Kriegie Ballad, The

DESCRIPTION: "Yes, this is the place that we took, sir, And landed right into the bag, Right outside the town of Tobruk, sir." The soldiers fought in North Africa all the way to Brindisi. Taken captive by the Italians, he is suffering from poor clothes and food
AUTHOR: Words: Robert Garioch
EARLIEST DATE: 1972 (Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs)
KEYWORDS: war soldier prisoner food hardtimes clothes
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 223-225, "The Kriegie Ballad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10516
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Botany Bay (I)" (tune)
NOTES [153 words]: At the start of World War II, the Italians controlled Libya, and looked to take Egypt. The British sent forces to fight back, and smashed the Italians. So Hitler sent Rommel and the Africa Korps to prop up the Italians. The result was several years of seesaw battles, mostly in the region from Tobruk to Benghazi. The Germans were the core of the Axis forces -- but by themselves they simply didn't have enough troops to fight the British, and even if troops had been available (they weren't, because the Germans were fighting Russia), it would have been hard to get them across the Mediterranean because of the British Navy. So although we usually think of the British fighting the Germans, there were always Italians on hand -- they were the bulk of the infantry, and took a lot of the prisoners. And the Italians couldn't even supply their own troops, let alone British prisoners. Hence, presumably, this song. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: DalC223

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography