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Tell the world of Paschendale
Mozete zamisliti kakav dogadjaj je ostavio ovakav jeziv krajolik
Ovih sam dana intenzivno slusao kombinaciju dvaju albuma Iron Maiden-a: ''Dance of Death'' i ''A Matter of Life and Death''(tj. onih sest pjesama koje imam sa njega), jednostavno mi je odgovarao nesto zesci zvuk koji ta dva albuma definitivno imaju. Nekoliko puta sam poslusao jednu od najboljih pjesama sa Dance of Death-a: Paschendale !!! Jedna od najzescih pjesama Maidena uopce za koju je Dickinson rekao da je posluzila kao inspiracija za album A Matter of Life and Death. Znam otprije da se radi o nekoj bitci kod tog mjesta Paschendale ali sam se jako zaintrigirao za nju pa sam malcice bio studiozan i otkrio da Paschendale nije bila tek jedna od bezimenih bitaka vec mjesto gore od pakla u kojemu nije bilo mjesta za humanost, i sada dok ovo pisem slusam ovu pjesmu i prolaze me trnci kad vidim sto se zbilo. Dickinson je takodjer rekao da je bio zacudjen kad je vidio Adriana Smitha okruzenog povijesnim knjigama dok je pisao ovo remek-djelo, simfoniju koja je opjevala jedno od najuzasnijih mjesta u povijesti covjecanstva.Maideni su vec pisali pjesme na ratnu tematiku a nekako je tematikom najslicnija The Trooper-u.
Slika malo podsjeca na Troopera ali uzas koji se dogodio kod Paschendale-a
je tesko usporediti sa icime.
Paschendale, mjesto u Belgiji bilo je popriste jedne od najkrvavijih bitaka u prvom svjetskom ratu ali i u citavoj povijesti. Bespostedna bitka je trajala od 31.srpnja 1917. do 10.listopada 1917. bitka u kojoj je poginulo nesto manje od milijun ljudi,bitka kod Paschendale-a je takodjer poznata kao bitka kod Ypresa, u njoj su se borile saveznicke snage(Australija,Kanada,Francuska,Novi Zeland i Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo) protiv Njemackog carstva. Bitci je prethodilo jedno od najintenzivnijih bombardiranja u tom ratu, nakon cega je detonirano oko 450 tona eksploziva koji je pobio oko deset tisuca nijemaca, a kazu da se detonacija osjetila cak u Londonu i Dublinu. Evo jos jedan nevjerojatan podatak: na bojisnici se nalazilo 1295 topova koji su bili razmjesteni svakih nekoliko metara. U prvoj bitci kod Paschendale-a saveznici su izgubili oko 100 000 ljudi, teren je bio krajnje negostoljubiv, mocvarno podrucje u kojem ima zivog blata i u susnim razdobljima i bezbroj njih se utopilo u tom blatu.
Krajobraz Paschendale-a snimljen iz zraka prije i poslije borbe
Ne postoje prave rijeci kojima bi se opisao taj uzas, ta patnja i smrt, Adrian Smith je bio stravicno blizu i iz pjesme se moze vidjeti kakav je to pakao na zemlji bio:
In a foreign field he lay
Lonely soldier unknown grave
On his dying words he prays
Tell the world of Paschendale
Relive all that he's been through
Last communioun of his soul
Rust your bullets with his tears
Let me tell you 'bout his years
Laying low in a blood filled trench
Kill themm 'til my very own death
On my face I can feel the falling rain
Never see my friends again
In the smoke in the mud and lead
Smell the fear and the feeling of dread
Soon be time to go over the wall
Rapid fire and the end of us all
Whistles, shouts and more gun fire
Lifeless bodies hang on barbed wire
Battlefield nothing but a bloody tomb
Be reunited with my dead friends soon
Many soldiers eighteen years
Drown in mud no more tears
Surely a war no-one can win
Killing time about to begin
Home, far away
From the war, a chance to live again
Home, far away
But the war, no chance to live again
The bodies of ours and our foes
The sea of death it overflows
In no man's kind god only knows
Into jaws of death we go
Crucified as if on a cross
Allied troops they mourn their loss
German war propaganda machine
Such before has never been seen
Swear I heard the angels cry
Pray to god no more may die
So that people know the truth
Tell the tale of Paschendale
Cruelty has a human heart
Everyman does play his part
Terror of the men we kill
The human heart is hungry still
I stand my ground for the very last time
Gun is ready as I stand in line
Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go
Blood is falling like the rain
It's crimson cloak unveils again
The sound of guns can't hid their shame
And so we die on Paschendale
Dodging shrapnel and barbed wire
Running straight at the cannon fire
Running blind as I hold my breath
Say a prayer symphony of death
As we charge the enemy lines
A burst of fire and we go down
I choke a cry but no-one hears
Fell the blood go down my throat
Home, far away
From the war, a chance to live again
Home, far away
But the war, no chance to live again
See my spirit on the wind
Across the lines beyond the hill
Friend and foe will meet again
Those who died at Paschendale
evo jos jedna sablastna za kraj
UPDATE: naidjoh na ove citate vezane uz Paschendale:
"I died in Hell
(they called it Passchendaele); my wound was slight
and I was hobbling back; and then a shell
burst slick upon the duckboards; so I fell
into the bottomless mud, and lost the light"
— Siegfried Sassoon
"The horror of the shell-hole area of Verdun was surpassed. It was no longer life at all. It was mere unspeakable suffering. And through this world of mud the attackers dragged themselves, slowly, but steadily, and in dense masses. Caught in the advanced zone by our hail of fire they often collapsed, and the lonely man in the shell-hole breathed again. Then the mass came on again. Rifle and machine-gun jammed with the mud. Man fought against man, and only too often the mass was successful. " — General Erich Ludendorff
The man beside him, who had been through the campaign, replied tonelessly, 'It's worse further on up.'" — Leon Wolff, In Flanders Fields
"Passchendaele was just a terrible, terrible place. We used to walk along these wooden duckboards - something like ladders laid on the ground. The Germans would concentrate on these things. If a man was hit and wounded and fell off he could easily drown in the mud and never be seen again. You just did not want [to] go off the duckboards." — Private Richard W. Mercer
Post je objavljen 15.09.2006. u 21:22 sati.