Songs German troops sang in the field

Discussions on the music in the Third Reich. Hosted by Ivan Ž.
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The Desert Fox
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#16

Post by The Desert Fox » 01 Jan 2003, 04:09

HaEn wrote: But the words were about; "Die Schwerter heraus und das Pulver und das Blei - und die schwarzen Garden rücken an-- und der Mut ist so groß und das Herz ist so weit - und das Hakenkreuz weht uns voran --- wir sind die schwarze Garde, die nie ein Feind gefällt - - sind Hitler's schwarze Gardisten, das beste Korps der Welt." just from memory. Frohe Weihnachten ! HN
My apologies for my ignorance of the german lanuage, but could I have an english translation? :oops:

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#17

Post by Larso » 29 Nov 2004, 13:33

One of the blokes at work has a grandfather who served on the Eastern Front during WWII. Apparently his favourite music is still the marching songs he sang as a young soldier. Given that he'd be sharing it with Aust veterans, he must get a few strange looks at his nursing home......


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Ivan Ž.
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#18

Post by Ivan Ž. » 12 Jul 2005, 03:36

I'm also interested to know which songs used to be sang during the war by ordinary soldiers. Note: please - no guesses; only actual documents and memories.

My father, for example, remembers German soldiers singing (in Serbia) "Lebe wohl, du kleine Monika" and "Westerwaldlied".

Ivan

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#19

Post by Ivan Ž. » 12 Jul 2005, 22:31

A "Landstorm Nederland" veteran (HaEn) remembers his unit singing "Westerwaldlied" as well, on their way to a POW camp:
HaEn wrote:The last speech our Commander gave us sounded something like this (in short): Soldiers! We are about to march off to a holding camp. This is the last time the Dutch get to see a Waffen-SS formation as one solid unit. Make it a good performance. No matter what, keep in step, Heads High, chest out, and eyes on the neck of your foreman. We did!!! For a short while when we were pelted with just about everything there seemed to be a little disorder as soldiers began shouting back at the screaming mob. Our commander broke the rule of "silence" while marching, and ordered "Ein Lied" ( A song). We started off and sang "Westerwald!!!" From here on we were soldiers on parade, no matter what.
Cheers,
Ivan

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#20

Post by Ivan Ž. » 11 Aug 2005, 15:40

Bosnian volunteers from the 23rd SS Division used to sing "Marširala, marširala Hitlerova garda" ("Hitler's Guard was marching, marching"), which was a cover of famous Serbian/Yugoslav monarchist song "Marširala, marširala kralja Petra* garda" [*King Peter I]. Volunteers from Swabian Turkey, of the 31st SS Division, were singing songs like "Erika" and "Wir tragen den silbernen Adler am Rock" during training.

[Info from For the Homeland, Rudolf Pencz.]

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#21

Post by vox stellarum » 12 Sep 2005, 01:12

Hi Ivan,

Can you explain "Swabian Turkey" a little bit, if you don't mind.

Regards,
vox

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#22

Post by Ivan Ž. » 12 Sep 2005, 03:07


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#23

Post by vox stellarum » 12 Sep 2005, 23:49

Thanks you!

Regards,
vox

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Zlatni ljiljan
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#24

Post by Zlatni ljiljan » 13 Sep 2005, 02:06

Ivan Ž. wrote:Bosnian volunteers from the 23rd SS Division used to sing "Marširala, marširala Hitlerova garda" ("Hitler's Guard was marching, marching"), which was a cover of famous Serbian/Yugoslav monarchist song "Marširala, marširala kralja Petra* garda" [*King Peter I].
You mean Bosnian volunteers from the 13th SS Division?

Where did you find this information? Sounds interesting and a little bit funny!

I know that song “Marširala kralja Petra garda” was performed in a local football tournament in Brčko District three years ago, but police intervened because the song “insults national feelings of Bosniak population”. Well, Bosniaks from the SS division sang it with a small modification. In fact, this song was official in Royal Yugoslav Army and all soldiers learned it, regardless nationality or religion.

However, thank you for this very interesting fact.

