Axis & Allies - damowords

Death of the Cavalry Charge
The peace of Europe shows a heavy strain,
The Turkish Sultan rushes off to war,
His fleet is driven from the glassy main
By Russia off the Sinopean shore;
Sending a surge
Thro the power balance;
France & Britain shall merge in libʹral alliance.
Landing on the peninsula
They face the Russian onslaught,
Skirmishes play’d out at Alma
Inkerman brutally fought,
But battle at Balaklava
Becomes a bloody sport,
Despite a global glory truly earnʹd,
Of six hundred but two hundred returnʹd.
Being a charge to inspire men,
Honour the Light Brigade!
Never again, thro ink & pen
Such foolish mistakes made,
As step‐by‐step thro warʹs black net the horses hoofsteps fade.
Crimea
1854
Florence Nightingale
Sebastapol entrappʹd on every side,
Beseigʹd by land, bombarded from the seas,
Five hundred thousand from good life divide,
Some in battle, but mostly by disease;
More redcoats rush
To seize the citadel,
With one brittanic push the Russian kudos fell.
She tread thro battleʹs detritus,
The bleeding & the brittle,
Conversʹd with dying warriors,
Coughing bile tincted‐spittle,
Deliver’d loving tenderness
When man’s lot meant little
To poker players of the Greatest Game,
Willing to gamble lives to further fame.
She left behind those days of war,
Thanking the gods that be,
Resumed her tour, beside the shore
Of sheer Gallipoli,
She sketchʹd a scene so picturesque for her dear family.
Dardandanelles
1855