Figure 1.-- After the fall of France, the Lufwaffe and the once skeptical German prople confidently look to the Lufwaffe or another quick victory over England. One company revived a popular World war I naval song for the the struggle against Britain, "Wir fahren gegen Engeland". (Then we sail against England, actually Engles Land) The post card has some interesting features. Notice the Stukas depicted. Actually the Stukas had to be withdrawn after only a few days because they were so vulnerable to RAF fighters. Also notice the term 'Engeland'. That is not the German term for England, but rather Land of the Engles, refering to he Angels--one of the Germanic Anglo-Saxon German tribes that conqured Britain after the fall of Rome. Click on the image to see the back of the postcard.

After the fall of France, the Lufwaffe and the once skeptical German prople confidently look to the Lufwaffe or another quick victory over England. One company revived a popular World war I naval song for the the struggle against Britain, "Wir fahren gegen Engeland". (Then we sail against England, actually Engles Land) The post card has some interesting features. Notice the Stukas depicted. Actually the Stukas had to be withdrawn after only a few days because they were so vulnerable to RAF fighters. Also notice the term 'Engeland'. That is not the German term for England, but rather Land of the Engles, refering to the Angels--one of the Germanic Anglo-Saxon German tribes that conqured Britain after the fall of Rome.

World War I

Germany/Prussia had fought wars with France, but never with England before. After Germany invaded Belgium (August 1914), Britain declared war on Germany and the two countries were at war for the first time. The popular German poet, Hermann Löns, soon after wrote 'Wir fahren gegen Engeland' also called 'Das Engellandlied'. The translation is complicated because of the use of 'Engeland" which looks like England, but is not. The translation would be 'Then we sail against Engles Land' and 'Engles Land Song'. It was almost immediately set to music and becane a popular German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) song. It also became popular with the German people at large. Löns, atrong German patriot, volunteered for military service. He was subsequently killed in action. Although written by a soldier poet and popular among sailors, the song was a recpie for suicide. The German Army was the stringest in the world. The Germany Navy was not. In the one major fleet engagement of the War at Jutland (1916), the German Highs Seas fleet was nearly destroyed by the much larger and more powerful Royal Navy.

World War II

Only two decades separated World War I and II. As a result 'Wir fahren gegen Engeland' continued in the menory of the German people as they again found themselves at war with Britain. (The Germas almost alwaus referred to England and Englander instead of Britain.) The song also proved popular with the World War II Kriegsmarine that Hitler rebuilt out od the skeleton force allowed by the Versalles Treaty. The martial sentimality of the song and patriotism was just the sort of ethos that the NAZIs promoted. They created new songs like the 'Horst Vessel Leid', 'Es zittern die morschen Knochen,' 'Deutschland erwache', 'Blut muss fließen', 'Sieg Heil Viktoria,' and many others. The song was not just popular with the Keigsmarine. We note reports of German POWs in England singing the song.

Ethnicity: Engeland

Hermann Löns used the term Engel(l)and instead of England for poetic affect. Engeland meant not England, but the 'land of the Engels' This was anoyther way of say the 'Angles'--one of tge barbarian Germanic tribes tht invaded Roman Britain and founded Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Anglo in Anglo-Saxon comes from the Angles/Anglii. Löns was going out of his way to make a point that Germany's new enemy was also of Germanic descent. It is not entirely clear just why this was importabt to him. But it does under core the conection that Germans even well before the rise of the race-made NAZIs made with ethnicity/race and nationliy. A Dutch reader who speaks German disagrees. He tells us, " No, it does not seem to be right. I don't think that the poet meant any kinship with the Anglo-Saxons when he wrote this poem. I know the melody and I could sing it. I heard it many times on the radio duting the occupation. The melody is stirring. It is interesting that the word England in Dutch is Engeland. The second 'e' is not silent: it sounds like 'engulland'. That's why I believe that the composer needed the change from England to Engeland." The Germans tended to treat occupied countries with German/Nordic stock (Belgium-Flanders, Denmark, the Neterlands, Norway) more 'gently' thn other occupied countries. England sems to have ben an excption. Availavle iformation suggests that they were going to be much harsher on the Britih, perhaps because it ws amilitary threat. Plans devloped for the Eisatzgrupen provide some horrifying insights as to what was in store for the British.

Poem Lyrics

Löns' poem is about a German World War I sailor soldier leaving home to go to war. He has one last drink with his comrades. He says farewell to his sweatheart (Schatz = treasure). He asks her to reach out her white hand and to hold his. Then in the third verse he asks her not to sorrow if he should be killed in battle bd his body lay in the bottom of the deep seas. He asks her not to cry because she should remember, he shed his blood and died for the Fatherland.

Heute wollen wir ein Liedlein singen,
trinken wollen wir den kühlen Wein,
und die Gläser sollen dazu klingen,
denn es muß, es muß geschieden sein.

Chorus: Gib' mir deine Hand, deine weiße Hand,
leb' wohl, mein Schatz, leb' wohl, mein Schatz,
leb' wohl, lebe wohl;
denn wir fahren, denn wir fahren,

denn wir fahren gegen Engeland, Engeland!

Unsre Flagge, und die [sie] wehet auf dem Maste.
Sie verkündet unsres Reiches Macht;
denn wir wollen es nicht länger leiden,
daß der Englischmann darüber lacht.

Chorus: Gib' mir deine Hand, deine weiße Hand,
leb' wohl, mein Schatz, leb' wohl, mein Schatz,
leb' wohl, lebe wohl;
denn wir fahren, denn wir fahren,

denn wir fahren gegen Engeland, Engeland!

