Poem ~ Armlets for All - Thursday, 4 November to Friday 5 November 1915

Source: File:  Khaki Armlet. jpeg, [online] See original image at: 
<http://www.familyhistorynorthants.co.uk/armlet.htm> Accessed: 2 November 2015].

i. 

Further extensions over

Issues of Khaki Armlets were

Continued - the underlying issues

Became laid out within controversy.

Debates existed between

Employers and employees -

Amendments or modifications

Over the scheme awaited decisions.

Moves being undertaken

By war office for this process

Moving forward - but was seen

Unlikely how armlet would be used.

The ideas origin for khaki

Armlets to be worn by men

Rejected by army - Only days

Prior to start a debate was raised.

ii.

That official scheme's launch on

1 November 1915 for those unfit

Men to wear the khaki armlet -

Symbolic of their inability to fight,

Followed lines of Sir Pragnell.

Sir George Pragnell, Chairman 

Of National Patriotic Society,

On 31 October addressed Red

Cross - to tell how the scheme

Had only been partially accepted.

Seven conditions outlined a short

Act for the duration of the war -

Aimed at ages 16 to 60, for both

Men and women who would

Be asked to volunteer services.

Either the King's service uniform

Or armlet could be worn; any type

Of badge was banned - the official

Armlet would signify the wearer

To be at disposal of government.

Volunteers or servers must wear

The armlet - those accepted to fight,

Those declined and those officers

Who appear in mufti - the armlet

To be marked with national arms.

Prior to acceptance, the mark

Would be G.R. over registered

Numbers, along with county letters.

A govt. committee of businessmen

Would allocate all suitable duties.

Men would be called up in batches

For military service, with employers

Promises to retain their positions  -

Exemption would be those men

Skilled in munitions or equipment.

Sir Pragnell concluded how an

Appeal to all, in wearing armlet's,

Offering their services for wars

Duration, would lead to outcome

Of instant patriotism ever seen.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Khaki Armlets. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 November. P.10. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963646/Daily-Telegraph-November-4-1915.html [Accessed: 4 November 2015].

Anon.,1915. Khaki Armlets - Sir Pragnell's Proposal. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 November. P.8. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963611/Daily-Telegraph-November-2-1915.html [Accessed: 4 November 2015].

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963646/Daily-Telegraph-November-4-1915.html

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

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Poem ~ Schmitt, Voss and Cavell - Wednesday, 3 November 1915

    

Denials and recriminations had spread

From a centre, revolving around murder

Of Edith Cavell; a British nurse in Belgium,

Shot in assisting wounded men to escape.

A German parallel had been drawn

Between two executions in France,

On grounds of espionage - a Parisian

Reporter gained authority to comment.

The reply spelt to German despatches

Would verify there was no parallel

With Edith Cavell - as French sought

To avidly avoid any likely controversy.

The two females spies had both been

Caught separately in 1915; Ottillie Voss

And Margarette Schmidt - the proof

Evident in their German employment.

The date of February 27 had seen an

Arrest of Jeanne Bouvir - the false

Papers hid her identity of Ottillie Voss -

Aged 33, single from Rhine provinces.

For 7 years she had lived in region

Of Bordeaux, in Agen, as a teacher

Of German - to where she returned

With war’s start, to be unemployed.

Accepting the position of a spy, Voss

Travelled about France to Marseilles,

Montpellier, Nice and Lynos - her brief

To report back details regarding troops.

Details to be found out were to include:

Military rail transport timings, numbers

Of wounded and conditions of the army -

Visiting ports to observe disembarkations.

Voss investigated the population's state

Of mind - to carry this out she confessed

To having 400f in paying all her expenses -

Voss had travelled from 3 to 11 February.

160 marks were then awarded to her for

A mark of good work - then a few days

Later she went on another mission - this

Time carrying 500f for all her expenses.

Arrested at Bourges, Voss confessed -

Within two days, to be condemned on

Espionage charge by war council - by

Articles 197, 206, 209 of military code.

An appeal in April for Voss was rejected,

Along with another in May for clemency.

On 16 May Ottillie Voss was executed -

Then there had been the Schmitt case.

With her origins as a French national -

Born Thiaucourt  - Marguerite Schmitt

Had travelled well, with same intentions

As Voss for information of British troops.

Amy presence about Nancy, BarLe Duc

And St Menehould, were of keen interest.

Via a friend Schmitt met with Germans -

At first she had refused their money.

Then accepting 200f, she was taken

To the border of Switzerland at Anoux -

Her intent was not to spy on French,

But return to state she had been held.

Yet her presence in Nancy worked

Against this - while in her possession

Was a book of probing questions,

Put together by a German officer.

Her arrest in February, led to trial

Before council of war - where all

Schmitt repeated was apologies -

Articles 64 and 206 were raised.

By these military codes of justice

Schmitt was sentenced to death

On 20 March - two days later Schmitt

Was executed; thus was fate of spies.

The Parisian reporter further quoted

A statement of French officials -

Refusing the German controversy over

Cavell case - never officially discussed.

Schmitt, Voss or Cavell had no links -

Germany had posted notice across

Brussels and Belgium, to dash peoples

Morale if attempting Cavell’s ways.

