War - Ww1 - The War To End All Wars - The Detritus Poem by Paul Warren

From August 1914 to November 1918 the guns boomed
There were 700 million shells fired for soldiers doomed
And not every shell exploded when it was fired then
Each year they kill more than 20 innocent women and men
And the special unit of the French Army of detmineurs
Have lost 630 men in disarming shells, grenades and mortars

In the Great War for Germany it meant 35% of men aged 19-22 years
Were dead in the fighting that in the end were only family tears
For the British Commonwealth 12% of all soldiers who fought
Were dead by Armistice Day when the survivors were sought
And 31% of the 1913 Oxford graduates didn't survive
As officers were targeted in the attacking drive

And for France 50% of men 20 to 32 years were gone
Which meant that when the Second World War was on
They were stuck for manpower when the Germans attacked
The Great War left its detritus for generations exacted
And today what occurred a hundred years before now
Will colour our world and for which we will continue to bow.

© Paul Warren Poetry