Kommt die Kunde, daß ich bin gefallen,
daß ich schlafe in der Meeresflut;
weine nicht um mich, mein Schatz, und denke:
Für das Vaterland, da floß sein Blut.

Chorus: Gib' mir deine Hand, deine weiße Hand,
leb' wohl, mein Schatz, leb' wohl, mein Schatz,
leb' wohl, lebe wohl;
denn wir fahren, denn wir fahren,

denn wir fahren gegen Engeland, Engeland!

(Ahoi!)

English Translation

Today we want to sing a little song
We want to drink some cool wine
And our glasses must clink to it
For it is time for us to part.

Chorus: Give me your hand, your white hand
Farewell my darling/trassure, farewell, farewell
Farewell for we set sail, for we set sail
For we set sail against England!, England!

Our flag flatters on the mast
It proclaims the power of our Reich
For we will no longer tolerate
The Englishman’s scorn for it.

Chorus

Should news come that I have fallen
That I sleep in the depths of the sea
Weep not for me, my darling but think
There flowed his blood for his Fatherland.

Chorus

Added Words: Bomben auf Engeland

Our Dutch reader tells us, "I just remember some of the words that were not included on the post card. Where the soldiers sing: "Gib mir deine Hand, deine weiße Hand, lebwohl mein Schatz, leb'wohl, lebe wohl, denn wir fahren, denn wir fahren gegen Engeland, Engeland, hoert ihr die Motoren singen 'ran an den Feind, hoert ihr's in den Ohren klingen 'ran an den Feind, Bomben, Bomben auf Engeland". I vividly recall hering this over abd over on the radio. Why they left this out I don't know. Perhaps too primitive? In English it would be ''do you hear the engines sing: "attack the enemy", "do you hear the sound in your ears'?" We suspect that the card is the original World War I poem written for the Navy. "The ommited words sond like World War II aditions written for the Luftwaffe.

Postcard

The image here was a commercial postcard published in Germany during World War II. The publisher, apparently the Horn Company, has printed on the back, "Denn wir fahren gegen Engeland" HORN's Künstlerkarten - eine Erinnerung fürs Leben und historische Dokumente für kommende Geschlechter. Nr 2001 Verlagsrechte für Postkarten nur HORN Verlag Gotha gegr.1898. Nachdruck auch auszugsweise wird strafbar verfolgt." This translate as "'Then we fight against England"' HORN's artistic post cards - a memory for life and historical documents for future generations. No.2001 Publishing rights for post cards only HORN Publishing Company Gotha est. 1898 reprinting not allowed, will be prosecuted by law.

It is interesting that German civilians were purchasing postcards like this for ordinary messages. We are not familiar with similar cards being sold in Bitain or later America. Individual Germans of course could not control what the NAZI Government did or what was brodcasted on the radio. They could control what postcards they purchased in the shops. We wonder if the person who purchased the card here (figure 1) remembered his or her purchase when the Allied bombs started falling on Germany. We suspect some one who purchased and sent potcards like this were strongly commited to the NAZI war effort and had no problem with Germany bombing other countries. The card is interesting because it is a little piece of evidence associated with the intensely argued question as o what degree rge Germany people as opposed to a crin=minal govrnment responsible for the War and assiciated war crimes. The message written on the back was innocuous. It read, "Donauwörth 22 4(?) ... Meine Lieben! In Donauwörth sind wir gut um 4 angekommen. Jetzt haben wir 2 1/2 Std. Aufenthalt. Bis 8 werden wir doch nach Hause kommen. Herzliche Grüße an Frau, Eltern und Geschwister" Donauwörth is a city in southern Germany (Bavaria), in the Swabia region located at the union of the Danube and Wörnitz rivers. A German reader writes, "As far as the translation goes I have no trouble to read the writing. Some words are abbreviated and everywhere the writer repeats the same letter he simply puts a small bar on top of that letter, a very old-fashioned German habit. To date something in Germany the day comes first, then the month and then the year. So April 22 is 22/4/. I believe the month on the card is April and not September. I don't see the year. This translates as, "Donauwörth 22 4 or 9, My dears! In Donauwörth we arrived fine at 4 o'clock. Now we have 2 and a half hours rest. Around 8 we will come home. Best greetings to wife, parents and siblings." The address is: To Family of Johann Karl, Ellingen, Rosental 154.

Dutch Memories: German Controlled Radio

A Dutch reader who was a boy during the German occuption writes, "I remember this bombastic song very well, (Bombs on England) with a lot of fanfares, drums and a soldiers' chorus, You heard it especially in 1940 and 1941, when the Luftwaffe was in full force. The Germans controlled the radio ptogramming and played the songs over and over again. There was no way to acoid them if you wanted to listen to the radio. We indeed heard "Bomben auf Engeland" sometimes every day during the Battle of Britain. A typical broadcast went as follows. First the announcer would interrupt the program with a special news item. We always knew what it was: "Eine Sondermeldung aus dem Führer Hauptquartier" (a special message from the Führer's Head Quarters). After some music: "Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt" (the Upper Command of the Wehrmacht announces). Then followed the news that the Germans had conquered some more lands and cities, or that the U-Boats had sunk several enemy ships in the Atlantic Ocean. At the end of such message you would hear "Wir fahren gegen Engeland", or Franz Liszt's "Les Préludes" by the Berlin Philharmonic. Kultur muß sein (culture is necessary). These broadcasts is what the German people heard as well as occupied people all over Europe. The songs continued after 1941, but not this one as the Germans were no longer capable of invading England."

Created: 11:06 PM 12/31/2014
Last updated: 1:38 AM 6/8/2015