This document is the property of his Britannic Majesty's Government

Printed for the war cabinet, August 1940

"...14. If a retirement should be necessary

"No attempt should be made to leave small parties to defend the wells near the coast in this region

"All water supplies between Mersa Matruh and the Alexandria defences must be rendered depotable"

Operation Compass was well underway

Scorching sun

Coarse sand

A horned desert viper slithers through dust

Howling winds

Burning eyes

World War II under British Command

In Egyptian no-man's land

A silence of the snakes

Before the battle erupts

Oil

Oil

Oil

Oil

Enemy in sight (Enemy in sight)

Keep low and quiet

Push forth the Mark VI Light

Attack!

Bleak tanks rumble, bleached bones crumble

Fresh cannon fodder, brutally slaughtered

Filthy caked crusts of flesh and blood garnish the banks

The onslaught prevails

The desert of death

As the last man standing falls to his knees

Amidst fire and flame

Something whispers his name

There in the distance, like shadows cast a spell

And black oil erupting like a fountain from hell

Like a Fata Morgana, a face appears in the geyser of oil

Red demonic eyes looking down on him

Then this apogee of hell reverses down the well

The dead bodies start to twitch in the sand

Blue lunar wasteland

The fallen soldiers rise to their feet

Ghastly winds

Death's stare

No man's war

The undead soar

Uttering monstrous roars

A pack of death closing

He screams and tries to dig himself in

Yet cold teeth already gnaw at his skin

He won the battle, but not the war