Poem ~ War Prediction and Reality - Friday, 1 October 1915

Source: File: A battery of French Rimailho 155mm howitzers near Massiges, 26 September 1915. jpeg, [online] Available at: <http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205322841> Accessed: 1 October 2015].

A premonition came from

One 1909 publication, as to how

Future warfare would change;

That all hand to hand fighting

Out on the battlefield, should be

Confined to stories of history.

Predictions made redundancy

Of steel weaponry - this included

Banishment of bayonets.

Such decisive thoughts

Had emerged from high Levels

Of well established thinkers.

Proof showed poor prophecy,

In trying to form military evolution -

Freed from blinkered strategists,

Each war in history always

Open up new tactics, but dangers

Lay in opinionated sights.

The fact of a long drawn war,

That would include many countries,

Was unforeseen months before.

Fighting realities make for

All surprises - as in rolls of barbed

Wired barriers and trenches.

Who could have foretold

Barricades forming a fortified chain

From the Alps to the sea?

Impossibilities became possible

With trenches and barbed wire walls;

To be repaired Indefinitely.

Shellfire resistant obstacles

Had to be broken by other methods -

Most likely by land troops.

Therefore hand bombs use

And reliable bayonets, might down

Rifles and machine guns.

A debate over who might

Face the most difficulties then lay

Between British and French -

Every regiment launched

Against enemy knew full well how

Many would soon lay cold.

Neither county had priority

Over sacrifices - with French army

Seen as being most strategic.

The French proximity lay

Closest to the German lines, about

The area of Champagne.

Champagne; French lands

That has seen many disputes date

Back over centuries -

Old campaigns witnessed

Other fights for victory over same

Fifty miles - once again.

Faced by enemy systems,

In unique espionage techniques,

To threaten French tactics -

Despite greater numbers

Of French forces, they still greatly

Depended on British forces.

Half the battle was to build

Soldiers confidence; that all good

Talk makes for sure success.

Champagne campaign hopes,

Openly formed in the written lines

For this French victory.

French strategy was seen

For an Artois offensive to hold

Captive German reserves -

Against any predictions

Of a book, written by theorists;

Steel bayonets came alive.

A 'holding attack' method,

While unrewarding can alarm

An enemy, to bring victory -

Inventing familiar names

Loos and Vimy, enabled French

In virtual Lens domination.

Off paper true tactics lay

In the minds of leaders - for one

Who dares, makes a move -

Time, poised in the midst

Of battle formed Joffre's tactics -

Ready to make history.

Between Rheims and Lens

Localised fights sent shadows

Across Champagne lands.

Two storm centres poised -

Outcomes unknown - perhaps

Ready for a defining blow.

Despite fortified barbed

Wire, ditches and machine guns,

French artillery intentions

Might see them ineffective

New predictions of modern war

Might see ten days history.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. The French Battles - Artois and Champagne - Fighting Corps A Corps. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 1 October. P.10. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11896835/Daily-Telegraph-October-1-1915.html [Accessed: 1 October 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 1 October 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11896835/Daily-Telegraph-October-1-1915.html

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

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Poem ~ Hoax Acid Bombs - Sunday, 18 July 1915

Source: File: The American Machinist logo.jpg. A popular American trade magazine published since 1877. The Original can be seen at: http://blacksmithandmachineshop.com/American-Machinist-1884-pg1-and-16.html 
[Accessed:  18 July 2015].

An unauthorized advertisement,

Came to light from 'American Machinist'-

Having been quoted about

The United States that related

A supposed new, brutal explosive.

Originating on May 6 1915, from

The Cleveland Automatic Machine Company,

Finally reaching attention

Of His Majesty's Government

With explosive effects description.

The wording of the supposed

Weapon, states how this is material is made

Of High tensile strength,

To fracture into tiny pieces,

With the shells final explosion.

Shared with shrapnel shell,

the fuse timer is the same, but the difference

Is within the large cavity

Are two explosive acids, any

Wounds caused lead to  agony

Of a terrible death, after 4 hours.

