When the North Korean.
11th Army Corps finally.
Marched into battle.
Along the edges of.
A 250-square-mile salient.
‘Elves’ troops hold in western.
‘Mordor’’s Kursk Oblast.
Last weekend.
The long lines of.
North Korean infantry.
—striding across open fields.
In broad daylight—
—striding across open fields.
In broad daylight—
Ran headlong into a wall.
Of ‘elves’ firepower.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
‘Elves’ troops “did not.
Cling to Plekhove.
At any cost, but withdrew.
North of the Psel River.”
All but one of the assaults.
Ended in bloody defeat.
Leaving as many as 200.
North Koreans.
Dead and wounded.
Out of a total.
Deployed force of.
Around 12,000.
And the assault that.
Did succeed was.
A Pyrrhic victory for.
The 11th Army Corps.
In Plekhove.
A village just south of.
The Psel River on the eastern.
Edge of the salient.
A 100-person ‘elves’ garrison.
Initially held out against.
Two waves of around.
150 North Koreans.
But the attackers.
Kept coming.
“The North Korean soldiers.
Went to the assault.”
“En masse or.
More precisely.
In a crowd.”
An ‘elf’ journalist reported.
The ‘elves’ garrison in Plekhove.
Finally retreated when.
A third wave of North Koreans.
Attacked from the east.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
‘Elves’ troops “did not.
Cling to Plekhove.
At any cost, but withdrew.
North of the Psel River.”
This put an imposing.
Natural barrier between.
The combined.
‘Orcs’-North Korean force.
And the main.
‘Elves’ unit.
In the area.
The 61st Mechanized Brigade.
“This forces the enemy.
To cross open terrain.
To attack positions.
Whose layout is.”
“Unknown to them.
All under strikes.
From UAVs and artillery.”
Was reported.
Dug in north and west.
And west of the winding Psel.
The ‘elves’ have been firing.
With abandon.
At the North Koreans and.
‘Orcs’ who’ve been struggling.
To approach the river.
Cross it and.
Establish a bridgehead.
In the days since.
Plekhove fell to.
The North Koreans.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
‘Elves’ troops “did not.
Cling to Plekhove.
At any cost, but withdrew.
North of the Psel River.”
“Dozens of assaults over.
The past few days.
Have ended.
At the distant approaches.”
“To ‘elves’ defenses.”
The failed attacks have added.
To ‘Mordor’ and North Korea’s.
Growing tally of losses.
In just its first weekend.
Of fighting.
The North Korean.
11th Army Corps may.
Have lost 4%.
Of its manpower.
—a rate of loss that’s unsustainable.
Over the long term.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
But the retreat was.
A calculated one.
‘Elves’ troops “did not.
Cling to Plekhove.
At any cost, but withdrew.
North of the Psel River.”
The problem for the ‘elves’.
Is that surrendering.
Any ground in Kursk.
Is risky.
Their salient measures.
Roughly 12 miles.
By 12 miles.
The calculated retreat.
The calculated retreat.
From Plekhove put.
A five-mile-deep dent.
In the salient.
The ‘elves’ “skillfully uses.
Terrain and.
Maneuver tactics.”
Was crowed.
But the Kursk salient.
Offers little terrain.
—and sparse space.
To maneuver.
*Because I read “Falling Back Under North Korean Assault, A Ukrainian Brigade Turned A River Into A Natural Barrier” by David Axe on 19 Dec 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, including a report of Andriy Tsaplienko.
Please read the original story on the Forbes:
Under North Korean Attack, A Ukrainian Unit Turned A River Into A Wall