The public reactions everywhere,

Emphasised German miscarriage -

In realisation of this terrible error,

Germany had sought distractions.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Women Spies in France - Why They Were Shot. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 3 November. P.10. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963638/Daily-Telegraph-November-3-1915.html [Accessed: 3 November 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 3 November 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963638/Daily-Telegraph-November-3-1915.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1France

Poem ~ Soldier Shot in Glasgow - Tuesday, 2 November 1915

Source: File: 20th Century view of trams on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street. jpeg, [online] Available at: <https://tramsstophere.wordpress.com/page/2/> Accessed: 2 November 2015].

Within the British military war machine,

Movements of soldiers never ceased -

Transports of boats, motorcars, trains

Took men to the front and home leave.

Amid pedestrians on a Glasgow street

Soldiers made a way home - one man

Having been wounded within a battle

About Ypres, was then taken prisoner.

In an act of exchanged he was amid

British prisoners to become released -

Another travelling soldier reached home

Of Glasgow; to see his dying child.

After a hurried departure from the font

He carried gun and equipment home.

In stages of their journey, the two men
Stepped on a tram with consequences.

The wounded soldier climbed aboard,

And for some reason - a knock or jolt -

Set off the other soldier's rifle. A bullet

Hit the wounded man to cause his death.

A jury heard how the tragedy unfolded -

That the soldier had neglected to check

His rifle on departing the front - a result

Followed; a new regulation was needed.

All soldiers on leave were to have rifles

Further checked by superior officers -

The jury sheriff relayed the incident was

Tragic - in a return of accidental death.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Soldier Shot in Glasgow. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 November. P.6. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963611/Daily-Telegraph-November-2-1915.html [Accessed: 2 November 2015].

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963611/Daily-Telegraph-November-2-1915.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Glasgow

Poem ~ The Brodie Protector - Monday, 1 November 1915

Source: File: officers wearing new Brodie helmets. jpeg, [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ilwarnews_brodie.jpg> Accessed: 1 November 2015].

Illustrated War News Nov 1915. Original image from "Illustrated War News" - Nov 17 1915 The Text reads : Head-wounds have been more than usually numerous during the war, owing to the trench-fighting, and more than usually severe, owing to the extensive use of shrapnel. But the danger, although it cannot be avoided, can be minimised. Our Army has now followed the French by adopting steel helmets, calculated to stop shell-splinters and shrapnel. Even in cases of extreme risk, not only has death been avoided, but injuries have been confined to bruises or superficial wounds. Cases have occurred in which the wearers have been hit, but saved by these helmets from what without them would have meant certain death. The fur coats, as they did last year, mean mitigation of the rigours of winter. The French helmets are known as "Adrians," after their inventor.

Following trend of French innovation,

Came a new British army fashion -

With certain numbers of soldiers,

Being supplied light steel helmets.

In showing some were more important

Than others - the bomber less ordinary;

Yet ranked under the men of infantry,

In importance of military standpoints.

The new Tommy steel helmet given

To a chosen few - for their protection

Against hits of shrapnel and splinter

Fragments; helmets would save lives.

Initially just for the bombers who take

Special training courses - their value

Being high, in techniques of modern

War, were chosen to test innovation.

The soldierly fashion was described

As comfortable to wear - being lined

By leather, along with a chin strap,

But were still to gain wider approval.

In ignorance of high velocity firearms

War, all sides had gone for a nearly

A year without - in shadows of historical

Conflicts, ignorant of health and safety.

Difficult lessons were slowly learned

At cost of soldiers lives - by wounds

From gun fire, in unknown scales,
vicious injuries inflicted on men's heads.

The German military wore the spiked

'Pickelhaube' constructed from leather -

Decoratively topped by a brass spike -

Meanwhile the French had the Adrian.

The French helmet matched their uniforms,

In style of a fireman - two shells riveted

Together, strengthened by a protector,

Dorsal ridge - set off by a moulded badge.

All armies realised need of good head

Protection – British ideas had formed

In the mind of John Brodie. an engineer –
Not original, made an effective innovation.

The origins had been a medieval Kettle

Helmet design - the strength lay in being

Created from a single sheet of metal -

In its basic form, a bowl with a wide brim.

The Brodie helmet had the advantage

In being made from a single piece

Of stamped steel production - type A

Superseded by type B’s refined design.

In an improved manganese steel form

Impact strength was vastly improved -

So John Brodie built first battle helmet,

Forming an image of the iconic Tommy.

Barely off the drawing board, the helmet

Had not been universally approved amid

British senior officers - mainly because

They had not taken part in developments.

Criticism was theirs to say un-soldierly

And somehow 'soft' - type A saw actions

In battle of Loos - if successful the Brodie

Would be set for increased production.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Helmets for the Troops - Protection for Bombers. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 1 November. P.10. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963590/Daily-Telegraph-November-1-1915.html [Accessed: 1 November 2015].

Source: File: WW1: Combat helmet technology - the Brodie steel helmet

16 June 2014 By Dan Shadrake. [online Available at: <http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2014/06/putting-a-lid-on-it.cfm> Accessed 1 November 2015

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963590/Daily-Telegraph-November-1-1915.html

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

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Helmets