Without any immediate attention,

The advertisement claimed that conditions

In the trenches, do not allow

Any medical treatment within

The allotted time span - then goes

On to claim that wounds be cauterised.

This action should be immediate

Either to the body or head, or if on any limbs

Amputation would be course -

As there is no apparent antidote

That can counteract the poison, once

The victim has been hit by this explosive.

The American Machinist advert

States, that unlike regular shrapnel wounds,

With fragments or shrapnel

Balls, wounds are believed not

Lethal to muscle unlike the acid bomb.

The false bizarre advertisement

Published independently has no grounding

With intent to give false

Impressions - his majesty's

Government issued denial that

No such weapon had been considered.

 by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. American Shells - A Bogus Advertisement. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 July. P.10. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11732107/Daily-Telegraph-July-17-1915.html [Accessed: 18 July 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 18 July 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11732107/Daily-Telegraph-July-17-1915.html

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

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Poem ~ Socks and Daggers - Tuesday, 2 February 1915

In the region of French champagne,

Of 1827 - came three German brothers,

From the Rhine Valley - their surname

Mumm, to be their trademark Champagne

Drink – their home becoming Rheims.

Living there for nearly a hundred years.

As war broke out - to lose all their property,
Being confiscated - as these Germans
Had never become French citizens.

Among the family of Mumm, was one

To be imprisoned as a prisoner of war,

Held at Fort Breton at Lanveoc –

Far from the front in Finistere, Brittany -

In Paris Matin an event was told of these

Detainees held within the fort at Breton.

These prisoners of war had been

Receiving, from friends and relatives,

Packages to contain winter clothes.

In the process of giving these out,

To the named prisoners, the Governor

Of the fort, took the action to open

Every parcel, for purpose of a search.

On opening the very first parcel was

Found an item, of a pair of winter socks -

That held a vicious poniard, with a horn

Handle and sleek sharp blade - this was

Found to be repeated with same contents,

Hidden within eleven other packages.

The deadly knives were poniards a style -

Of slender blades, traditionally carried

By the upper classes, as thrusting knives -

They were intended for prisoners to stab

And kill their guards, in making an escape.

The packages had arrived by the German

Red Cross Society - via the offices of United

States Government - Regarding the event, the

American Consul, was asked to sign a report.

On signing this, he said it was disgraceful,

How that the flag of America was abused

To cover an infamy – his aim would be

To speak with government, of this incident,

Before any other packages reached France.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Daggers in Socks. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 Feb. p.11. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11380292/Daily-Telegraph-February-2-1915.html [Accessed: 2 February  2015].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 2 February  2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11380292/Daily-Telegraph-February-2-1915.html

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

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Poem ~ Grenade Fashions - Monday, 4 January 1915

Source: File: German soldiers in a trench holding hand grenades during World War I.jpg, 2015. From 'The Illustrated War News', published in 1915. 4 January 1915. [online] Available at:<http://www.magnoliabox.com/art/332103/german-soldiers-in-a-trench-holding-hand-grenades-during-world >[Accessed:4 January 2015].

With opening stages of a European war,

The use of grenades was nothing new -

For field operations - as in the occupation

Name of 'Grenadiers' – less than thirty
Years before, drills of grenade throwing

Was first stopped then abandoned.  

During the Balkan War the practice

Was revived, when the Komitadji rebel

Bands frequently used the weaponry -

In Sieges, the usage of hand grenade,

Was still employed as a combat weapon. 

These hand missiles were applied by

the thousands at Port Arthur, between

Japanese and Russians – then Germany

Employed a sealed pattern from pre war

Arsenals, with others made in the field. 

The factory made pattern, described

As being a cast iron globe of 1 ½ pounds,

Four inches diameter – A fully loaded 

Body filled with powder, then exploded

By slow burning mix - sparked by friction

Tube, just as the grenade is thrown.

A surface of deep grooves in explosive

Force breaks metal into flying fragments.

