The main armies defeated
Remains are heading West
Towards the safety of the Reich

Between them and the homeland
Lies one final obstacle
A passage through the Carpaths

Known as impenetrable

Few challenging passes

Ravines dark and deep
Ascending 2000 meters
Where roads are bad and steep

Units without officers
Deserters from imprisonment
Over threatening white peaks


Nowhere light, nowhere shelter
Not a sign of life

A desolate dreary region
Where no-one can survive the misdemeanours
The crimes against mankind

The last halts of abundance
They left them far behind


Fury figures wrapped in grey blankets
Will-less eyes gaze into nothingless
Stare through this pathetic procession

A long cortege of infatuation

Tired sullen faces

Feet blistered and sore
Their clothing is threadbare
Soles tied up with cords


A mountain range afflicted by the cold
Icy wind brings horizontal

At the Carpathian Inferno

A lump of snow is looming

Alongside of the track
The tombstone of two comrades
Who died silent, back to back

Faces remain nameless
Wheels crush splintered bones
Frozen death is painless

On this god-forgotten road