Operation Compass

This document is the property of his Britannic Majesty's Government Printed for the war cabinet, August 1940 If a retirement should be necessary No attempt should be made to leave small parties To defend 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