Poem ~ War Speech - Saturday, 7 April 1917 - Monday, 9 April 1917

Source: File: President Woodrow Wilson asking Congress to declare war on Germany, 2 April 1917. See an original image at: <http://historylearning.com/american-politics/president-and-congress/> [Accessed 07 April 2017]

A serious cloud hung above the two assemblies

Of United States Congress, who were called

To a session 2 April 1917 with formalised

Decisions to make; Mr Champ Clark was speaker.

President Wilson paced, impatient to give his

Address; he would not wait until morning

3 April, though he informed the house

Preparations would not be ready before 7 p.m.

A president had never before made any address

To congress in the evening - Wilson

Made insistence for a chosen hour as

8.00 p.m. - in Britain this would be the early hours.

On entering the grand chamber President

Wilson made a heavy step to podium

And looked about the array of alert

Members - the time had approached 8.30 p.m.

Without any further ceremony, the grave speaker

Began to advise Congress of reluctant

Reasons to follow severed relations

With Germany - Woodrow Wilson read his paper.

Explanation was for an extraordinary session,

Due to the serious nature of immediate

Policy to be put into place - a decision

That President Wilson could not take alone.

Events stemmed from 3 February, to follow

From 1 February, when imperial

Germany laid aside all restraints

To sink any vessel about European Ports.

This applied to all Irish, British, and Western

Europe or Mediterranean ports;

Restraint from April 1916, had given

Warnings and exemptions to all civilian boats.

President went on to explain how even those

Hospital ships carrying wounded,

Despite an identification by ensign

Or flag, were being sunk without compassion.

A quiet congress listened to expectant words,

Spoken by a president that had

Sought peace, tell of German

Policy devoid of restriction to all sea users.

A picture was built; 'Warfare against mankind' -

Wilson advised against excitement

At the deaths of non combatants,

And American lives lost by submarine attacks.

German submarine actions had devolved

All discrimination for neutral

Nations - revenge should not be

Motivation, but vindication of human rights.

A statement unfolded to the quiet listeners

Who had already guessed

The speaker’s conclusion:

To add constitutional duty for mobilisation.

The United States of America would move

To cooperation with those other

Governments at war with Germany,

To organise and add to their war resources.

Naval equipment would be openly supplied.

Recruitment of 500,000 universal

Able men to be trained, ready

For the time when they might be needed.

President Wilson added his clarification

To vindicate need for world peace

And justice against all autocratic

Powers, not against the German people.

With structure of a speech, Wilson reiterated

By employment of persuasion,

In emphasis and repetition,

To draw his purpose and final conclusions.

By argument of examples President

Wilson pertained the objective

Of a nation - to express personal

Distress of America's future sacrifices.

War that existed already recognised to be

Seen as disastrous, yet civilisation

Hung in balance: the rights of free

People would ultimately create world peace.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1917. Declaration By President Wilson - A State Of War - Address to Congress. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 3 April 1917. P.5. Col.4. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214427/Daily-Telegraph-April-3-1917.html> [Accessed: 07 April 2017].

Source: File: Wilson's War Message To Congress. Available at: <https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Wilson%27s_War_Message_to_Congress> [Accessed 07 April 2017]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 07 April 2017). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214427/Daily-Telegraph-April-3-1917.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1America

Poem ~ Sergeant Flora; Serbian Fighter - Thursday, 11 January 1917 - Monday 15 January 1917

Source: File: Private Flora Sandes. See an original image at: <http://www.badassoftheweek.com/sandes.html> [Accessed 11 January 2017]

i

There was a girl Flora Sandes,

Born in 1876, North Yorkshire -

Flora was a daughter of an Irish

Clergyman Samuel Sandes.

A middleclass background

Of likely genteel upbringing,

Did nothing for the determined

Young girl, who did not favour

Girl's dolls or sewing - to only

Wish she might have been a boy.

Formative years of Flora Sandes

Saw her family move to Suffolk,

Where she favored hobbies

Of shooting and horse riding.

Dreams of adventures filled

Her young mind, as she charged

Across fields on horseback with

An imaginary sword of Crimea

Status to attack Russian rank -

Her father loved Flora's spirit.

