When The Tigers Broke Free

It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black '44
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn
And the generals gave thanks
As the other ranks
Held back the enemy tanks
For a while
And the Anzio bridgehead was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And kind old King George sent Mother a note
When he heard that Father was gone.
It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll,
With gold leaf and all
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs hidden away
And my eyes still grow damp
To remember His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around,
There was frost in the ground
When The Tigers Broke Free.
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers,
Company, "C"
They were all left behind,
Most of them dead,
The rest of them dying
And that's how the High Command
Took my Daddy
From me.

Roger Waters wrote this about his father, who died in World War II at Anzio. Roger was born a few months before his father was killed. Released as a single in 1982, this song did not appear on an album until it was used on Pink Floyd's 2001 Greatest Hits compilation. This was used in Pink Floyd's movie The Wall. It appeared in the "Enemy Bridge Was Held" and "High Command" sections, when Pink sees his dad loading a gun and dusting his army uniform.