Of two improvised sorts one has shape

Of a lady’s hand mirror, a wooden handle

Being wired with explosives, to be ignited

With detonator and fuse and prompted

By percussion lighter just before thrown. 

Trench mortars are smaller items -

Thin metal cylinders of 4 to 18 pounds

With charges of scrap iron and high

Explosives – these enemy arms,

Are so designed to hurt and maim; 

Of course, allies effectively reply in kind.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Fighting in Flanders – Scenes and Incidents of the Trenches War – Hand Grenades. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 Jan. p.7. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11322299/Daily-Telegraph-January-4-1915.html [Accessed: 4 January  2015].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 4 January  2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11322299/Daily-Telegraph-January-4-1915.html

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

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Poem ~ Picric Acid Disaster - Thursday, 3 December 1914

 Source: File: Explosion at the White Lee Chemical Works Heckmondwike..jpg, Mr Fred Hartley 2014. Kirklees Image Archive [online] Available at: <http://www.kirkleesimages.org.uk/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;k000352&pos=2&action=zoom > Accessed: 3 December 2014].

Near the town of Bradford,

The White Lea Picric Acid Works

On Wednesday 2 December,

Suffered destruction.

The factory had processed

Explosives materials of Picric acid,

In the Boer War, lying empty

After 1902 – Since the new war

Began, came Government's request,

For the old factory to be reopened,

Which it did - six weeks previously,

By new owner Henry Ellison limited.

The revived works were based

At Heckmondwike

On Hollinbank lane,

Amid the Yorkshire industrial

Landscape,

Of Woollen manufacturers,

Where local factories,

Were producing Khaki cloth,

For all the army’s uses.

Fifteen men had been employed,

Working on that fateful day.

Pressures of demand had risen,

For production of lyddite -

The process involved grinding

Acid crystals down into powder.

The store of the explosives,

Undergoing manufacture,

Being isolated from the main

Building areas - when,

For some reason,

Three Lyddite magazines

Suddenly exploded -

Killing up to ten people.

With twelve others, or more

Suffering serious injuries.

While the store of magazines,

Were well isolated,

From the main buildings -

Such was the action,

Of high concussion waves -

The effects moved beyond

The factory, to properties,

Up to twelve miles away.

The noise was heard

Beyond Heckmondwike

In Bradford, Leeds, Batley,

Halifax, Drewsbury

And at Cleckheaton.

As the density of

Yellow smoke that had

Risen in the sky, like

A balloon, slowly dispersed,

Nothing was found

Of the explosive source.

There remained a large hole,

Some yards deep and wide.

Buildings about being

Wrecked into rubble.

Machinery and girders

Were to be found, thrown

Half a mile from the site.

Taking the main force,

Was Hollinbank Terrace,

With homes destroyed,

Or tottering on foundations.

Further out, on Bell Vue road,

All the windows,

Were blown completely out,

And smashed buildings.

As terrified people rushed,

From their damaged homes.

From the factories about,

Workers evacuated

From their work, terrified -

As much as those

In Leeds city centre -

Where it was first thought,

A bomb shook the city hall.

In response came ambulances,

Doctors and rescue parties.

The sight evoking photographs,

Of battle torn Belgium towns.

At the centre of the grimagery,

Many rushed to see carnage

Of those men at the centre -

Whose remains were graphically

Seen as mangled – a body

Without limbs, while one man,

Having had his head,

Completely blown off.

The ten names of dead,

Gave a chilling feeling

Including two young brothers,

Albert Firth and his brother

Of 15, Nimrod Firth -

Both from Heckmondwike

While the exact cause,

Of the massive explosion,

That took place at 2 p.m.

Was never ascertained -

The inquest believed

The cause was a spark

From a grinding machine -

With doubt being cast

On lack of safety standards.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. Factory Blown Up – Many Killed and Injured. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 3 Dec. p.10. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11261387/Daily-Telegraph-December-3-1914.html [Accessed: 3 December 2014].

www.spenboroughguardian.co.uk/.../disaster-that-shattered-a-community

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 3 December 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11261387/Daily-Telegraph-December-3-1914.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered