When the Tigers broke free

	  		
       C                    G#                C 
It was just before dawn one miserable morning in black forty-four 
C 
When the foreward commander was told to sit tight, 
                         F/C        C 
When they asked that his men be withdrawn 
C 
And the generals gave thanks, as the other ranks 
G#                 C 
Held back the enemy tanks for a while 
        C                    G# 
And the Anzio Bridgehead was held for the price 
     C 
Of a few hundred ordinary lives 
C                 G                    C                       G 
And kind old King George sent Mother a note when 
he heard that Father was gone 
C           G                      C 
It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll with gold leaf and all 
C 
And I found it one day 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                G                             C 
It was dark all around, there was frost on the ground 
                      G 
When the Tigers broke free 
C 
And no-one survived from the Royal Fusiliers, Company "C" 
G                    C                   G                         C 
They were all left behind,  most of them dead  -  the rest of them dying 
C                  G                    C 
And that's how the high command took my daddy from me