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![]() In many ways, the motion picture was a typical Hollywood epic with an all-star cast. ![]() Battle of the Bulge was filmed in Spain and had the support of the government of the dictator Franco. He refused to hire several directors for the film because he wanted someone he could control. The movie was produced by the legendary Hollywood mogul Jack Warner Jr. The original screenplay was based on the work of John Melson, but his original work was rewritten by other screenwriters. The director of the movie was Ken Annakin and it was released on the 21st anniversary of the battle in 1965. John Philip Sousa wrote the official march of the Cavalry Corps, Sabre and Spurs- no lyrics, and isn't quite as bad-assed sounding as the Panzerlied but you can still picture John Wayne galloping to it- but that went by the wayside when the Cavalry and Armor branches merged in 1951.The ‘Battle of the Bulge’ is an enduringly popular American war movie. I can almost guarantee you that no tanker in the US Army, in the 95-year history of the Armor corps, ever got his blood up for battle by singing it. The thing wrong with the US Army Armor Song is that the melody it sounds- no exaggeration here- a lot like the Mickey Mouse March. The Panzerlied just starts out subtly with lyrics that could have been written for the US Postal Service: "neither blizzard nor storm nor heat or bone-chilling night!" Then it pushes past the middle verses to dying for your country and your tank becoming your steel tomb, lyrics that would never be allowed in an official US military song. I'm pretty sure that Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was a tanker in the Austrian Army, had to learn and sing this song!Īs I said on another thread, the lyrics of the official song of the US Army Armor Corps are very similar to the middle verses of the Panzerlied: closing in with the enemy, armor leading the way and breaking through for the infantry and artillery to follow. ![]() It's still used today by the the German Bundeswehr Panzer Corps, and I believe, with appropriate modifications, by the Austrian Army Panzer Corps too. It's a good fighting song for any fighting force. ![]() Note that there's nothing Nazi or any other type of politics in the lyrics. ![]()
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