of Snipers Nest - if anywhere, there

The Turks might hear - but mules in silence moved.

As eyewitness said no sound made of hoof or foot,

Only the odd clink of a chain, as the long black

Serpent line passed close at 1000 metres - to fool

That Turkish presence of their evacuation chain.

As November ebbed into December, secrecy

Of the evacuation plan was so well concealed,

Reality was only apparent by mid month - ordinary

Soldiers finally realised the undergoing process.

Anzac men felt at odds in sorrow to leave dead

Comrades - friends to lay in Anzac cemeteries -

Many mates of the dead spent last moments there

To ensure their graves were left well tended.

Time came and last departed to HMS Grafton;

Day of 19 December, under continual activity

With p.m. distractions of Helles attack - as dusk

Fell, rear guards fell back from 10,000 soldiers.

1500 left; but by 4 a.m. 20 December a handful

Of men waited on North Beach, there by 4.10 a.m.

Colonel Paton ended the wait for any stragglers;

In complete silence the evacuation was concluded.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Retirement From Suvla and Anzac - Troops removed - Insignificant Losses - 'Another sphere of Operations'. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 21 December. P.9. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12056748/Daily-Telegraph-December-21-1915.html [Accessed: 21 December 2015].

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12056748/Daily-Telegraph-December-21-1915.html

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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

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