PASSCHENDAELE POETRY
Mud and machinegun fire from hell
Asoldier’s harrowing account of men screaming and screeching as they lay in the Belgium sludge has inspired a Manawatu¯ nurse to write a poem.
Kimbolton man Ben Sablerolle’s poem, based on the tales of a patient he looked after, will be read at the Feilding cenotaph during the town’s 100th anniversary service for the Battle of Passchendaele today.
Working as a student nurse at Hutt Hospital in 1982, Sablerolle was inspired by the soldier’s horrific account of the battlefield where he fought on New Zealand’s blackest day. He will read it for the first time today.
Bodies, men and horses buried in a porridge of mud, machinegun fire from hell and soldiers hung up in wire. The failed attack on Bellevue Spur, in Belgium, on October 12, 1917, was one of the greatest disasters in New Zealand’s history as 843 men were killed in under four hours.
Eight days earlier, 320 Kiwis were killed during the capture of Gravenstafel Spur. Although the attack was successful, it had a tragic aftermath. The British mistakenly concluded that the number of German casualties meant enemy resistance was faltering and resolved to make another push immediately.
Kiwi troops advanced at 5.25am on October 12. The preliminary artillery barrage was ineffective as thick mud made it impossible to bring heavy guns forward, or to stabilise those in position.
Exposed to raking German machinegun fire and unable to get through uncut barbed wire, the
New Zealanders were pinned down in shell craters.
It’s that experience that Sablerolle recounts in his poem, Lambs.
‘‘He talked of his longing to see his family and get back to them... the blood, his mate dying next to him.
‘‘I found it very difficult to find the words to describe the horror of the situation.
‘‘In the process of exploring this I came to realise this was our deadliest battle and it’s little known by New Zealanders.’’
The poem is made up of two parts – the first describing the horror of the battlefield and the second describing the soldier’s integration back into farm and family life post war.
It features some emotive lines: ‘‘At home the lambs are being born. Here we are, lambs to the slaughter. Someone blundered and our boys have paid the price. This battle name one to shudder at. The name Passchendaele.’’
Feilding’s 100th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Passchendaele is at 6pm today.
‘‘I found it very difficult to find the words to describe the horror of the situation.’’
Ben Sablerolle