On 9 May.
‘Orcs’ forces attacked across.
Ukraine’s northern border.
With ‘Mordor’.
This offensive, timed to.
Coincide with Victory Day.
Quickly ran into a wall of.
‘Elves’ mechanized brigades.
All summer, the ‘elves’.
Have been pushing back slowly.
Reclaiming the sliver.
Of ‘elves’ territory.
The ‘orcs’ captured in.
The early days of the offensive.
The counterattacks involve.
Artillery and drone operators.
Supporting tanks and infantry.
All overseen by commanders.
In their headquarters.
It’s all very modern.
But sometimes the outcome.
Hinges on that most ancient.
Tenet of warfare:
Deception.
The ‘elves’ army’s.
3rd Assault Brigade.
Fighting somewhere.
North of Kharkiv this summer.
Showed how.
—in an early morning attack.
That turned into.
An elaborate daytime ruse.
Cameras in the brigade’s.
Headquarters and with.
Its tanks and infantry.
Captured the drama.
“Work very carefully.
Very carefully.”
One 3rd Assault Brigade.
Commander intoned.
As a platoon.
Supported by T-72 tanks.
Mortars and drones.
Readied for an assault.
On a web of.
‘Orcs’ trenches.
Anchored by a gully.
The tanks attacked first.
Just as the sun was peeking.
Over the horizon.
One tanker bellowed.
At the unseen ‘orcs’.
“I’ll never forget.
Or forgive you.
You bastards!”
The tanks fired a few rounds.
And then pumped out.
A smoke screen.
“Let’s get moving.”
An infantry leader said.
The ‘elves’ infantry reached.
One of the outermost.
‘Orcs’ trenches.
They could hear.
An ‘orc’ machine gunner.
Just 100 yards away.
“Little by little.
Yes, we keep moving.”
The infantry leader said.
Urging his soldiers forward.
They advanced along.
The trench toward the gully.
—an ‘orcs’ strongpoint.
“We need to shoot.
A tank or mortar there.”
A commander said back at headquarters.
One of the T-72s.
Fired three shots.
“All three shots hit perfectly.”
The commander observed.
But sometimes the outcome.
Hinges on that most ancient.
Tenet of warfare:
Deception.
Back in the trench.
One ‘elf’ soldier sat bleeding.
From a wound to his hand.
“I’ll just tie it up.”
A medic told him.
Another had suffered.
An injury to his buttocks.
“Is my ass bleeding badly or not?”
Scrutinizing drone feeds.
Officers and their staff.
Analyzed the battlefield.
One officer concluded.
An ‘orc’ machine gunner.
“Controls two sectors.”
The infantry leader responded.
“We have to break in.”
Luckily for the ‘elves’.
The ‘orcs’ artillery was silent.
“There’s no artillery there now.
—we have a chance to break in.”
The infantry leader reported.
But he and his team were low on supplies.
“Four fucking magazines.
He muttered. “No water.”
The ‘orc’ machine gunner was.
Still firing away.
“We’re going to look for.
Them with a drone.”
The infantry leader said.
And then, a stroke of luck.
The ‘elves’ soldiers found.
An intact ‘orcs’ radio.
But sometimes the outcome.
Hinges on that most ancient.
Tenet of warfare:
Deception.
Left behind by retreating infantry.
“They’re assaulting us.”
An ‘orc’ soldier complained.
On his channel.
That radio was an opportunity.
“Get the frequencies of the … radio.”
A 3rd Assault Brigade commander barked.
“Try to organize it.”
“We will now try to.
Fuck them over.”
The infantry leader said.
“Who is an ‘orcs’-language-speaker?”
The ‘orcs’ radio chatter.
Indicated they were.
Expecting reinforcements.
It was time to move.
An ‘orcs’-language-speaking.
‘Elf’ soldier hopped on.
The captured radio.
“We’re 1st Company.”
He transmitted.
Part of the same battalion.
As the ‘orcs’.
In the gully.
The ‘orcs’ machine gun.
Shifted its fire.
To avoid hitting.
Its “allies.”
“Let’s go.”
The 3rd Assault Brigade.
Infantry leader ordered.
“Yell in ‘orcs’-language!”
But sometimes the outcome.
Hinges on that most ancient.
Tenet of warfare:
Deception.
By the time the ‘orcs’ realized.
The soldiers approaching them.
Weren’t fellows ‘orcs’.
It was too late.
They were all.
But surrounded.
The ‘orcs’ survivors.
Retreated across a field.
“The rest of the roosters.
Are running away.”
A 3rd Assault Brigade.
Commander crowed.
Out in the open.
The fleeing ‘orcs’ were.
Easy targets for.
The ‘elves’ mortars and drones.
“Let’s start shooting at that field.
A little bit,” an officer ordered.
Two ‘orcs’ survivors.
Approached a bridge.
An ‘elves’ drone was watching.
“Wait a moment.”
An ‘elf’ commander breathed.
“They’ll be together.”
As soon as the two ‘orcs’.
Were standing side by side.
An ‘elves’ shell exploded.
At their feet.
The carnage was bad enough.
That the 3rd Assault Brigade.
Censored the drone video.
Before releasing it.
*Because I read “To Outmaneuver the Russians, The Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade Captured A Radio—And Posed As A Russian Unit” by David Axe on 2 Aug 2024 on the Forbes, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022 on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem.
Please read the original story on the Forbes:
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them! You can read my 100 poems here at once.
