Mesopotamia - Poetry

[James Russell]

Dear community,

I'd be grateful for your reflections.

I suppose anyone who has spent a little time reading about the Mesopotamian campaign in the Great War will have come across this poem (printed below). It was (first?) published in the "Newton and Earlestown Guardian" on 23 February 1917, so I'm guessing the author could possibly have served with 6Bn. South Lancashire Regiment. Perhaps it was published all over the place and this is simply the one I found.

All in all, the poem sounds like a fine primer for the Mesopotamian campaign. The criticism of the India government administration, the criticism of supply and post (lack of food and post are referred to frequently in my great uncle's letters home), and the generally inhospitable climate all are referred to in this series of ditties.

I have some questions:

1) in D "Mutti" is obviously dirt. Is this a proper Arabic word? I haven't been able to find it.

2) in E the German word "Strafe" [f., punish, penalty, genitive,Strafe plural Strafen] is used, I suppose to describe the punishing cost of the 1916 Hanna battle. Here it is in British usage, but not referring to aerial ground attack (maybe it does - considering F). Does anyone know when this word came into British usage and when it began to describe air-to-ground action?

3) In J it appears that British troops had frequent use of German jam. Was this WD issue? Captured?

4) I've tried to find a reference to the General Garange referred to in U but have failed. I have been thinking this could be a misprint for General Gorringe. Plausable?

5) In V a "Mahela" is referred to. Some sort of watercraft? Not among the Tigris boats or RN stuff I've come across in reading so far.

A was an apple that grew, so they say

In the Garden of Eden down Kurna way,

Till Eve came along and ate it one day

And got thrown out of Mesopotamia.

B is the biscuit that’s made in Delhi,

It breaks your teeth and bruises your belli,

And grinds your intestines into jelli,

In the land of Mesopotamia.

C is the poor old Indian Corps

Which went to France and fought in the War,

Now it gathers the corp’s and fights no more,

In the land of Mesopotamia.

D is the digging we’ve all of us done,

Since first we started to fight the Hun,

And by now we’ve shifted ten thousand ton

Of Mutti, in Mesopotamia.

E was in energy shown by the staff,

Before the much advertised Hanna strafe,

Yet the net results was the Turks had a laugh

At our staff in Mesopotamia.

F stands for Fritz, who flies in the sky,

To bring the Brute down we’ve had many a try,

Yet the shells that we shoot at him all pass him by,

And fall on Mesopotamia.

G is the grazing we do all the day,

We fervently hope that some day we may

Get issued again with a ration of hay,

Although we’re in Mesopotamia.

H are the Harems – which, it appears,

Have flourished in Baghdad for hundreds of years.

We propose to annex all the Destitute Dears

When their husbands die in Mesopotamia.

I is the Indian Government … but … but

On this subject I’m told I must keep my mouth shut,

For it’s all due to them that we didn’t reach Kut-

El-Amara, in Mesopotamia.

J is the jam with the German label that lies, lies, lies,

And states that in “Berlin” it won the first prize,

But out here we use it for catching the flies,

That swarm in Mesopotamia.

K are the kisses from lips sweet and fair

Waiting for us around Leicester Square

When we wend our way home after wasting a year

Or two in Mesopotamia.

L is the loot which we hope we shall seize,

Wives, and wine, and bags of rupees,

When the Mayor of Baghdad hands over his keys

To the British in Mesopotamia.

M is the local mosquito whose bite

Keeps us awake all the hours of the night

And makes all our faces a horrible sight,

In this land of Mesopotamia.

N is the Navy that’s tied to the shore,

They’ve lashings of beer and stores galore.

Oh! I wish I’d joined the Fighting Navy before

I came to Mesopotamia.

O are the Orders we get from the Corps.

“Thank God” by now we are perfectly sure

If issued at three, they’ll be cancelled at four,

By the Muddlers in Mesopotamia.

P are the Postal Officials who fail

To deliver each week more than half of our mail;

If they had their deserts they would all be in jail –

Instead of Mesopotamia.

Q’s the quinine, which we take every day

To keep the Malarial fever away,

Which we’re bound to get sooner later they say

If we stop in Mesopotamia.