Regards,

/Dino

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#25

Post by Ivan Ž. » 13 Sep 2005, 02:31

Hello, Dino

Those were Bosnian volunteers from the 23rd SS Division "Kama".

I've added the source of the info to my previous post (a highly recommended book!), sorry for the delay.

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Ivan

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Re:

#26

Post by Ivan Ž. » 23 May 2015, 18:11

In today's issue of the "Politika" newspapers, there's an article by the film director Puriša Đorđević, in which he stated the following:
Puriša Đorđević wrote:History knows little about the German behaviour during the first days of the occupation [in Serbia. Ivan Ž.]. It was fine. They were drinking beer, at the bar entrance they raised hand, saluted "Heil Hitler!" and put their weapons and headgear aside. In the morning, on their way to their duties, they marched. The head of the column would shout "Drei! Vier!" and after two steps the squad would start singing; I remember the song as well: "Wir fahren gegen Engelland".
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Ivan

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Re:

#27

Post by Ivan Ž. » 26 Oct 2017, 16:23

In the book "Unser Kampf auf dem Balkan" (1942), war correspondent Kurt Neher, who was attached to a battalion from the 141st Mountain Jäger Regiment (6th Mountain Division), reports that, during the Battle of Crete (late May 1941), in between the fighting of course, the mountain troopers sang "Schön blüh'n die Heckenrosen" (27 May) and their favourite, "Wohl ist die Welt so groß und weit" (28 May).

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Re:

#28

Post by Sauerkraut » 05 Nov 2017, 23:00

I remember reading in the book "The forgotten soldier" by Guy Sajer, that the author sang "Märkische Heide" and "Weit ist der Weg zurück ins Heimatland". From Otto Henning "Panzer leader" I remember "Wir lagen vor Madagaskar".

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Songs of the Volksgrenadiere

#29

Post by Johann_Hoffmann » 15 May 2018, 05:02

On the topic of songs sang by soldiers I am often curious to know if there was any particular song that the Volksgrenadiere may of favored or had "associated" with it. I know of the "V̶o̶l̶k̶s̶s̶t̶u̶r̶m̶l̶i̶e̶d̶" and other specialized songs such as "Das Lied der Panzergrenadiere" or the most famous "Panzerwagenlied" but I have often wondered if any were associated with the Volksgrenadiere. I have seen some videos on YouTube with "I̶m̶ ̶g̶a̶n̶z̶e̶n̶ ̶V̶a̶t̶e̶r̶l̶a̶n̶d̶" associated with the Grenadiere/Volksgrenadiere but there is nothing I have seen of it in a Liederbuch from the period to know if it was truly used by them.

Thank you for your time,
Jon

[Fictional titles crossed-out & real titles corrected by the host.]

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Re:

#30

Post by Ivan Ž. » 15 May 2018, 13:48

Hello, Jon, and :welcome:

As our late member and Waffen-SS veteran HaEn wrote on page 1 of this thread: "At the front there was very little marching, just a lot of crawling, running, slushing through mud, taking cover, and very little incentive for singing."

By the time Volksgrenadier and Volkssturm units were formed, the front was everywhere. Not much time for singing.

The so-called "Volkssturmlied" you may find on YouTube is NOT a "Volkssturmlied". It is a 1940 recording of the 1933 song "Volk an's Gewehr" (an arrangement by Hanns Steinkopf). The YouTube title was made-up by the uploader, as he actually admitted himself.

There is no song called "Im ganzen Vaterland", it is another recently made-up title. The real title of that song is "Die Jägerbraut" (The Hunter's Bride). It was composed in the mid-1930s, recorded several times in the 1960s/1970s and it has nothing to do with the Volksgrenadiere.

There are no compositions known to me associated with the Volksgrenadiere.

I know of only two (real) compositions associated with the Volkssturm: "Lied des schlesischen Volkssturms" and "Marsch der Volkssturm-Bataillone". But it is highly unlikely that anyone outside the Rundfunk, that is, in the field, actually sang or played them. (There were probably more songs written for the Volkssturm, by the German propaganda, but they're all basically unknown today and it's unlikely that the Volkssturm ever actually sang them.) People got sick of military music already in 1942, let alone at the end of the war.

Cheers,
Ivan

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