The mysterious and bountiful mistress of the sea maybe be cruel to those who perish upon her, but in their final moments, she ensures they know peace as the light fades.
'"Have you news of my boy Jack?” Not this tide. "When d'you think that he'll come back?" Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. "Has any one else had word of him?" Not this tide. For what is sunk will hardly swim, Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. "Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?" None this tide, Nor any tide, Except he did not shame his kind- Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide. Then hold your head up all the more, This tide, And every tide; Because he was the son you bore, And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!' -Rudyard Kipling, 'My Boy Jack'
My comment is 4 years late but I'd like to say it reminds me of my great granduncle, Kas Lange, German Army, died in the fighting at the Somme. The only fighting male that died in my family, he was 17. The rest were 18-23 years old but survived. And my ww2 family almost completely died off if it wasn't for my great grandfather deserting in 1945.
For some reason, this song makes me feel determined. You just died, but the fights not over till it’s done. This theme is like a small rest, a bit of confidence in dark times.
Somewhere on the western front... 0:05 - 1:35 "I am the last one left, my regiment fell in battle,ammo's low, and the corpses are piling up, but my orders remain the same, contain the Kaiser's troops at all costs and protect His Majesty's honor." "My mother would be proud to see me face an army bravely, but she is long gone, yet she is in Eden, protecting me." "I know I will not go home, but the sacrifice will be worth it, we have not shed blood in vain, the British Crown will not fall, not today, not tomorrow." That soldier died in combat before the German troops, however, he did not give his life in vain, his allies advance relentlessly, and back home, he will be remembered as a hero, and a good man.
Everytime I hear this masterpiece I just stop and look at spawn screen as map “lives” it’s own life. Stray bullets, explosions, it makes me kinda think about absurd of war, especially this one “ war to end all wars”
“Before I got to Europe, I had never seen an aeroplane in real life. High above they twisted and turned, like flocks of birds dancing! There was a romance around the pilots - these new swashbucklers of the skies. But the reality was...most of these brave young men would eventually end up back on the ground in twisted smoking wrecks.”
*Hermann Künne (December 12, 1897 in Wierthe, † April 23, 1918 in Zeebrugge) was a German sailor from the torpedo boat SMS S 53, who was stationed in Flanders at the time with the III. Torpedo Boat Flotilla.* *Künne fell defending the Zeebrugge mole battery on April 23, 1918 during the raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend. He killed a commanding officer, presumably Wing Commander Frank Arthur Brock (1888-1918), of the landing corps of the cruiser HMS Vindictive with his boarding knife and died in the ensuing scuffle. This act played a major role in preventing the capture of the important pier battery and is ultimately one of the reasons why the British attack on Zeebrugge failed.* *The British side told the story as such:* "Künne attacked a British officer who was armed with a revolver and a cutlass. Künne was similarly armed with a cutlass. He slashed his opponent across the neck and grabbed the revolver. The British officer, desperately wounded, stabbed Künne as he fell. Given that the Victoria Cross citation for Lieutenant Commander Harrison makes no mention of a sword fight, there are those who believe that Wing Commander Brock was the British officer killed by Künne." *Wing Commander Brock was mentioned in dispatches and received a memorial at zeebrugge with 2 other officiers and a mechanic. The inscription reads: "To the glory of god and in memory of these three officiers and one mechanic of the royal navy who fell on the mole at zeebrugge on st. georges day 1918 and have no known grave"* *The Kriegsmarine named the destroyer Z 19 of the 1936 series after Hermann Künne. His body was never found as well.*