A proper education for a young

Lady could do nothing to stay

Victorian values of feminine

Pursuits, to favour masculinity.

18 in 1894 Flora undertook

To train as a stenographer -

A drive for adventure became

Funded by money left her from

A wealthy uncle, allowing her

To undertake travel passion.

She took a route through Cairo,

Across the Atlantic, to travel

To Canada’s British Columbia

And Unites States of America.

Here the gun totting Flora shot

A man - the act she described

As self defence - returning home

To London she learned to drive

And bought a French racing

Car, while joining a shooting club.

ii

Flora by 1912 was in Serbia for the

Brief Balkan war - where a league

Of Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria

And Serbia faced Ottoman Empire.

The First Aid Women’s Yeomanry

Assisted to bring aid to wounded -

Originally from Omdurman battle

Of 1898 - here a wounded sergeant

Saw how many died from lacking

First aid; his idea was a new corps.

This would be mounted nurses,

Who could ride onto the field

After battle, to render first aid -

This evolved into the Yeomanry.

As war ended in 1913 Flora was

Back home, to live with her old

Father and nephew Dick, where

Her boredom was evident from

Chaotic household, until August

1914 - a fresh war had emerged.

28 July had seen Serbia invaded

By Austria Hungary - within

Seven days Flora Sandes had

Travelled into the danger zone.

Led by Mabel Grouitch, a unit

Of St John's Ambulance made

Of 36 women in Kragujevac -

On the front line Flora nursed

In varied military hospitals; within

A year she could speak Serbian.

In October 1915 Flora joined

Serbian Red Cross, alongside

The Iron Regiment, the Serbian

Army’s 2nd Infantry Regiment.

With odds against them Serbia

Was being forced to retreat - escape

Could only be by Albanian heights.

Infantry and the Red Cross made

It to a stage where ambulances were

Unable to pass - Flora took decision.

iii

In a declaration, Flora stated

She would become a private

In the 2nd Regiment, taking

Off her Red Cross badge.

A report of a wounded soldier

Brought to notice the unusual

Wounded fighter, in a Salonkia

Hospital filled by male soldiers.

12 December 1916, reporter

F. Calvert met the brown eyed

Fresh faced, cropped grey haired

Lady, at No 41 military hospital

Camp, to accommodate 1,600

Men; Flora Sandes sat up in bed.

Lying in the nurses ward Sandes

Smiled to explain the bandages

On her right hand arm - along the

Shoulder to knee - had been injured.

Broken bones and torn flesh were

Result of Private Sandes encounter

With a Serbian hand bomb - when

Assiting Serbes clerance of a trench;

Her bravery had been rewarded

Given by Prince Regent of Serbia.

Days before on behalf of the Prince,

A Royal aid-de-camp visited Flora,

To ceremonially award her a gold

And Silver Cross of Kara-George.

In Serbia The Order of Karađorđe's

Star was that country’s highest

Decoration - for bravery in combat -

Flora Sandes reached under her

Pillow and held up decorated cross

For inspection by the reporter.

Flora’s story was relayed to say

How she had first entered the war

As a nurse - by the autumn retreat

Of 1915, she was rear guard private.

iV

Private Sandes actions led to gain

Of promotion to Sergeant Sandes.

The army reached Corfu to find

Recuperation - Flora was involved

Next on Macedonian front to fight

In campaign; 12 September 1916.

More than ninety days passed as

Sergeant Sandes fought alongside

Serbian men, every hour filled

With frontline acts of gunfire.

High ground made the front,

With foe of Bulgaro-Germans

In fight north from Gornitchevo

And Kaymakchalan, to Hill 1,212.

Snow lay on ground- they waited

For order to rise up and attack.

Flora and her soldiers paused

For some time, when order came

To attack at 7 a.m. - as officer she

Led the way, but admitted a flaw.

Her men were faster to arrive first.

Sergeant Sandes closed as fast

As she could to the Bulgarian line

With some others when a grenade

Was thrown into their midst - two

Others in explosion fell wounded.

