the "Screaming Eagles" was kind of a callsign for the 101st Airborne division.
Chorus basically is this: the patch of the 101st was a lightning bolt, the thunder and artillery is kinda obvious, and the Nazis being cast on Bastogne was explaining the battle of the Bulge, where Hitler turned the bulk of his remaining forces to Bastogne, the crossroads in France where he thought he could turn the tide of the war and ask for an end on his terms. facing their forces alone refers to the fact that the Airborne repelled the Nazis with practically no re-enforcements or armor support.
the whole second stanza is about the Eagles (again, the Airborne) dropping into Normandy and being put onto the tip of the spear on the assault into Berlin.
"France is still under enemy rule... etc. etc." is kinda obvious, no hidden symbolism there.
the stanza after, about the battle of Arnhem is where they were told to stop the Nazi advance, but failed because "they were stretched out just one bridge too far." the tide turned and the Axis pushed the attack, the Allies lost momentum and retreated.
"go to bastogne the crossroads must hold, stand alone in the cold!" this part is a CO or general demanding that the Airborne go to the crossroads of france, which was lightly defended in the first place, and try to hold it against the full remainder of Hitler's Panzer divisions. the time was in winter, hence standing alone in the cold.
the next part, about foxholes and the storm was basically saying that men were going to die in the foxholes they were digging to prepare for the Nazi onslaught and once the siege started, there was no retreat. the tanks emerge at the treeline, signalling the beginning.
"tanks and mortars are shaking the ground, prey of man and machine!" so many men died from the enemy's superior armor power, not to mention the infantrymen and footsoldiers.
moving on, the cold winter took people's lives in their holes, so close to christmas.soldiers literally froze to fucking death (srry, i'm just very anti-freezing... much rather take a bullet. it's faster, you know?). they felt there was no way to surrender and no way to retreat. they'd rather die. again, they were alone in this battle.
the next stanza is just a re-cap of what they'd been through and what they are going through.the nazis offered surrender terms to the general in charge of the situation on the Allies' side, but he just said,"Nuts." literally. that's what he said, which was basically a giant,"you can go fuck yourself, we'll kick your ass cuz we've done it before." (yup, proud to be an American right then...) then you got the chorus again twice and an epic guitar solo.
erm, final point being that we won the battle and whupped on their asses all the way back to Berlin.
the "Screaming Eagles" was kind of a callsign for the 101st Airborne division.
Chorus basically is this: the patch of the 101st was a lightning bolt, the thunder and artillery is kinda obvious, and the Nazis being cast on Bastogne was explaining the battle of the Bulge, where Hitler turned the bulk of his remaining forces to Bastogne, the crossroads in France where he thought he could turn the tide of the war and ask for an end on his terms. facing their forces alone refers to the fact that the Airborne repelled the Nazis with practically no re-enforcements or armor support. the whole second stanza is about the Eagles (again, the Airborne) dropping into Normandy and being put onto the tip of the spear on the assault into Berlin. "France is still under enemy rule... etc. etc." is kinda obvious, no hidden symbolism there. the stanza after, about the battle of Arnhem is where they were told to stop the Nazi advance, but failed because "they were stretched out just one bridge too far." the tide turned and the Axis pushed the attack, the Allies lost momentum and retreated. "go to bastogne the crossroads must hold, stand alone in the cold!" this part is a CO or general demanding that the Airborne go to the crossroads of france, which was lightly defended in the first place, and try to hold it against the full remainder of Hitler's Panzer divisions. the time was in winter, hence standing alone in the cold. the next part, about foxholes and the storm was basically saying that men were going to die in the foxholes they were digging to prepare for the Nazi onslaught and once the siege started, there was no retreat. the tanks emerge at the treeline, signalling the beginning. "tanks and mortars are shaking the ground, prey of man and machine!" so many men died from the enemy's superior armor power, not to mention the infantrymen and footsoldiers. moving on, the cold winter took people's lives in their holes, so close to christmas.soldiers literally froze to fucking death (srry, i'm just very anti-freezing... much rather take a bullet. it's faster, you know?). they felt there was no way to surrender and no way to retreat. they'd rather die. again, they were alone in this battle. the next stanza is just a re-cap of what they'd been through and what they are going through.the nazis offered surrender terms to the general in charge of the situation on the Allies' side, but he just said,"Nuts." literally. that's what he said, which was basically a giant,"you can go fuck yourself, we'll kick your ass cuz we've done it before." (yup, proud to be an American right then...) then you got the chorus again twice and an epic guitar solo. erm, final point being that we won the battle and whupped on their asses all the way back to Berlin.