Die blauen Dragoner, sie reiten - Deutsches Soldatenlied [Alte Filmaufnahmen]

"Die blauen Dragoner, sie reiten" (The Blue Dragoons, They Ride) is a German soldier's song with music by Hans Hertel and lyrics by G.W. Harmssen (1914), written probably for the 2nd Baden Dragoon Regiment No. 21. It depicts, from the perspective of a girl, the departure of soldiers to war and is typical of the war enthusiasm at the beginning of the First World War. Dragoons were originally mounted infantry — soldiers who used the horse for transport but fought on foot. The term dates from the early seventeenth century in France and probably derives from a firearm called the "dragon". Since dragoon units combined high mobility with comparatively low costs, they were greatly expanded in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Over time they developed into full cavalry; the trench warfare of the First World War finally ended their military significance. The song had a varied reception history: it appeared in the SA and SS songbooks of the National Socialist period, but was also still printed in the Bundeswehr songbook (1962, 1976) and in the Paratrooper songbook (1983). Beyond this it was widespread in the Bündische Jugend youth movement and the scouting scene. Lyrics: Die blauen Dragoner, sie reiten mit klingendem Spiel durch das Tor, Fanfaren sie begleiten hell zu den Hügeln empor. Die wiehernden Rosse, sie tanzen, die Birken, die wiegen sich lind, die Fähnlein auf den Lanzen flattern im Morgenwind. Morgen, da müssen sie reiten, mein Liebster wird bei ihnen sein. Morgen in alle Weiten, morgen, da bin ich allein. Die blauen Dragoner, sie reiten mit klingendem Spiel durch das Tor, Fanfaren sie begleiten hell zu den Hügeln empor. English translation: The blue dragoons, they are riding with music ringing through the gate, fanfares ring out to accompany them bright up into the hills. The whinnying horses, they prance, the birches sway gently in the breeze, the little pennants on the lances flutter in the morning wind. Tomorrow they must ride away, my dearest will be among them. Tomorrow out into the wide world, tomorrow I shall be alone. The blue dragoons, they are riding with music ringing through the gate, fanfares ring out to accompany them bright up into the hills.