Sunday 7 June 2020

Eventful War Nick Armbrister poems




Theatre Time
So the Japs hit Pearl Harbour, the Philippines and others
Their war in the Pacific took a dramatic turn
No longer just fighting Nationalist China
Now involving America and the Allies
Their bastions fell one by one:

Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Borneo, Wake Island and more
Imperial Japan built up her Co-Prosperity Sphere
She stole what she didn’t have at home
Chinese minerals, Korean steel, Singaporean rubber, Dutch East Indies oil
Envious eyes looked to conquer at Australia and India  
To take these would shatter the British Empire forever
And to link up with the Nazis who would invade Persia for the oil
Making a darkly different world where evil reigned
Under an Axis of evil snuffing out freedom and democracy
But it was different and Japan only rose for awhile
America licked her wounds and fought back
On the battlefield and in the factories to be supreme

It wasn’t until the Americans became stronger
That Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Okinawa and others fell
As did the Empire of Japan in total war
With incessant B-29 fire bombings
The dropping of two atom bombs
And a Soviet invasion of Korea
It was over no more militaristic ways



Rules Rules Rules
There are rules you must follow for this is the law
If you stroll in the road you get a jaywalking fine
This is for your own safety so you’re not run over

There are other rules which are much harsher
In a dictatorship there are rules you must follow
Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party had many such rules

Do as they say and you may live, for a little while
The Jews had to abide by many harsh rules or else
Jews can’t open or run their own business

They can’t practise their religion or attend a synagogue
The Star of David must be visible and worn at all times
These and more were rules the had to be followed

But really it didn’t matter for they were all doomed
Hitler drafted his Final Solution to the Jewish Question
It was open season on the Jews in Europe

He chose Poland to murder them on an industrial scale
Poland had an excellent railway system to all Europe
Train loads of Jews arrived daily each carrying thousands

They were murdered within hours after being processed
Those Jews never broke the law nor were criminals
Nazi paranoia and insanity methodically targeted them

Simply because they were Jewish and Hitler’s enemy
History recorded their names and number and figures
Figures from Warsaw, from Budapest, from Oslo...

The Jews broke Hitler’s number one paranoid rule
They were Jewish by birth and heritage and had to die



Bomber Plane
The old saying was that the bomber will always get through to the target
To drop bombs on innocent civilians or a war factory or air base
And win the war for us by bombing our enemy and blow them to pieces
This wasn’t always the case for bombers were often hacked out of the sky
Dozens of British Blenheim and Battle bombers were shot down over France
As were hundreds of Nazi Junkers, Heinkel and Dornier bombers over Britain
And hundreds of American Liberators and Flying Fortresses were lost over Germany

The bomber plane was made to terrorize civilian populations and bomb them
Destroy their will to support war and fight so their nation collapsed
This never quite happened though bomber planes killed indiscriminately
Hundreds of thousands were blown to bits in World War 2 by the bomber
The Nazis experimented on Guernica in Spain in the Civil War and got results
Nasty bloody brutal merciless results on an undefended town with more to follow
Warsaw in Poland, Rotterdam in Holland, Dunkirk in France, Belgrade in Yugoslavia...

Japan was part of the bomber club with a fleet of modern planes ready for war
Blooded in China against a weak but tenacious enemy equipped with old fighters
Which fought bravely but couldn’t stop the destruction of Chinese cities and casualties
Imperial Japan got a taste of war and their air fleets raided Hawaii, Singapore, Rangoon...
Their Prosperity Sphere adventure to gain a massive new empire and recourses
The same Nell and Betty bombers were effective against American and British warships
Sinking a score or more and ending battleship supremacy by control of the air

When nations acquired fighter planes and wisely used them the bombers were battered
With heavy losses in aircraft and trained crews quicker than could be replaced
A war of attrition that wasn’t always won for the enemy was smart and cunning
The Americans sent escort fighters all the way to the target to protect the heavies
And the British sent night fighters to guard their night bombers over Germany
The Hampden, Whitley, Wellington, Stirling, Halifax and Lancaster bombers were like the moon
Their night bombing losses waxed and waned as tactics were developed by both sides

By day or night the terror bombers relied on surprise, speed, firepower, strategy and luck
To reach their objectives and destroy it in a rain of high explosive and fire bombs
Time and again they got through to flatten Nazi towns and cities and win the war
It was the same with Imperial Japan’s cities destroyed by the mighty Superfortress
Using incendiary bombs by the million and finally the mighty atomic bombs
Proving once and for all the bomber will get through and obliterate its target
A historical battle where slow weak bombers perished and fast strong bombers thrived

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