Close by an officer saw her fall

And crawled across snow to Flora

And dragged her back to rocks;

Pulled by a broken arm caused pain.

Dressed on field and taken away

By stretcher, she praised her rescuers.

Grenade splinters had caused some

25 wounds - with some yet to be

Removed - reporter Calvert spoke

Of her high spirits and her request.

Asking Calvert to gain her a volume

Of Rudyard Kipling especially to read

'If' again; 'the finest poem written'- words

To challenge a son to become a man.

by Jamie Mann.

Calvert, F., 1916. Woman Soldier - Fought In Serbia - Scottish Lady's Medal. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 30 December 1916. P.11. Col.1. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214039/Daily-Telegraph-December-30-1916.html> [Accessed: 11 January 2017].

Source: File: Flora Sandes. Wikipedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Sandes> [Accessed 11 January 2017]

Source: File: Flora Sandes. Ellen Castelow. Available at: <http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Flora-Sandes/> [Accessed 11 January 2017]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 11 January 2017). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214039/Daily-Telegraph-December-30-1916.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Women

Poem ~ War Machines - Friday, 1 September 1916 - Thursday, 14 September 1916

Source: File: Holt Tractor hauling a 9.2 inch Howitzer to a forward area. See an original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holt_tractor_hauling_a_9.2_inch_Howitzer_to_a_forward_area.jpg> [Accessed 1 September 2016]

Source: File: Little Willie. See an original image at: <http://www.historywiz.com/tank.htm> [Accessed 1 September 2016]

http://www.historywiz.com/tank.htm

Source: File: Little Willie - The world's first tank. The Tank Museum. See YouTube: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fLCdNudUxk/> [Accessed 10 July 2016]

i

Virtually a year to the day had been

In the making a new concept of war -

Though such an idea had been around

For centuries - born 'Bohemia one.'

Hussite leader, called One-eyed Žižka,

Conceived in the 1400s an idea

Of wagons of armour and cannons.

Five centuries later came idea of self

Propelled cannon by Levavasseur -

Captain of an artillery battalion this

French man had proposition for a petrol

Machine driven on roues articulées -

The crawler tracks would carry 75 mm

Gun cross-country, on a steel caisson.

Objections were raised as directions

Could not be controlled - machines

That could cross multiple terrains had

Proved unsatisfactory - artillery drawn

By horse was perfectly fine - not put

Down, Captain Levavasseur revised

His project in another 1908 prototype.

Yet the plan was rejected by August -

The British had already invented

A chain track, by company Hornsby

And Sons - various trials had led to

Fitting of rolling tracks onto tractors -

After a wheeled tractor was beaten

By trial display, came other changes.

July 1907 in Aldershot, an improved

Chain track was shown a possibility.

David Roberts engineer for Hornsby

Showed a trailer mocked up to carry

A gun - the tracked trailer prompted

The nickname 'caterpillar,' appropriate

To evoke that particular insects crawl.

Trials continued with this caterpillar

Tractor - adding trailers by November

1907, David Roberts displayed this

Tracked trailer to the Royal Artillery -

And then again some months into 1908

At Aldershot, with King Edward present

They displayed the engines versatility.

The caterpillar tractor and trailer showed

The possibility to cross rough grounds,

By obstacles scattered in its path - a mock

Up of a dummy gun was added, along

With a horse team stuck in mud freed

By this machine - the caterpillar crossed 

40 miles non-stop to gain a £1000 prize.

ii

Two years later 1910, a third version

Towed ammunition and 60 pound gun

Over difficult earth - this prompted Major

Donohue's suggestion, how a tractor

Might be fitted with gun and iron shields;

This left Roberts to later regret not

Taking on an idea of an automated gun.

Conceptions had emerged over time

To include a fictional thought in a story

Of 'The Land Ironclads' - H. G. Wells took

The invention of pedrail mobility - being

Wheels of pivoted feet - until war's reality 
became impeded by a landlocked conflict,

Prompting the need to break stalemate.

Matters began to alter after a trial took

Place in Wales - artillery officers gave

Questions over the tractors lack of power,

Prompting a conversion to petrol driven

Engine - a difference of opinion between

Mechanical Transport committee and

Royal Horse Artillery noted shortcomings.

