Firestorm: Red Thunder

Through the morning mist they came,
Single file. Single purpose.
Through nature's barrier they came, rolling on tracks of steel.
Crushed beneath were twig and root, which thence became gun and boot.

From Europe's heart they rode like knights;
atop silver steeds. Barrels long, aimed hard and true.
Explosive coughs that thundered load and tore up ground and man.

In the air, flying wings of fire, who spit death down on those that scurry below. The Red Army fails, steel coffins burn. To fight for vein cause, a hard lesson to learn.
- Burning Horizons, by Charles Strood.

From Burning Horizons - a selection of poems about the Battle for Hanover, 1985