R are the rations they give us to eat –

For breakfast there’s biscuits; for dinner there’s meat,

And if we’ve been good we get jam for a treat

With our tea in Mesopotamia.

S & T are supposed to supply, “God forbid,”

The Army with food – we all hope when they die

They all go to a place as hot as H--- and as dry

As this horrible Mesopotamia.

U is the lake called Um-El-Brahm,

Which guards our flank from all possible harm,

And waters General Garange’s barley farm,

In the middle of Mesopotamia.

V was the victory won at Dujailah,

I heard it first from a friend who’s a sailor,

Who read it in Reuter’s on board his Mahela,

On the Tigris in Mesopotamia.

W stands for wonder and pain,

With which we regard the infirm and insane

Indian Generals who kind the campaign

Which we’re waging in Mesopotamia.

X are the Extras the Corps say we get

But so far there isn’t a unit I’ve met

That has drawn a single one of them yet

Since they landed in Mesopotamia.

Y is the yearning we feel every day

For a passage to Busra, and then to Bombay –

If we get there we’ll see that we stop right away

From this wilderness, Mesopotamia.

Z. I tried very hard, and at last I hit

On a verse which the letter “Z” would fit,

But the Censor deleted every bit,

Save the last words “for God’s sake - Mesopotamia.”

[johncamel]

James

Many thanks for the poem. A mahela was and possibly still is the general work boat on the Tigris used for ferrying stores , animals or people. Frequently used in the campaign as pontoons for bridging canals and the tributaries of the Tigris .

[centurion]

Mutti is from India rather than being an Arabic word - as the poem's author is plainly in the Indian army this fits.

Strafe was used as both an noun and a verb by the British Army through most of WW1 to mean punishment or rebuke "he got back late from leave and the Colonel's given him a right strafing" and an artillery bombardment "Fritz's guns are strafing the Loamshire's lines tonight". It comes from a German song 'Gott strafe England' of 1914 written I think by someone called Lissauer. The ground attack meaning appears to be post WW1.

Its the label thats called German not the Jam. It was quite normal for British manufacturers to put labels on their products that would say things like 'Prix d'Or 1899 Monaco', presumably the Jam manufacturer had done something similar. It might suggest that the Jam was made pre 1914 though! Jam (or Jelly for American readers) was in very short supply in Germany in WW1 so its unlikely that huge stocks were captured in the Middle East

[Heid the Ba]

Strafer Gott's [url/] nickname was Great War vintage, and the obvious pun.

[Robert Dunlop]

'Gott strafe England' was frequently daubed on the sides of buildings in France 1914, particularly during the German withdrawal to the Aisne. Many anecdotal accounts refer to this and it is possible that the author would have known about these incidents, if not directly then through contacts with regimental and other colleagues who had. As centurion noted, the word was in usage in the British army.

Robert

[centurion]

'Gott strafe England' was frequently daubed on the sides of buildings in France 1914, particularly during the German withdrawal to the Aisne. Many anecdotal accounts refer to this and it is possible that the author would have known about these incidents, if not directly then through contacts with regimental and other colleagues who had. As centurion noted, the word was in usage in the British army.

Its possible that's where it came from, alternatively Punch made much jest of the song that started with those words and which was known as 'The Hymn of Hate'. As hate was an alternative 'nickname' to strafe for a bombardment this would suggest that this was the original source.

[NigelS]

A version of the poem appeared in The BEF ("Wipers") Times No. 3 Vol 1 dated Saturday January 20th, 1917 which predates that in the "Newton and Earlestown Guardian" by about a month so it looks likely that it would, allowing for travelling time, have been written quite a bit earlier than early '17

The BEF Times introduction reads:

The following has been sent us from the Indian Army by one of our old Divisional Friends. He suggests that someone should have a shot at the "B.E.F. Alphabet Up-to-date." Will some please try and submit efforts early? - Ed

(one appeared in the next edition)

There are several minor variations in the BEF Times version to that given by James, the most notable being:

in D "Mutti" has become "matter"

H has "when their husbands leave Mesopotamia"

"J is the jam, with the label that lies and states that in Paris won first prize..."

