It's an interesting song about militarism and modern warfare in the 20th century. The song is however, written in a retrospective as this was written during a cold war, an era where the warfare described never really happened (save for a few conflicts).
The bloody ditches, bunker soldiers, and trained bodies are all correspondent to the nature of the Pacific / European Theaters of WW2. I've seen translation differences where the line 'I'd give my life just to fight like you' is instead 'I'd give up rice fields to fight like you', which probably indicates this song talks about the Japanese Front of WW2. The 'It's not a better way, but it's a success' possibly describes how many military tactics during the first 2 world wars were successful but led to the loss of thousands for no reason.
Many older OMD songs follow this same theme, talking about warfare or a vague notion about sacrificing oneself for a bigger cause. This is what defined their music in the early 1980s.
It's an interesting song about militarism and modern warfare in the 20th century. The song is however, written in a retrospective as this was written during a cold war, an era where the warfare described never really happened (save for a few conflicts).
The bloody ditches, bunker soldiers, and trained bodies are all correspondent to the nature of the Pacific / European Theaters of WW2. I've seen translation differences where the line 'I'd give my life just to fight like you' is instead 'I'd give up rice fields to fight like you', which probably indicates this song talks about the Japanese Front of WW2. The 'It's not a better way, but it's a success' possibly describes how many military tactics during the first 2 world wars were successful but led to the loss of thousands for no reason.
Many older OMD songs follow this same theme, talking about warfare or a vague notion about sacrificing oneself for a bigger cause. This is what defined their music in the early 1980s.