This time they were invited ....

[Kirkhill]

THIS TIME they were invited. On May 22nd locals cheered as German tanks rolled through the streets of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital once occupied by the Nazis. City buses flashed tributes to the fraternal bonds linking the nato allies. Even so, when the Bundeswehr’s brass band struck up a rendition of “Prussia’s Glory”, some of the German dignitaries assembled for the inauguration of their army’s 45th Panzer brigade felt a twinge of unease. It wasn’t until they saw the beaming faces of their Lithuanian counterparts that they were able to enjoy the show.

Germany is building a big scary army

Its allies are ready. But are the Germans?

www.economist.com

Credit where it is due. The Germans (Prussians) created some of the best military music out there.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Credit where it is due. The Germans (Prussians) created some of the best military music out there.

Das Panzerlied is my ringtone.

 

[FJAG]

FYI. There are Lyrics to Preußens Gloria. The song was written in 1871 just after beating the snot out of the French in the Franco Prussian War. It's a bit macho. Here's a version with both the German lyrics and an English translation of them. The modern version has been changed a bit and generally wherever Prussia or Prussians is mentioned it now reads Germany and Germans.

Fun fact: there's a reference to Silesia around 1:20. It used to be a part of Prussia and is now a part of Western Poland and is where my mother's family came from. My dad's from Berlin, Prussia's capital. The Baltics, incl Lithuania, used to be East Prussia and very, very German until the Russians did a resettlement campaign.

Usually when its part of a parade march there is a fife and drum intro to Preußens Gloria. Here's a version with that intro and no singing which makes it a much better march.

Edited to add. Here's the parade in Lithuania of elements of Panzer Brigade 45 with the march on of colours and the Bundeswehr Wachbatallion.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Include a torchlight parade (Großer Zapfenstreich) and you have a spectacle.

 

[FJAG]

Include a torchlight parade (Großer Zapfenstreich) and you have a spectacle.

There a videos of those all over Youtube.

I attended an Austrian Army one in Vienna about twenty years ago. A little bit scaled down but pretty much the same. It's the equivalent ceremony of a British version Tattoo and runs to the same formula as the German version.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Germany is building a big scary army

Its allies are ready. But are the Germans?

www.economist.com

Credit where it is due. The Germans (Prussians) created some of the best military music out there.

100% spot on about the music.

 

[Blackadder1916]

There a videos of those all over Youtube.

I attended an Austrian Army one in Vienna about twenty years ago. A little bit scaled down but pretty much the same. It's the equivalent ceremony of a British version Tattoo and runs to the same formula as the German version.

The Germans gave us one in 1993 in Lahr as a farewell.