D-Day
[ The first poem on a war poetry series on WWII}
The world at war in its fifth year,
Men, women and children live in fear
On the western front not all is quiet,
Won’t be too long as the Allied resolve is clear
It’s the month of June, the Germans said,
Let our fortitude be known, the Allies said
The beachheads plotted and divided into five
Within a week, the Normandy Coast would come alive
The Allied planning of men, materials and cunning
Germans fighting on all fronts, scrambling and running
Eisenhower not letting the minutest planning out of sight
Rommel and his soldiers still staring at the beach in sight
The wind is right, the waves give the ride to the biggest armada ever known,
The Americans, British, Canadians, French and more on the way to coast now known
It is the sixth of June, D-Day gets underway per Neptune and Overlord,
All soldiers determined, focused and pray to the almighty and Lord
The Atlantic wall bristles with men and guns not knowing their fate,
The men in the Channel arrive in waves ready to open the invasion gate
It is early morning, the Germans sipping their coffee and tea
They know not soon enough they might reach out to their Fuhrer with a plea
The bombardment begins, the air, sea and land look like hell has broken loose
The efforts are in line to break the occupied country of Hitler’s shackles loose
Landing crafts approach filled with men carrying tools for destruction,
The bunkers and strongholds all will soon be devoid of its original construction
The Germans fire back all they have with no intent to give away
Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword all in battle for a pathway
The shelling and firing, noise and din nothing stops the allies edging towards a win,
The ‘rat-a-tat’ from the wall continues, soon it will disappear, all brutality and sin
The sea water loses its foamy white, floating and drowning bodies turning it red
Men on either side desperate for help, fighting on not to join the dead
Soldiers all in battle fearless yet clutching the photos of those to them dear
Told to stand their ground by their command, their families only in dream so near
Soon to be captured the two beaches that day, rest to follow a week later
Those who survive would wish for their lost comrades, could it not have been better
The Allies would end the battle to carry on deep into France
Hitler being awakened, would meet his generals in a state of rage and trance
The world shall never be the same, the war mongers and invaders put to shame,
The historians shall write now more, leaving those alive to know the few to blame
The Soldiers shall be remembered who fought from their homes so far away,
Giving the world a chance to restore and hold onto peace and not throw away
Normandy, Bayeaux, La Cambe and more maintain a solemn silence since
These locations where men who fought on either side lie together with no wire and fence
We owe a sense of gratitude and salute when we visit France to see all history and beauty
Those men on that day, delivered for nothing more than their utmost sense of duty.
