WWI poetry
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
-
Daogroupie
- Posts: 11107
- Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
- Location: Herts
Re: WWI poetry
John Kipling arrived in France on his 18th birthday and died just six weeks later at the Battle of Loos in September 1915.
Because his body was not found the telegram reported him as missing in action and Kipling and his wife spent a lot of time trying to find his body and meeting with men from his battalion to try and find out more about his final hours.
But in a tragic irony the man who created the phrase "unknown soldier" for the tombstones of those who could not be identified, himself lived the rest of his life not knowing that the body of a soldier found in 1919 and buried as an "unknown soldier" was in fact his son.
But perhaps the fact that he shared their pain brought some comfort to those families who also had no grave for their sons.
Kipling, who had already lost his daughter to pneumonia at the age of six, died in 1936.
80 years later in 2016 the tombstone was changed to John Kipling and 27th September 1915 as date of death as the body was finally identified as John Kipling.
Kipling turned down both a Knighthood and the Poet Laureate but did become the first ever English Nobel Literature prize winner and also the youngest ever winner of the prize.
Kipling did indeed pull rank to get his 18 year old son to the front and had to live with that for the remaining 21 years of his life.
Wilfred Owen would have been saved had Foch the French General agreed to the German's request for a ceasefire while the surrender details were being finalised.
But Foch refused and so soldiers, including Wilfred Owen, died while the deal was hashed out in that railway carriage. Foch had just lost his own son but seemed not to want to save the sons of others. There was absolutely no reason for the slaughter to continue when Germany had already asked for peace and it was just a question of finalising the terms.
Why did Britain allow Foch to make that decision? There were three countries in that railway carriage. Germany wanted to save lives, Foch refused but what of Britain? DG
Because his body was not found the telegram reported him as missing in action and Kipling and his wife spent a lot of time trying to find his body and meeting with men from his battalion to try and find out more about his final hours.
But in a tragic irony the man who created the phrase "unknown soldier" for the tombstones of those who could not be identified, himself lived the rest of his life not knowing that the body of a soldier found in 1919 and buried as an "unknown soldier" was in fact his son.
But perhaps the fact that he shared their pain brought some comfort to those families who also had no grave for their sons.
Kipling, who had already lost his daughter to pneumonia at the age of six, died in 1936.
80 years later in 2016 the tombstone was changed to John Kipling and 27th September 1915 as date of death as the body was finally identified as John Kipling.
Kipling turned down both a Knighthood and the Poet Laureate but did become the first ever English Nobel Literature prize winner and also the youngest ever winner of the prize.
Kipling did indeed pull rank to get his 18 year old son to the front and had to live with that for the remaining 21 years of his life.
Wilfred Owen would have been saved had Foch the French General agreed to the German's request for a ceasefire while the surrender details were being finalised.
But Foch refused and so soldiers, including Wilfred Owen, died while the deal was hashed out in that railway carriage. Foch had just lost his own son but seemed not to want to save the sons of others. There was absolutely no reason for the slaughter to continue when Germany had already asked for peace and it was just a question of finalising the terms.
Why did Britain allow Foch to make that decision? There were three countries in that railway carriage. Germany wanted to save lives, Foch refused but what of Britain? DG
Last edited by Daogroupie on Mon Nov 12, 2018 10:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: WWI poetry
Thank you for taking the time to give us all these explanations, Daogroupie! 
Re: WWI poetry
Foch was not alone, nor indeed the worst example. The US commander, Pershing, and many of his subordinate generals insisted on thir troops continuing to attack right up to 11am on the 11th November; US troops were killed in their thousands on the 11th, literally until the final seconds of the war, despite an obvious and natural reluctance on the part of the German soldiers to participate.
-
Daogroupie
- Posts: 11107
- Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
- Location: Herts
Re: WWI poetry
Some of the German soldiers at the first day of the battle of the Somme actually stopped firing as they were so sickened by the twenty thousand dead and forty thousand injured piling up in front of them.
I like to think that one of those deeply honourable men saved my grandfather from being one of the 60% of Officers that died on the first day of the Somme as he was there and survived what was the worst killing field in British military History.
There was a programme about a PALS division who were on the first day of the Somme. Not one of the injured had a known grave. They were all in the 78 thousand who are still there. The relatives of one who survived told how he only survived because he stumbled and missed the hail of bullets. DG
I like to think that one of those deeply honourable men saved my grandfather from being one of the 60% of Officers that died on the first day of the Somme as he was there and survived what was the worst killing field in British military History.
There was a programme about a PALS division who were on the first day of the Somme. Not one of the injured had a known grave. They were all in the 78 thousand who are still there. The relatives of one who survived told how he only survived because he stumbled and missed the hail of bullets. DG
Re: WWI poetry
I thought the "They will not grow old" film on Sunday was very moving. What was really interesting was how - despite our having visited the WW1 sites and cemeteries and being fairly aware of what went on - how much more real it felt being in colour and with the footage restored. I wouldn't have expected it to make that much difference beforehand. It was really moving.