Axis & Allies - damowords

Retreat from Moscow
With rumours of gross treachery at home
By dog‐drawn sledge the emporer winds west,
Leaving his soldiers in the wintry gloam
New Bonnie Prince saying, ʺMen do your best!ʺ
Namore his French
Shall dictate Europeʹs show,
Thro thick unburied stench drove by Borodino.
The remnant of the legions tracks
The ruts of that royal sleigh,
Assaulted by vengant Cossacks,
Only the brave Marshall Ney
With one thousand fend the attacks,
Combat both night & day,
Giving the Grand Armee a fighting chance ‐
Thro men like him flows the elan of France.
But ten thousand the ordeal last,
With black, frost‐bitten feet,
The crowd aghast as phantoms passʹd
Them in the silent street ‐
Those gods that conquerʹd Moscow ‐ cripples doublʹd in defeat.
Paris
December
1812
Eternal War
To North America the wars have spread,
Great Britain drawn into a needless trial,
Giving the French a chance to count their dead
& find more fools to fill the rank & file;
Then not too soon,
The Russian recompense
Sensed moment opportune, foe thrown onto defence.
Tricolors from their masts are torn,
Bourbon banners form a band
For Muscovy rides not alone,
Together the nations stand,
Ready to claim the revenge sworn,
Men from many a land,
Determinʹd on Europaʹs liberty
Advance against this latets Grand Armee.
But these brave grognards drown beneath
The weight of all their foes,
From sheath to sheath is passʹd a wreath
Of ivy & black rose,
ʺThe battle lost!ʺ ʺRetreat to France!ʺ what eerie feeling grows.
Leipzig
1813