Into 1911 and David Roberts hopes to sell

His idea faded; the war office retracted all

Interest - for £4000 he sold patents to Holt

Manufactures, USA - who also registered

Term 'Caterpillar' as a trademark - matters

Took another turn, when war across Europe

Opened up opportunities for inventions.

Based in California USA, Holts producing

Crawling tractors became favoured as

A way to pull artillery and haul trains

Over rough French tracks - parallel ideas

Had no borders; Colonel Jean Baptiste

Eugène Estienn, commander of French

Artillery Regiment, became tank's father.

Estienn stated how victory belonged

To first who would devise a cannon

On a vehicle over multi terrains - while

French had limited Holts tractors, use

Of them by the British prompted this

Colonel's caterpillar track ideas to carry

An armoured vehicle - his other idea

Included a personal shield on wheels.

Another Estienn development was how

To overcome enemy trenches and wire -

The 'Boirault' was a special machine;

A large open frame driven by a central

Engine - an oblong that could tilt, this

Large rotating track crushed obstacles.

Yet slow fragility led to its end, mid 1915.

iii

As Boirault 1 was abandoned June 1915,

Parallel British industry in July saw a new

Prototype for a land fighter underway.

Developments for fighting vehicles given

To the Landslips committee, prompted

Trails of various wheel and track vehicles -

But single and triple track systems failed.

The project began 1 August 1915, given

To William Foster and Company - just

Under four weeks 'number 1 Lincoln

Machine' did its maiden run in the yard,

Problems showed up one by one to be

Met by challenges to solve resistance,
This in turn led to suspension changes.

Need to traverse five-foot trenches found

Tracks sagged off the wheels and jammed,

While a 16 ton body was too much weight

For the tracks - this led to various track

Designs - William Tritton tried out methods

With tracks held firmly, to be unsprung -

Cast links with steel plates were riveted.

Though the machines speed was limited,

This proved a successful method - then

Into the autumn 1915 rolled out 'Llittle

Willie,' the little sibling of Mark I tank -

This test machine showed issues that

Could be resolved in the next generation;

Work was set out on an improved design.

The main fundamental difference to Willie

Came in a body of a parallelogram, with

Unequal adjacent sides - a rhomboidal

Shape - in considering centre of gravity,

A gun turret on the body’s centre would

Be too high - guns were therefore placed

Either sides; a shape to echo the Boirault.

The army’s armour and armaments needs

Were worked into the finished designs -

Within months, December '15, came names

Like 'His majesty’s ship centipede,' Wilson

Machine and Big Willie, were melded down

Into 'Mother' - to perform before Land ships

Committee at the very beginning of 1916.

A repeat performance was given before

Cabinet ministers and more senior army

Members - 'Mother' was driven over

A prepared landscape of parapets, wire

Craters and over trenches - though the

Secretary of state for war Kitchener was

Wary, Lloyd George prompted production.

With the Land Ships Committee renamed

'Tank supply Committee,' the staff officer

Hugh Elles would be commander of tanks

In France - initial orders began 12 February

Followed by a further 50 in April - the reality

Of land ships codenamed 'tanks' arrived by

British engineering ingenuity, ready for battle.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: History of the tank. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_tank> [Accessed 1 September 2016]

Source: File: British heavy tanks of World War I. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_heavy_tanks_of_World_War_I#Mark_I> [Accessed 1 September 2016]

Source: File: Boirault machine. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boirault_machine> [Accessed 1 September 2016]

Source: File: Little Willie. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Willie> [Accessed 1 September 2016]

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

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Tanks

Poem ~ America: Ready for War - Wednesday, 17 May 1916

Source: File: 150 000 Americans march past the New York Public Library in the, lets get ready to fight, parade. [online] See an original image at: <https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/4j65k6/150_000_americans_march_past_the_new_york_public/?> [Accessed: 17 May 2016]

From across the pond

In the city of New York,

A parade overtook streets,

In estimated numbers -

To reach some 150,000

People from all walks.

