HAVOC

HAVOC

The A20 Havocs scream over Holland at fifty feet

looking for trouble in their game of death,

they attack the canal network, a flight of six planes.

Turning tightly they start their runs,

shooting tracer shells that rip open the flimsy barges.

In a huge blast the ammo load goes up, taking a plane with it,

falling debris and bits of fire, nothing more.

Yet it doesn’t matter – the others release their bombs

turning a dozen of the beetle-like transport barges into matchwood.

Attacking the canal wall, they breach it in three places,

water running over the fields like a rampaging storm tide.

Nazi gunfire fans out across the sky, reaching for the planes,

claiming another one for their daring air raid, still a success.

German Army supplies destroyed, no more food and bullets

for the enemy troops – worth six men and two planes,

the price of war.