The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #34510   Message #963727
Posted By: GUEST,Q
07-Jun-03 - 01:42 PM
Thread Name: Origins: We Are the D-Day Dodgers
Subject: ADD: Onwards to the Po
The version by Jim Dixon has most of the words usually remembered by the soldiers, especially the first five verses. In "Songs From The Front And Rear," by Anthony Hopkins, an anthology of Canadian Servicemen's songs from the Second World War, only these five verses are given (p. 110), each verse ending "We are the D-Day Dodgers, in sunny Italy."

A second song, "Onwards to the Po," also to the tune Lili Marlene, is drenched in cynicism and a sense of injustice. Canadian soldiers were involved heavily in the fighting. This song by an unknown Canadian soldier.

ONWARDS TO THE PO

1. We will debouch into the valley of the Po.
We will strike the Hun a mighty --- [fucking] blow.
And this we know, for Corps says so.
Onwards to Bologna, onwards to the Po.

2. We'll unleash the recce, we will let them go.
We know the mighty machine is very [fucking] slow.
But though they're lagging far behind,
We'll be there, to smash that line.
Onwards to Bologna, onwards to the Po.

3. Four British Div. is trailing in our wake,
We relieve the town that they're supposed to take.
They'll get the houses free of rent,
While we are living in our tent.
Onwards to Bologna, onwards to the Po.

Eleven Brigade is sitting on our right,
We really wonder if they're ever going to fight.
We have been waiting so goddamn long,
We just sat down, and wrote this song.
Onwards to Bologna, onwards to the Po.

From "Songs From the Front and Rear," Anthony Hopkins, 1979, p. 111, Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, 192 pp.
Unleash the recce indirectly points at one of the armoured reconnaissance regiments of the Canadian Corps (Governor General's Horse Guards, Royal Canadian Dragoons, or the Princess Louise's Dragoon Guards).
The Fifth Canadian Armoured Division was known as the maroon (for the shoulder patches) machine, but the reference may be to the "war machine" generally.
Debouch generally means to move quickly out of a defile, but this favorite word of the generals is used with contempt, as the troops were supposed to be in Bologna by Christmas, 1944, but they remained mired in mud and in the mountains.
These comments extracted from the remarks of Anthony Hophins, p. 111.