From the musical “This is the Army”, 1942
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Tanks and bombers are needed to win the war
Guns and rifles are part of an army corps
Old Man Winter is greater than all of those
Ask the man with the little mustache he knows
Chorus
The German troops heard Hitler shout
“We’ll win this war without a doubt”
But they were never told about
That Russian winter
The German troops heard Hitler swear
He huffed and puffed and tore his hair
But somehow Hitler couldn’t scare
That Russian winter
There was the German staff
Running from the storm
Poor Hitler’s photograph
Couldn’t keep them warm
When Hitler cried, “This cannot be”
Napoleon’s ghost beneath a tree
Looked up and yelled
“You’re telling me”
That Russian winter
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: