What is this strange forbidden place 
Where people disappear without a trace. 
 No hum of insects fills the air 
  Not a solitary bird anywhere. 
 No rodents scurry from the hounds blare 
  No people come here none would dare. 

      A strange place with the stillness of death 
  Where even the wind holds it's breath 
           A place where trees stand stark and bare 
 And point bony fingers in the air 
 As if beseeching God to show his care 
Or the final act of a soul in despair. 

 Is this the Danube or the river Styx? 
Is this the place where we have come to die? 
 That hooded figure in the boat 
  Is he too ferry us across this moat? 
Or is he the grim reaper who will gloat 
As deaths fingers close around our throat. 

A few hundred yards away 
    Waits an enemy who has been brought to bay. 
In this haunted place in the spring of nineteen forty five 
In the morning when we start our drive 
       Fate will decide if they or us will survive 
   That is if any of us are still alive. 

         Two mighty army's now stand face to face 
   Across the waters of this beautiful haunted place. 
Tomorrow is sure to be a ghastly day 
If they stand and fight to bar our way. 
  And in Valhalla the Gods of war will have their say 
 This will be the final curtain of the play. 

 From the beaches of France to this haunted place 
We have fought the army of the master race. 
 We know they will fight like the fiends of hell 
 Too their last bullet too their last shell 
And not even Thor on his throne can fortell 
 The outcome tomorrow in this haunted dell. 

   In the east the first stars show faint and dim 
While the sun slowly sets below the western rim. 
  Between us and our waiting foe 
  The mighty Danube silently flows. 
 As the host in field gray await our blows 
 Over the still waters the moon has arose. 

    And before us the river Styx and the valley of death 
 It is enough to make you hold your breath. 
  As an eerie silence settles over all the land 
    When an angry God stands and raises his hand 
 And says stop this nonesense! I demand 
   You stop this horror you have planned. 

When orders comes from the commander somewhere 
 It says lock your weapons and stand down with care. 
 Then soldiers climb out of their holes in the ground 
  Form little groups and stand around. 
Then came an order that did astound 
  It countermanded the order to go eastbound. 

 Then came the news we were waiting for 
 The surrender is signed, No more war. 
      Then brave men broke down and started to cry 
 When millions of tracers lit up the night sky. 
  And for all my life I've wondered why 
      I lived to this day, I never had to die. 

  Then in the darkness of the night 
   We saw a most amazing sight. 
     Soldiers had to stop and stare 
       Lights were going on every where 
      And as sounds of peace filled the springtime air 
      We lay down our weapons and bowed in prayer. 

   How many men are still alive 
    Who remember that night in forty five? 
  How many remember that haunted place 
 Where they looked the grim reaper in the face? 
 And escaped his bony embrace 
 To once more rejoin the human race. 
    ~Elmer Ake~