Mad Jack (Scene 11) Poem by John Fenton Mcleish

mad jack
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scene 11
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Night has fallen and siegfried is awoken.The sergeant is shaking him, ''sir, sir, the germans are coming, we have to go back! ''
Siegfried stands, wipes his face and gets his bearings.
He hears the roar and sees the glow of german flame throwers over the parapet.
They are quickly approaching and the enlisted men are cowering behind the sergeant, fearing for their lives.
Sergeant, ''Sir, we have to go back, we'll be barbequed''
German artillary shells begin raining down on no mans land.With each explosion the men duck for cover.
Siegfried stands his ground and remains upright.
Siegfried, ''fix bayonets, prepare for attack''
Sergeant, ''sir, we have to go back''
Siegfried looks down at the ground and then into the sergeants eyes, ''You don't understand sergeant, i'm not going back''
Siegfried takes his pistol out of it's holster, cocks it, and points it at the sergeants forehead, He repeats, ''Fix bayonets, prepare for attack''.
The sergeants not scared of siegfried, he knows he has witness', all the men are watching.
The sergeant turns to look at the approaching flame throwers and the artillary shells exploding in no mans land.
He pauses.He hates the arrogant officer class, but he likes siegfried.He admires his courage.He decides to go with siegfried.
Sergeant, ''fix bayonets, prepare for att....! ''
Siegfried doesn't wait for the sergeant to finish.He climbs out of the trench and begins running towards the german reserve line.The sergeant and the rest of the men follow.
They meet sporadic fire but not machine guns.
Siegfried jumps into a communications trench and shoots everything he sees.
His men branch out into ajoining trenches.
Siegfried stops at a german bunker, throws a grenade down the steps, then runs on to the next one.
He takes another grenade and throws into a dugout.He waits for the explosion, then continues on.
An german officer stumbles out of the dugout and points his pistol at siegfrieds back, the german doesn't see the sergeant coming up behind.
The sergeant shoots him dead.
Siegfried turns to look at the sergeant.He doesn't say anything, but he acknowledges that the sergeant has just saved his life.
Siegfried and his men have penetrated over half a mile into german territory, but now they're running out of ammunition and if the machine guns and artillary don't arrive soon, they will have to retreat.All of this will have been for nothing.
Siegfried calls to his men, ''Stand your ground! ''
The advance comes to a halt.

The rest of the batallion are arriving, siegfried approaches an enlisted man, ''Private, where are the machine guns? ''
Private, ''Don't know sir''
Siegfried sees a lieutenant, ''Lieutenant, where are the machine guns and artillary? ''
Lieutenant, ''They're not coming, captain, they can't get them through the mud, they're too heavy''
Siegfried's heart drops.Without artillary, machine guns and ammunition, they are doomed.
Siegfried hold the position as long as he can, praying reinforcements arrive.
This could be the break through the allies need.They could easily outflank the germans and win the war from here.
Even though artillary shells have begun exploding around them, he waits, and waits.
Then a messenger arrives.It's from the division commander.Siegfried reads it, ''Withdraw all forces back to the british front line forthwith''.
Siegfried is furious.
He calls to his men, ''Retreat, retreat! ''
The men begin running back to the british line.Siegfried is the last to leave, he follows behind his men.
They are just about home when the sergeant is hit by shrapnel and goes down.
Siegfried runs over to him.Blood is pouring from his mouth.
He calls to an enlisted man for help.They haul the sergeant over the parapet to the safety of the trench.
Just then siegfrieds world goes black.
He has been shot in the head.The men drag siegfried into the trench.
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// this poem may contain copying errors