Hey folks, welcome to another special and stand-alone episode of the Battles of the First World War podcast.

As you've read in the title, this episode will feature a poem on the Psalm. As you've no doubt also read in the episode description,

this is not a poem written by me. Thank God. But it is a poem written by one Alan Alexander Milne, better known as A.A. Milne and better yet known as the creator of Winnie the Pooh.

A.A. Milne was a pacifist by heart and by conscience, but he too rallied to the call of king and country

and by early 1915 was training as an officer.

The summer of 1916 saw him posted to the 11th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment near Basentan deit and Highwood.

On the night of August 12th, 1916, Milne was the acting signals officer to a battalion attack on German

troops on intermediate trench.

With the previous signals officer just wounded on the eve of the attack, Milne was pulled

in to take the man's place.

This incident wasn't covered by the podcast but would have taken place during episode 19, part two of the story of Highwood.

A length of intermediate trench needed to be taken at night, so the British blasted the target

area for three hours prior to the attack. This gave the attack away, and the Germans retaliated by shelling the British

in the area heavily. From a mighty fine entry in the Great War Forum on 1914-1918.

Envisionzone.com.

A gentleman provided Milne's recollection

of the German barrage, and I will quote it here.

Quote, we sat there completely isolated.

The depth of the dugout deadened the noise of the guns so that a shell

burst was no longer the noise of a giant plumber throwing down his tools, but only a persistent

thud which set the candles dancing and then, as if by an afterthought, blotted them out.

From time to time I lit them again, wondering what I should be doing,

...