Translation Of Russian Paratrooper Song

[Sunshine Temple]

Thanks. There's no urgency at all.

Since I've got the songs I need for the current chapter, and anymore and it'll get gratuitous.

I was more curious about this other one.

[Sunshine Temple]

Another US Airborne song.

This one is much more chipper

Provides a good contrast with "Blood on the Risers"

[lwf58]

Very WWII. Interesting how the song mentions gliders, which were never used after WWII due to the casualties they caused. A large percentage of gliders crashed on landing even when there was no German opposition.

[Sunshine Temple]

Indeed.

I haven't found when the song was written, but given the glider bit...

Refrain: We're All American and proud to be, for we're the soldiers of liberty, some fly their gliders to the enemy others are sky paratroopers/

It's an interesting contrast with the other songs.

Speaking of world war 2.

Here's Rot Scheint die Sonne (The sun shines red) is a german paratrooper song (Fallschirmjager lied)


English Subtitles but poor audio
No subtitles but better sound

Lyrics in German
Rot scheint die Sonne, fertig gemacht
wer weiß ob sie morgen für uns auch noch lacht.
werft an die Motoren, schiebt Vollgas hinein,
Startet los, flieget ab, heute geht es zum Feind.
An die Maschinen, an die Maschinen,
Kamerad, da gibt es kein zurück.
Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit

Donnern Motoren, Gedanken allein,
denkt jeder noch schnell an die Lieben daheim.
Dann kommt Kameraden, zum Sprung das Signal,
wir fliegen zum Feind, zünden dort das Fanal.
Schnell wird gelandet, schnell wird gelandet,
Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück.
Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
Komm' mit und zage nicht, komm' mit.

Klein unser Häuflein, wild unser Blut,
wir fürchten den Feind nicht und auch nicht den Tod,
wir wissen nur eines, wenn Deutschland in Not,
zu kämpfen, zu siegen, zu sterben den Tod.
An die Gewehre, an die Gewehre.
Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück,
Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
Komm' mit und zage nicht, komm' mit.

An die Gewehre, an die Gewehre.
Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück,
fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken.
Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit!
Dann wird gelandet, dann wird gelandet,
Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück.
Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken ,
Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit.


Text und Musik: Hermann Schäfer , 1938


And here's another Fallschirmjäger Marches - Fallschirmschützen Tretet An

Still haven't found anything from Japan.

And as another style here's the symphonic March of the Belgian Parachutists

Also the mellow, and with a hint of funk and light jazz, Israeli Shiro Shel Tzanhan (the song of a paratrooper)

[lwf58]

It would pretty much have had to be written in 1944, in honor of the upcoming invasion of France. The 82nd Airborne Division, the first to be converted to paratroop operations, was designated as an airborne division in August of '42. They were sent on parachute drops in Italy in 1943. The 101st Airborne Division was activated and used for the first time in the Normandy invasion.

Gliders were not used for combat delivery of troops until the Normandy invasion (June of 1944) in Operation Neptune. When they were used, the casualties were so high that the idea of mass glider drops were all but abandoned. In fact, there were no other (major) US parachute drops that I know of after Normandy; the two divisions fought as ground infantry for the rest of the war.

I looked at the English translation of the German Paratroop Song and found that while it more or less fit the spirit, the translation wasn't very good. There were a number of mistakes in it that even my rusty high school German was able to catch.

[Sunshine Temple]

Gliders were not used for combat delivery of troops until the Normandy invasion (June of 1944) in Operation Neptune. When they were used, the casualties were so high that the idea of mass glider drops were all but abandoned. In fact, there were no other (major) US parachute drops that I know of after Normandy; the two divisions fought as ground infantry for the rest of the war.

Operation Market Garden was big, largest in history.

Not many after that one.

Similarly the Germans stopped using large scale airdrops after the Battle of Crete, 1941 again due to high losses.

I looked at the English translation of the German Paratroop Song and found that while it more or less fit the spirit, the translation wasn't very good. There were a number of mistakes in it that even my rusty high school German was able to catch.

Ah good to know.

