{"id":60672,"date":"2021-02-11T21:33:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T19:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=60672"},"modified":"2025-09-02T20:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T18:58:21","slug":"panzerlied-the-german-military-anthem-played-in-france-italy-chile-brazil-and-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2021\/02\/11\/panzerlied-the-german-military-anthem-played-in-france-italy-chile-brazil-and-south-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Panzerlied: the German military anthem played in France, Italy, Chile, Brazil, and South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Among military songbooks, one can find curious cases of melodies that ended up passing from one army to another, even between former enemies.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2021\/11\/07\/lili-marleen-a-great-short-film-about-world-war-ii-and-some-interesting-facts-about-the-song\/\">'Lili Marleen': A great short film about World War II and some interesting facts about the song<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2020\/11\/13\/la-poco-conocida-relacion-entre-espana-y-el-famoso-himno-de-los-marines-de-estados-unidos\/\">The little known relationship between Spain and the famous Marines' Hymn<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><big>The original German version from 1933 and the Namibian version from 1937<\/big><\/p>\n<p>An example of this is <strong>the \"Panzerlied\" (Tank Song), an anthem written in 1933 by a German Army officer, Kurt Wiehle<\/strong>, based on lyrics from a song by the German Navy and based on the melody of a song titled \"Luiska-lied\". <strong>The anthem became popular among German armored forces during World War II<\/strong>, with various lyrics.<\/p>\n<p>Without a doubt, <strong>the most famous version is the one that appeared in the American film \"Battle of the Bulge\" (1965)<\/strong>, in which it was sung by German tankmen in a presentation to their leader (in the film they call him Martin Hessler, but in real life his name was Joachim Peiper):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8JDkdc246QQ\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Already before World War II, <strong>in 1937, a German version of this song was made in Namibia, the \"S\u00fcdwesterlied\"<\/strong>, written by Heinz Anton Klein-Werner and sung by the German colony in that country:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/axMqA9SMUXc\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The \"Panzerlied\" continued to be sung in the German Army after the Second World War<\/strong>, appearing in various official Bundeswehr songbooks, <strong>until 2017<\/strong>, when the then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (now President of the European Commission) decided to prohibit the publication of further songbooks including it, considering it a nazi anthem, despite the fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/lyricstranslate.com\/en\/panzerlied-panzer.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">its lyrics (you can read them here in German and English)<\/a> do not include any reference to Nazism or its ideology.<\/p>\n<p><big>The versions that are sung in the French Army<\/big><\/p>\n<p>As with another famous German song from that war, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2021\/11\/07\/lili-marleen-a-great-short-film-about-world-war-ii-and-some-interesting-facts-about-the-song\/\">\"Lili Marleen\"<\/a>, which was also covered in many languages, the catchy melody of the \"Panzerlied\" eventually passed into the ranks of the French Foreign Legion: <strong>In the late 1940s, it was adopted by the French Foreign Legion under the name \"K\u00e9pi blanc\"<\/strong> (White kepi, in reference to the cylindrical cap worn by French legionnaires). <a href=\"http:\/\/foreignlegion.info\/songs\/kepi-blanc\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">You can read the French lyrics here<\/a>, and you can listen to the legionary anthem here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/APFD57hsDqI\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the French Army there is also another song inspired by the \"Panzerlied\", <a href=\"https:\/\/musique-militaire.fr\/armes-et-regiments\/cavalerie\/la-marche-des-chars\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\"La Marche des Chars\" (you can read the lyrics here)<\/a>, sung by members of the 501st Tank Regiment:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/prEi7FvDg2Y\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><big>The Italian paratroopers' version: \"Sui monti e sui mar\"<\/big><\/p>\n<p>The Italian Army's \"Folgore\" Parachute Brigade also ended up adopting the melody of the German \"Panzerlied\" <strong>with its own lyrics, entitled \"Sui monti e sui mar\"<\/strong> (In the mountains and in the sea):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XjKr6ZyMuDE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><big>The \"Armored Anthem\" of the Chilean Army<\/big><\/p>\n<p>As expected, there is also a Spanish version of the \"Panzerlied.\" It's titled <strong>\"Himno de los Blindados\" (Hymn of the Armored Vehicles)<\/strong> and is sung by the tank crews of the Chilean Army, whose parade traditions were based on the old Prussian Army:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yasCSlr-egI\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It must be said that in addition to Chilean tanks, <strong>this anthem is also used as an instrumental march in all types of military parades in Chile.<\/strong> Here we can see members of the Chilean Navy marching to its chords:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iDgOYTvx60M\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><big>The Portuguese versions of the Brazilian Army<\/big><\/p>\n<p>The \"Panzerlied\" has several versions in Portuguese. One of them is <strong>the \"Can\u00e7\u00e3o da Tropa Blindada,\" (Song of the Armored Troop) used by tankmen of the Brazilian Army:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w3KVoOnnik4\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The song of the 26th Parachute Infantry Battalion of the Brazilian Army<\/strong> also uses the melody of the \"Panzerlied\":<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9OGvN74VgP8\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><big>\"Loyal Fighter\": The South Korean Army's version<\/big><\/p>\n<p>Finally, one of the most curious versions of the Panzerlied is the one sung by the <strong>Republic of Korea Army<\/strong>, where this anthem is called \"Loyal Fighter\" (<a href=\"https:\/\/doqin.tistory.com\/10599\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">you can read the lyrics here<\/a>):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UfgB4Ptp6YY\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Main photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegionetrangereOfficiel\/posts\/3067886133267089\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">L\u00e9gion \u00c9trang\u00e8re<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Among military songbooks, one can find curious cases of melodies that ended up passing from one army to another, even between former enemies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11549,11348],"tags":[4162,12242,21424,12802,6686,738,10575,11126,10929,14735,17428,11680,14732,14733,14736,14731,11555,14734,11556,15180,4697],"class_list":["post-60672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-history","category-music","tag-armee-de-terre","tag-brazil","tag-brazilian-army","tag-brigata-paracadutisti-folgore","tag-bundeswehr","tag-chile","tag-france","tag-french-foreign-legion","tag-germany","tag-heinz-anton-klein-werner","tag-italian-army","tag-italy","tag-kurt-wiehle","tag-luiska-lied","tag-namibia","tag-panzerlied","tag-republic-of-korea-army","tag-sudwesterlied","tag-south-korea","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-wehrmacht"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-12 11:57:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}