In 1939 following the declaration of war the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was dispatched to France to stop the German advance. Among the 152,000 soldiers under General, later Field Marshal, Gort (1886–1946) was an Irish songwriter by the name of Jimmy Kennedy. Born in 1902 in Northern Ireland, after graduating from Trinity College in Dublin Kennedy became a teacher and then joined the colonial service. While waiting for a posting he started writing lyrics in his spare time and had his first hit in 1930 with ‘The Barmaid’s Song’ which was performed by the star Gracie Fields (1898–1979). By 1939 Kennedy was a commercially successful and high-profile lyricist, having written hits for a range of stars and collaborated on several West End shows. After war was declared, he volunteered for the Royal Artillery and was sent to France with the BEF, rising to the rank of captain. Here Kennedy penned ‘We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line’ with the composer Michael Carr, his longtime collaborator, while digging defence ditches along the French–Belgian border and preparing for battle.23
The song poked fun at the German line of fortifications called the Siegfried Line, also known as the Westwall. It stretched nearly 400 miles along the western German border from Netherlands in the north to Switzerland in the south and consisted of more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. By claiming that Britain would soon be hanging out its washing along the Line, Kennedy and Carr were signifying that the war would be taken to Germany (in stark contrast, eight months later, the BEF ended its time in France with the humiliating retreat at Dunkirk).
The song was performed at the first big wartime variety concert organised by the newly created Entertainments National Service Association, or ENSA, an organisation formed to provide entertainment for the troops. Broadcast on 17 October 1939 by the BBC from RAF Hendon in North London, it was sung by the jazz singer Adelaide Hall accompanied by the Anglo-Italian composer Annunzio Paolo Mantovani and his orchestra. Following the performance Kennedy and Carr’s song became an instant hit with the public and was played repeatedly on the radio, sales reaching over 300,000 by the end of the year and the French bringing out their own version. The song soon became an important morale booster during the early years of the war, particularly up to and during the fall of France which was a bitter blow to the BEF.
To cash in on the popularity of the song the publishing company William Sessions produced a card game with the same title. The game, which came in a small red box with a picture of different clothes blowing on the washing line on the cover, contained ninety-seven cards. These were composed of large playing cards and small washing cards. The large playing cards, which were the equivalent of suits, were used to determine which washing cards could be played. The washing cards, which included blouses, pyjamas, combs (to remove bobbles from knitwear), petticoats, nighties, stockings and socks, were the equivalent of the numbered cards from two to an ace in a conventional pack. In addition, there were a range of ‘hazard’ cards which required people to rewash or take back all their cards, miss a turn or if they were lucky have two turns. The aim of the game was to get rid of all your cards by hanging out all the washing along the Siegfried Line.
The Germans on first hearing the song composed their own parody after the Fall of France broadcast by the Reichs Rundfunk Gesellschaft (Reich Broadcasting Corporation), complete with screaming Stukas, the symbol of the German Blitzkreig (lightning war). It began by aping the original version in English, with the chorus then drowned out by the sounds of Stuka bombers over Britain. The song then transitioned into a Prussian marching song, ‘Königgrätzer Marsch’.
Wir trocknen uns’re Wäsche an der Siegfried-Linie
[imitating the British singers]
We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,
Have you any dirty washing, mother dear?
We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line,
’Cause the washing day—
[bombs dropping]
… We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line …
Stuka! Stuka!
… We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line …
Ja, mein Junge, das hast du dir gar zu leicht gedacht
mit dem großen Wäschetag am deutschen Rhein,
hast du dir auch deine Hosen tüchtig vollgemacht,
brauchst du gar nicht traurig sein!
Bald seifen wir dich gründlich ein
von oben und von unten her
wenn der deutsche Waschtag wird gewesen sein,
Mensch, dann brauchst du keine Wäsche mehr!
Sing dies Liedchen mit, wer es nur immer singen mag
mit der zweiten Kriegsberichter-Kompanie,
Bis zum Wäschetag, ja bis zum Wäschetag
In aller Herrgottsfrüh.
Mein Mädel, schenk’ noch einmal ein
Und tanzt und trinkt die Gläser leer,
Denn wenn der große Waschtag wird gewesen sein kehr’ ich heim,
kehr’ ich heim übers Meer!
Yes, my boy, you thought it would be so easy
With the great washing day on the German Rhine.
Even if you filled your trousers,
You needn’t feel so sad!
Soon we will soap you up thoroughly
From top to bottom.
And when the German washing day is over,
You won’t need any more washing.
Sing this song with me, whoever wants to sing
With the Second War Reporter Company.
Until washing day, yes until washing day
At the crack of dawn.
My girl, give us another round
And we’ll dance and drink the glasses dry.
Because when the great washing day is done and gone,
I’ll come home, I’ll come home from across the sea.24
The German song also became a morale booster for its troops as the Blitzkreig spread across Europe. Despite promising to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line, it would be nearly five long and bitterly fought years before the Allies got to the Siegfried Line as the Reich collapsed. One of the most famous people to visit the Siegfried Line during the war was Winston Churchill who rather than hanging out his washing, instead urinated on it. Arriving there on 3 March 1945, his general Alan Brooke recorded that turning to the assembled photographers, he said, ‘This is one of the operations connected with this great war which must not be reproduced graphically.’ After relieving himself, Brooke observed ‘I shall never forget the childish grin of intense satisfaction that spread all over his [Churchill’s] face as he looked down at the critical moment.’ Other troops did eventually get to hang out their washing on the barbed wire along the line, but it came at a terrible cost, an estimated 140,000 Allied soldiers dying in the campaign to cross the Rhine.
