The Camel Corps…
(From the memorial on London’s Embankment…)
The camel rears its head and sinewy neck, like a restrained
Prehistoric predator and its rider perches high,
Rifle gripped for desert warfare, his mount tightly reined,
As each of them bellows their own devilish battle-cry…
Two soldiers rush forth on foot, rifles clutched tight
In their rapid advance, khaki shorts and puttees revealed;
Bullets are held in cross-belts, soft hats worn for the fight
And in their tight-jawed bravado, all innate fear is concealed…
The resting beast lies in a shadowy desert sunset, at peace
Perhaps in the amber glow, as its rider searches for the foe;
Uniform trousers attest to the cold night ahead, a release
From daytime’s unrelenting heat and warfare, blow for blow…
The camel arches its muscular neck, a beast for the landscape designed,
Whilst the helmeted ‘camelryman’ postures proudly upon its humped back;
Despite the threat of death from skirmish or disease in mind,
He salutes and drives his steed into another desert attack…
Pete Ray
19th September 2024…
The WW1 bronze and stone London Embankment memorial to the Camel Corps displays which battles the Corps fought in and displays two bronze friezes, as well as the bronze main feature of a figure astride a camel.
Verses one and four of my poem relate to the main figure, whilst verses two and three relate to the friezes.
The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade was introduced in December 1916 and the men fought in the Middle East.
During WW1 there was one battalion of the Camel Corps from Great Britain, one from New Zealand and two more from Australia.
246 men were killed during the Great War and the Corps was eventually disbanded in 1919…
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