U has "And waters old G......s - barley Farm"

V has "Mahola"

(the OED - where it is defined as "a large river sailing-boat used in Iraq" - gives several variants of spelling under mahaila -mahailah, maheila, maheileh, mahela; Admiral W.H. Smyth's sailor's Word Book of 1867 doesn't have "mahola" or "mahela" but does have a Mahone, Mahonna, or Maon defined as "a former Turkish flat-bottomed boat of burden, mentioned among the ships of Soliman Pasha,in the Siege of Dieu", which sounds like it might be the same type of vessel and certainly ideal for use as a pontoon.)

"W stands for Wonder and pain with which we regard the infirm and insane old *...... ........ ... ..... this campaign"

with the note: (*CENSORED - Ed)

"Z I've tried very hard and at last I had a hit

On a verse which this damnable letter would fit

But the censor deleted it - every bit

Save the last word "Mesopotamia"

It's interesting that the BEF Times introduction gives "BEF Alphabet Up-to-date": is the Mesopotamian alphabet based on an earlier version of a "BEF Alphabet" which had been written in the early days of the war?

NigelS

[Tomkinson]

The attached picture post card from my great Grandfather's collection shows a typical watercraft in use on the Tigris at the time of the Mesopotamia Campaign.

The card actually shows the fuel market at Basra.

My great Grandfather writes : -

Just another PC you will see the boat or Ballam as the Arabs callt them. I have oftern gone across the river in them at one place where there was a YMCA on the other side of the river we used to cross in them pretty near every night in boats even less than these on PC and at times I can tell you they drifted well down the river when the current caught them you can see what rough looking chaps these Arabs are.

Cheers

Mike Tomkinson

Bradford

[Jammy]

I've written my Dissertation on the Mesopotamian Campaign and at the front I want to have a piece of poetry about the campaign, i've found Kipling's 'Mesopotamia' but was wondering if anybody knows of any others?

[Tony Lund]

This one is from Corporal George Lockwood, it was in the Holmfirth Express around Christmas 1917.

Mesopotamia.

Of all the places God hath made,

Or human feet have ever strayed,

I speak the truth - I’m not afraid,

It’s Mesopotamia.

It is no place to love to lurk,

Your duties there you cannot shirk,

In fact, I know, you have to work,

In Mesopotamia.

You cannot see a house for miles,

No cats are prowling on the tiles,

There’s neither hedges, gates or stiles,

In Mesopotamia.

There is no climbing bedroom stairs,

The beds are single - not in pairs;

I notice how the soldier swears,

In Mesopotamia.

There are no clubs or music halls,

There are no shops or market halls,

But when it rains the water falls,

In Mesopotamia.

There is no German sausage here,

No Johnny Walker and no beer,

It makes you feel so dull and queer,

In Mesopotamia.

There are no girls to catch your eye,

To give them a kiss upon the sly,

For them you have to pine and die,

In Mesopotamia.

Oh, that I could ‘sling my hook’ from here,

Enraptured would my heart appear,

For then I would not shed a tear,

Away from Mesopotamia.

Tony.

[Guest echenberg]

I have quite a few books of Poetry written on service in Mesopotamia in WW 1. For example:

Mesopotamia : Sonnets and Lyrics at Home and Abroad, 1914-1919, Captain Griffyth Faifax,

Night Winds of Araby, A. J. Eardley Dawson

Schoolboys and Exiles, Godfrey Elton

etc etc

You can search my war poetry collection at www.warpoetrycollection.com

Let me know more of what you are looking for and I can check for you...... What is the gist of your thesis....

Dean Echenberg

[pudsey63]

Returning to this old thread. 
I recently acquired a copy of the diary of Rev J Gordon Bennett ( yes, really) who spent six months in Mesopotamia with the YMCA. In his entry for 1st Jan 1917 he quotes a poem which he calls “Messy-pot-amia - a delirium in many verses” which is a version of the one that appeared in the Wipers Times nineteen days later. 
it is similar in many respects, but several verses are different. It also has the censored Z verse, as follows;

”Z is for Zero which means what we’ve done,

Have we really made progress or made the Turk run?

Or are we supposed to be up here for fun?

To be roasted in Mesopotamia.”

Not to hard to see why it was changed to pass the censor. This version is generally darker and more bitter in tone, and most probably written in late 1916.