| Sabaton – Talvisota Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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From the farewell order of Field Marshal Gustav Mannerheim to the soldiers of the Finnish Army: "Soldiers! I have fought on many battlefields, but never have I seen your like as warriors! ... After sixteen weeks of bloody combat, with no rest day or night, our army stands unconquered before an enemy whose strength has grown in spite of terrible losses. ...Our fate is hard, now that we are compelled to surrender to an alien race land which for centuries we have cultivated with our labor and sweat. ...Yet we must put our shoulders to the wheel, in order that we may prepare, on the soil left to us, a home for those rendered homeless, and a better life for all; and, as before, we must be ready to defend our undivided homeland. We are proudly consious of our historic duty, which we shall continue to fulfill: the defense of western civilization which has been our heritage for centuries. But we also know that we have paid, to the last penny, any debt we have owed to the west. ...That an army so inferior in numbers and equipment, should have inflicted such seriour defeats on an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, and, while retreating, have over and over again repelled his attacks, is a thing for which it is hard to find a parallel in the history of war. But it is equally admirable that the Finnish people, face to face with an apparently hopeless situation, were able to resit giving in to despair, and instead to grow in devotion and greatness. Such a nation has earned the right to live." Translation by William R. Trotter in his book "A Frozen Hell"(1991). |
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