When The Tigers Broke Free accords

C                   G
It was just before dawn
               C
One miserable morning in black 'forty four.

When the forward commander
     G
Was told to sit tight
         C                     F     C
When he asked that his men be withdrawn.
C                      G
And the Generals gave thanks
                    C
As the other ranks held back

The enemy tanks for a while.

And the Anzio bridgehead
     G
Was held for the price
     C
Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

C                  G
And kind old King George
               C
Sent Mother a note

When he heard that father was gone.
C            G
It was, I recall,
                   C
In the form of a scroll,
                F   C
With gold leaf and all.
C                   G
And I found it one day
                    C
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
        C                         G
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
             C
His Majesty signed

With his own rubber stamp.

C
It was dark all around.
G
There was frost in the ground
C
When the tigers broke free.
C              G
And no one survived
                     C           F  C
From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.
C                      G
They were all left behind,
              C
Most of them dead,

The rest of them dying.
C                   G
And that's how the High Command
         C
Took my daddy from me.