WWII poem

[Gopblin]

... Guess there's no offtopic forum so I'll post this here.

I found some real good Russian poems recently, by a frontline vet, here they are:

http://www.stihi.ru/avtor/greywb&book=1#1

If you know Russian, the poetry is awesome, and very authentic.

If you don't, well, last night I was drinking at poetry club, translated&read one there. I'm not a poet by any means, so forgive the crappy translation and random additions:

I don't come by the school on Victory Day
Although I get invited every spring
I get confused when kids call me a hero
And find I can't explain to them a thing

For one, I can’t explainthe medal
I got for victory at Kursk
Don’t want to lie, and I can’t bear
To tell the kids such bitter truths

That story is a bitter pill to swallow
My regiment in ’43 marched forth
And soon in rotting swamps we wallowed
July 16th to 24th

Pushed ever deeper into marshlands
We still blocked enemy’s advance
Each time we ducked into the berries
Not all got back up from the grass

I can not tell the kids that story -
How Alex died in spasms and wails
How we didn't eat or sleep at all there
And how we pissed where we laid

How Germans charged, every four hours,
Methodically, day by day
And inbetween the goddamn charges
Their mortars mixed us with the clay

How messenger arrived from HQ
And crawled to us over the dead
And when he made it, started talking
A sniper shot him in the head

How, crawling through the ruined trenches
I found the dead’s mist-hidden forms
I groped for ammo in the pockets
But mostly found just rot and worms

How in a week my mind was raging
“Looks like there’s no one left around.
What if the Union surrendered
And I’m the last one holding out?”

How in the end, incapable of reason,
I shot at any movement I could spot
All that remained of me were eyes, my weapon,
And hands that shot the gun and worked the bolt

That’s how I fought the Germans – creeping, crawling
And I am still ashamed to say
That while a thousand did the fighting
Sixteen survivors took the fame

When I see vets explain their medals
And tell the kinds exciting stuff
How they killed Nazis by the hundreds
With rockets, bullets, bare arms

How, overcoming pain and fear,
They triumphed over hated goons
I think that, deep in Mother Russia,
There must have been another Kursk

Best wishes,
Daniel

[lawless]

thats some amazing stuff. great job on the translation! i will forgive the fact that you belong to a poetry club

[Drecks]

And I am still ashamed to say
That while a thousand did the fighting
Us few survivors took the fame

These lines.... Great job.

[Trotskygrad]

amazing.

though probably it's "bare hands", not "bare arms"

I don't think they really choked people to death that way

[Panzerjoust]

Meh...I've seen better.

[Roland Kaul]

Originally Posted by Panzerjoust

Meh...I've seen better.

From someone that survived the horrors of kursk? Please share.

[Panzerjoust]

Originally Posted by Roland Kaul

From someone that survived the horrors of kursk? Please share.

The poet surviving a battle doesn't make the poem any better. A sophomore could write it, but POW! he was in the Kursk, so the poem is far much better now.

[Trotskygrad]

Originally Posted by Panzerjoust

The poet surviving a battle doesn't make the poem any better. A sophomore could write it, but POW! he was in the Kursk, so the poem is far much better now.

you're judging the english translation, and a lot of poetic significance and meaning will be lost. Judge it as a translation and not an original work.

[Gopblin]

Originally Posted by Panzerjoust

The poet surviving a battle doesn't make the poem any better. A sophomore could write it, but POW! he was in the Kursk, so the poem is far much better now.

??? This isn't about the poem, it's just a story. Wanna see some great Russian poetry, learn Russian and read Esenin.

Also, criticizing a poem based on a drunk translation by me is just weird - as I said, I'm not a poet (I go to poetry club meetings for free beer).