In unity they marched,

Looked on by a million

New Yorkers - to number

24 abreast - the streets

Filled by stars and stripes.

The procession took

Some hours to pass on

Its way, to declare a virtual

Holiday - the thoughts

Behind the spectacle

Was call 'Ready For War.'

The American people

Had by knowledge of

Europe’s war, realised

Their country had lacked

Defence of aggressors,

From any foreign lands.

A people's movement

Had acted, to prompt

USA's President Wilson

To listen - with Congress

Taking note to concerns

To defend Americans.

Representatives and

Senate agreed to form

A bill - in time of peace,

An army of defensive

To be 25,000 militia

And 206,000 regulars.

With all the windows

Of Fifth Avenue taken,

And banners flying, stars

and stripes flagged

out a unified message;

America, Ready For War?

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Preparedness for War - Huge New York Demonstration. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 May 1916. P.10. Col.1. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12210082/Daily-Telegraph-May-15-1916.html>  [Accessed: 17 May 2016].

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12210082/Daily-Telegraph-May-15-1916.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1America

Poem ~ Neutral Mexico: German Ally? - Wednesday, 15 March 1916

Impression sketch of Uncle Sam leaping across the border fence with Mexico to chase (Pancho) Villa - by Jamie. From an original image that can be seen at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VillaUncleSamBerrymanCartoon.png> [Accessed: 15 March 2016]

Included in the league of neutral countries,

Mexico paused in the possibility of a war

Across her borders, with the United States

Of America - inverted by a localised crisis

With political revolt from the Porfirian era.

An 1876 coup by Porfirio Díaz, both villain

And hero, failed any stability of succession -

Yet Francisco Madero democracy sparked

Revolution - whose liberal election success

Led to controversy and 1913 assassination.

Mexican failures continued with revolt

Against a return to Porfirian order - others

emerged; Emiliano Zapata, a peasant leader

And rebel fighter - as Venustiano Carranza,

Supporter of Madero made political complexity.

Non-military Carranza became Mexico’s

Head of state from May 1915 - amid reform

Carranza maintained Mexican neutrality.

Yet with such unrest at the foot of America,

Relations had been strained by intervention.

April 1914, prior to any European war, events

Of la decena trágica led President Woodrow

Wilson to authorise a seven-month occupation

Of Veracruz - that further reinforced Mexico

Not to take any side with the United States.

Within their Spanish culture Mexicans held

Dislike of gringoes - Tuesday 14 March 1916

Poised potential United States Mexico war -

In granting President Carranza's government

To cross borders pursing their raiding bandits.

President Wilson’s memo would avert a clash

Of politics, unlikely to halt a slow of followers

To the rebel bandit, Pancho Villa - who had set

To raid border town Columbos - a fear to be

Mexican troops deserting over to Villa's banner.

The belief grew that the gringoes would

Invade their country - this had materialsed

By fact of 12,000 US troops on the border -

Poised to carry out the war secretary's plan,

In a possible three-year Mexican campaign.

Divided opinions held by American people

With opposition to any such war, due

To their army being held in the task - likely

Acting as a message to prompt Germany’s

Kaiser, who might gain a Mexican ally.

President Wilson's intent had been to focus

On capture of Pancho Villa, whose ability

Might rouse North Mexico in his resources

Of fighting talent - The rebels having taken

To the mountains, in use of sniping tactics.

All hung in balance between Villa's charisma

And Carranza's ability to convince the people,

That once Villa was captured, the US would

Leave their territory - with more to go 23 March 
was set for 4000 US troops to enter Mexico.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. United States And Mexico - Big Campaign Expected - Troops Ready To Start. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 March 1916. P.9. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12193873/Daily-Telegraph-March-15-1916.html [Accessed: 15 March 2016].

Source: File: Mexico in World War I. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_in_World_War_I> Accessed 15 March 2016

Source: File: History of Mexico. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mexico#Porfiriato_.281876.E2.80.931910.29> Accessed 15 March 2016

Source: File: Francisco I. Madero. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_I._Madero> Accessed 15 March 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 15 March 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12193873/Daily-Telegraph-March-15-1916.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Mexico