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WWI American

Immigrant Poetry

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DOT LEEDLE TOMMY ADKINS.

By Rev. G. A. Schmidt.

DOT leedle Tommy Adkins,

Him go to var vun day,

By REV. G. A. SCHMIDT.

Him sail avay from Dover town

Und landed by Calais.

Ach Himmel!


Und Tommy hav a red coat,

Und Tommy hav a gun,

So Tommy nefer stop to think

Dat brrhaps him hav to run,

Like sixty!


Him tink him go to picnic,

Shust like vun fine parade,

Dee French and Belgians fight like—fits,

But Tommy, him afraid.

Poor Tommy!


Him shcare dem bloomin’ Germans,

Vot valk right into France,

Und den dey valk right back again,

Und nefer hav no chance.

Aber nit!


Him hav one grand excursion

From London to dee Seine,

Und mid some sporty mad’moiselles,

Him drink dat dry schampagne.

By golly!


But “blawst” dem German soljers,

Dey spoil him all dat fun,

Und Tommy like to hustle home,

Before dat fight begun.

Don’t you know!


Schmidt, Rev. G. A. “Dot Leedle Tommy Adkins.” The Fatherland 1, no. 9 (October 7, 1914): 7.

Schmidt, Rev. G. A. “Dot Leedle Tommy Adkins.” The Fatherland 1, no. 9 (October 7, 1914): 7.

WWI American

Immigrant Poetry

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Tommy Adkins

Tommy Atkins was a nickname in general use during WWI to designate the prototypical British soldier. The phrase likely originated in 1815, in a War Office publication.


Holmes, Richard. “Atkins, Tommy.” In The Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford University Press, 2001. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606963.001.0001/acref-9780198606963-e-110.

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Dover town

A seaport on the southeast coast of England, Dover lies on the Straight of Dover and is the closet point on mainland England to France. Calais, a seaport in northern France, lies at the narrowest point in the English Channel.

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French and Belgians

Germany declared war on France on August 3, 1914 and invaded and declared war on neutral Belgium on the same day. At the start of the war, when the Belgian forts at Liège resisted allowing German troops to pass, German officers warned zeppelins would destroy the city if they did not relent. The Belgians refused, and the L-Z dropped the first bombs on Antwerp on August 6, 1914.1 The First Battle of Ypres (October–November 1914) stopped the German “Race to the Sea,” but both sides sustained heavy losses. At the start of the war, France suffered defeat in several battles.


1Massie, Robert K. Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Ballantine Books, 2003, 364.


Spencer, Jones: “Ypres, Battles of.” In 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published February 13, 2015. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/ypres_battles_of.


Beaupré, Nicolas. “France.” In 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/france.

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Seine

The Seine flows through Paris and enters the English Channel near Le Havre.

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