Just noticed something really sad about the Panzerlied

As someone else pointed out in another thread on this board, one of the lines in one of the later verses of Panzerlied (which they never sing, as they simply sing the first verse over and over about five or six times instead) is: "Fur Deutschland zu sterben is Ehren so hoch!" or "To die for Germany is the highest honor!"

The guy was wearing the insignia of a Leutnant, equivalent to an American Second Lieutenant, so he was obviously an idealistic young shavetail eager to prove himself (as I once was!); he may not have been hit by direct fire, but he still counted as KIA, so he shouldn't have minded dying that way.

It is both uplifting and a sad song.

Deutsch:

1. Ob's stürmt oder schneit,
Ob die Sonne uns lacht,
Der Tag glühend heiß
Oder eiskalt die Nacht.
Bestaubt sind die Gesichter,
Doch froh ist unser Sinn,
Ist unser Sinn;
Es braust unser Panzer
Im Sturmwind dahin.

2. Mit donnernden Motoren,
Geschwind wie der Blitz,
Dem Feinde entgegen,
Im Panzer geschützt.
Voraus den Kameraden,
Im Kampf steh'n wir allein,
Steh'n wir allein,
So stoßen wir tief
In die feindlichen Reihn.

3. Wenn vor uns ein feindliches
Heer dann erscheint,
Wird Vollgas gegeben
Und ran an den Feind!
Was gilt denn unser Leben
Für unsres Reiches Heer?
Ja Reiches Heer?
Für Deutschland zu sterben
Ist uns höchste Ehr.

4. Mit Sperren und Minen
Hält der Gegner uns auf,
Wir lachen darüber
Und fahren nicht drauf.
Und droh'n vor uns Geschütze,
Versteckt im gelben Sand,
Im gelben Sand,
Wir suchen uns Wege,
Die keiner sonst fand.

5. Und läßt uns im Stich
Einst das treulose Glück,
Und kehren wir nicht mehr
Zur Heimat zurück,
Trifft uns die Todeskugel,
Ruft uns das Schicksal ab,
Ja Schicksal ab,
Dann wird uns der Panzer
Ein ehernes Grab.

English:

In blizzard or storm,
Or in sun warm and bright,
The day hot as hell
Or bone-chilling be the night,
Our faces may with dust be laid,
But spirits never fade,
No, never fade;
Relentless, our tank
Thunders out on a raid.

With engines a-howling,
Fast as is the wind,
We head for the foe,
Safe, as we're in armor skinned.
Our comrades still behind us roam;
We fight the foe alone,
Yes, fight alone.
We stab through the line
To break the foes backbone.

Whenever the foe
May appear in our sight,
We'll ram throttle full,
Then we'll humble all his might!
Of what use is our life if we
Our country serve freely?
Yes, serve freely!
To die for our country,
Our honour shall be.

With tank traps and mines,
Our foe tries to impede.
We laugh at his ruses;
We know he'll not suceed.
And when, in threat, his cannons stand,
Half hidden in the sand,
Yes, in the sand,
We can find our way
Over much safer land.

And should at long last,
Fickle Lady Luck leave,
And we remain here,
Leaving family to grieve,
A bullet with our name on it,
Find us and seal our fate,
Yes, seal our fate,
Our tank will our grave be
On that final date.

a "lousy way for him to go"???? in war, is there ever a GOOD way to go??? the end result is still the same---it's the end of someone's life due to the fact that 2 countries disagree!

This was sad to you? Seriously? I mean this enthusiastic Nazis wannabe is part of an attack and gets killed and this makes you sad??? We learned nothing about his character except details from his uni and that he likes to sing and you somehow got attached??? If Conrad got killed that would be tragic but Nazis wannabe singer???