Best wishes,
Daniel

[Gopblin]

Here is another translation - just quick&dirty subtitles for a Youtube video of a veteran talking about hand-to-hand:

Ð*аÑ�Ñ�каз ветерана ВОВ о рукопашной Ñ�хватке - YouTube

I started looking who’s going up against me, who will be stabbing me
And opposite me was The German
Almost 7 feet tall, big facial features
His face was distorted, maybe from fear, maybe from rage
And he had this string of spit hanging from his jaw
I got so scared of him – I was a kid
That I totally forgot that I also had a carbine and was supposed to stab him
So when he stabbed me I made this childish motion, caught the rifle and pulled it
He lost his balance and fell
And then I remembered I had my carbine, but I had no idea how much force you need to stab a man
So I stabbed him with everything I had
I stabbed him so hard that actually the front sight slipped between his ribs and came out on the other side
And then I couldn’t pry my weapon loose for a long time
You realize I’m telling the story in detail, but really all of this took several seconds
The second German saw what happened, turned and bashed me in the jaw with the rifle stock
My jaw popped out all the way to the side, so I could see my own teeth down there on the left
(you can see the vet showing what happened around 2:02)
I was saved by Andrei Gordeevich Posudko
He killed the German, and then looked at me, saw what happened
And punched me from the right, so my jaw clicked back in place
Then I clenched my teeth (you can see him showing that too)
and didn’t scream anymore because I was afraid my jaw will pop out again
And that’s how I went until the end of that fight
But I have learned that you need very little force to stab someone *
So from then on I would just make a slight movement
It looks like I didn’t even touch the guy
And he’s already dying
…
Hand-to-hand is completely different from everything else
If you’ve ever been in one, you won’t forget any of it for the rest of your life




* Mosin rifle bayonet comes down to a fine point, and the rifle itself is both heavy and well-suited to stabbing. The penetrating power is enormous.


Best wishes,
Daniel

[feldmarschall]

very interesting threat

[Gopblin]

So you bail out, lay wiping off the blood
Delirious from barely beating death
The tank explodes and you just think - Thank God.
Now, common rifleman, completely safe

And only when you fully come around
You can remember simple thruth:
The riflemen are are also terrified
A rifleman can get killed too

[The Commissar]

A very good poem, the translation takes away from it, but slightly. Such truths from a man who lived through the last big offense from the Fascists on the Eastern Front.

[Gopblin]

I do not have war books in my apartment
And I dislike war movies even more.
I stay at peace with everyone around me
And rarely have memories of war.

I don’t write sagas of our fighting courage -
For us, just normal common men,
War wasn’t about the victories and glory
But friendships, coming to untimely end.


Leonid Seryi

[C_Gibby]

Hear the words I sing,
war's a horrid thing,
Here I sing, sing, sing,
ding-a-ling-a-ling.

[The Masta]

Originally Posted by C_Gibby

Hear the words I sing,
war's a horrid thing,
Here I sing, sing, sing,
ding-a-ling-a-ling.

Greatest poem of WWII.

[PRAPOR]

I think it should be interesting for forum members:
Famous soviet poet -Vladimir Visotskiy
Song about german soldiers, it is written in 1965 for spectacle about that war.

The soldier is always healthy

The soldier is always healthy
Soldiers at all ready
And dust, as from carpets
We are pulling away from the roads.

And do not stop
And do not change the feet
Shine our faces,
Glowing our boots!

By scorched plain
Meter by meter
Go to Ukraine
Soldiers of the group "Center".

On a "first-second" Calculate!
First, second ...
First, step forward! - In paradise.
First, second ...
And every second - also a hero
In paradise gets after you.
The first, second,
The first, second,
First, second ...

In front of us all in bloom.
Behind us all in fire.
No need to think - with us one
Who work for us to decide.

Funny - not gloomy
Let's go back to our homes
Blondes brides
Awards will be us!

All ahead, and now
Meter by meter
Go to Ukraine
Soldiers of the group "Center".

On a "first-second" Calculate!
First, second ...
First, step forward! - In paradise.
First, second ...
And every second - also a hero
In paradise gets after you.
The first, second,
The first, second,
First, second ...

Russian poetry - Vladimir Vysotsky - Soldiers of the Group "Center", 1965 (Polish subtitles) - YouTube

[Pagan]

Originally Posted by The Masta

Greatest poem of WWII.

Surely WW1