THE PRICE THEY PAY
April 23, 1945
The hands of fate play funny tricks
Throughout a man's short life;
An incident occurred quite strange
In this last hour of strife.
"A" Echelon, as all may know,
Is somewhat to the rear;
For the safety of our lifeline,
The reason is quite clear.
Our troops that are forward
Were resting for a spell;
Some men had gone out L.O.B. *
And all was going well.
The old boys of the unit,
Prepared for U.K. leave,
And billeted at this rear point
A good rest to retrieve.
And evening came and settled down,
And all was calm and still,
They'd had some hard tough slogging,
Of war they'd had their fill.
It seemed so good to be away
From Jerry's shot and shell;
They thought back of the days in Mook,
Which was a living hell.
Then all at once at 2 a.m.
There came a loud report;
'Twas Jerry firing at long range,
Had dropped a few yards short.
Without a pause it came again,
This time was somewhat clearer;
Only too well they knew the score:
His goal was getting nearer.
They grabbed their clothes and out they went,
And needed no more warning;
That place was soon a seething mob
At 2:15 that morning.
The third one came and found its mark,
It struck a farmyard dwelling;
A heavy mounted railway gun
Was doing all the shelling.
The fourth one came and his sheer luck
To hit our ammo heap;
The explosion was terrific,
Set fire to a jeep.
The first two buildings were ablaze,
And all was in a shamble;
The cries of pain were heard aloud
Above the maddening scramble.
The armour sergeant died right there
Amid that scorch and flame;
This crazy senseless waste of life,
It seems a wicked shame.
Ten more men wounded from the blast
Were taken back for aid:
For liberty and freedom,
That is the price they'd paid.
Some men dashed for what cover
That nature could supply;
While others ran to save the trucks,
They had a valiant try.
But fortune plays a game both ways
In such peculiar fashions;
We lost our Breakdown all complete,
The kitchen truck and rations.
And so you see it does not make
Much difference where you are;
It seems that fate is guiding you,
Or perhaps a lucky star.
This scrap will soon be over,
Let's hope it is the last;
Look for that happy future
And think not of the past.
*Left Out of Battle
Back to the SSR History page.