When the Tigers Broke Free

It was just before dawn one miserable morning in black forty-four

When the foreward commander was told to sit tight,

When they asked that his men be withdrawn

And the generals gave thanks, as the other ranks

Held back the enemy tanks for a while

And the Anzio Bridgehead was held for the price

Of a few hundred ordinary lives

And kind old King George sent Mother a note when he heard that Father was gone

It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll with gold leaf and all

And I found it one day in a drawer of old photographs hidden away

And my eyes still grow damp to remember

His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp

It was dark all around, there was frost on the ground

When the Tigers broke free

And no-one survived from the Royal Fusiliers, Company “C”

They were all left behind, most of them dead – the rest of them dying

And that’s how the high command took my daddy from me