Axis & Allies - damowords

Death of Xaver Stemmler
Eʹer since the battle of Trafalgar Bay
These vigilant, oak‐hullʹd leviathans
Have held the oceans in an islandʹs sway,
England expects ev’ry battle stations;
Night turns to day,
Depth charge to each quarter,
The decks awash with spray as under the water
Canto III
The invasion of Italy by the Allies
& the subsequent fall of Mussolini
Deep submarines are tossʹd about,
BOOM‐BOOM‐BOOOOM & BOOM again,
Some sub‐aquatic boxing bout…
Like fountains in a garden
Seawater spouts will fill with doubt
Entrappʹd & frightenʹd men...
Sailors coating trousers in cruddy goo,
Their ship ript up & simply flipt in two.
The mighty ocean rushes in,
Thetis astride the bull,
Catʹclysmic din, Xaver aspin,
Such weight crushes the skull,
To sleep the deep forever in the cold crypt of that hull.
The Atlantic Ocean
February
1943
No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it
by making the other poor, dumb bastard dies for his country
George Scott