Anonymous British Soldier
The Fortress of the East* (1942)
A MIGHTY ISLAND FORTRESS
THE GUARDIAN OF THE EAST
IMPREGNABLE AS GIBRALTER A
THOUSAND PLANES AT LEAST
IT SIMPLY CAN’T BE TAKEN
IT’LL STAND A SIEGE FOR YEARS
WE’LL HOLD THE PLACE FOREVER
IT WILL BRING THE JAPS TO TEARS
OUR MEN ARE THERE IN THOUSANDS
DEFENCES ARE UNIQUE
THE JAPS DID NOT BELIEVE IT
AND TOOK IT IN A WEEK
‘The Fortress of the East’ appears in More Poems of the Second World War, edited by Victor Selwyn, Erik de Mauny, Ian Fletcher, and Robert Ivy (London: Dent, 1989), available in the UK here and in the US here.