[lwf58]

I tend to think of Market mostly as a British operation, and forgot that the 82nd and 101st had supporting drops in it. The British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade are the units I think of, since they were the ones left holding the bag when the British XXX Corps failed to fight hard enough to join up with them.

Here's my (rather poor) attempt at a translation of the song.

Rot scheint die Sonne, fertig gemacht
Red shines the sun, prepare yourself (lit. "make ready")

wer weiß ob sie morgen für uns auch noch lacht.
Who knows whether the morning will still laugh with us.

werft an die Motoren, schiebt Vollgas hinein,
Rev up the motors, push to full power,

Startet los, flieget ab, heute geht es zum Feind.
Take off, fly away, today we go to the enemy.

An die Maschinen, an die Maschinen,
To the machines, to the machines,

Kamerad, da gibt es kein zurück.
Comrade, there is no going back.

Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
In the distant east are dark clouds

Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit
Come along and have no fear, come along

**********

Donnern Motoren, Gedanken allein,
Thundering motors, only thoughts, (lit. "thoughts alone")

denkt jeder noch schnell an die Lieben daheim.
A quick thought of the lover back home. (lit. "of the love", but the capital L makes it a noun)

Dann kommt Kameraden, zum Sprung das Signal,
Then comes, comrades, the signal to jump,

wir fliegen zum Feind, zünden dort das Fanal.
We fly to the foe, yonder the beacon ignites.

Schnell wird gelandet, schnell wird gelandet,
We're landing fast, we're landing fast, (lit. "fast comes landing")

Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück.
Comrade, there is no going back.

Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
In the distant east are dark clouds

Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit
Come along and have no fear, come along

**********

Klein unser Häuflein, wild unser Blut,
Small is our group, wild our blood,

wir fürchten den Feind nicht und auch nicht den Tod,
We don't fear the enemy and we don't fear death, (lit. "we fear not the enemy and also not death")

wir wissen nur eines, wenn Deutschland in Not,
We only know one thing, if Germany's in need,

zu kämpfen, zu siegen, zu sterben den Tod.
to battle, to victory, to suffer death. (lit. "to die the death")

An die Gewehre, an die Gewehre.
To the rifles, to the rifles.

Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück.
Comrade, there is no going back.

Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
In the distant east are dark clouds

Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit
Come along and have no fear, come along

**********

An die Gewehre, an die Gewehre.
To the rifles, to the rifles.

Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück.
Comrade, there is no going back.

Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
In the distant east are dark clouds

Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit!
Come along and have no fear, come along!

Dann wird gelandet, dann wird gelandet,
Then comes the landing, then comes the landing,

Kamerad, da gibt es kein Zurück.
Comrade, there is no going back.

Fern im Osten stehen dunkle Wolken
In the distant east are dark clouds

Komm mit und zage nicht, komm mit.
Come along and have no fear, come along.

[Sunshine Temple]

Oh, nice translation.


It doesn't have to be too exact. I'm thinking of using it to have Asuka with her own paratrooper song.

Not sure it that one's appropriate though. I'll play it be ear.

[lwf58]

I edited the song translation to include the whole thing, not just the first verse.

[Sunshine Temple]

Some real interesting lines here

Klein unser Häuflein, wild unser Blut,
Small is our group, wild our blood,

I think this could give Asuka some motivation, or at least "her" own song.

[Sunshine Temple]

I found another song.

This one supposedly a Japanese WW2 one.

Soranoshipei

Came from the wiki article [ulr=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_marine_paratroopers_of_World_War_II]Japanese marine paratroopers of World War II[/url]

And that's all I know about it. No idea if it's really a paratrooper song or anything really.

[lwf58]

Looks like it must be. The title was also used for a 1942 Japanese documentary, and the kanji for it are: 空の神兵
(It's actually "sora no shinpei", not "shipei".)

That translates literally as "sky's god-troops". It might be a pun, because 新兵 (shinpei) means "recruit" or "conscript soldier". I've seen it and another song called "Sora no Yuushi" listed on an album of Japanese military songs.

Here's a clip from the documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etq9yZ0keYg

Sora no Yuushi is played during the clip.

[Sunshine Temple]

Good to know. Amusing pun.

Well that makes me feel more rounded with the song selection. Thanks.