August 4 marks the 109th anniversary of the most popular Bulgarian battle march "Great is our soldier". This is recalled by the blog "On this date".
„Great is our soldier" – is the most famous and beloved Bulgarian battle march. It was written near Lake Ohrid in 1916 by Mihail Shekerdzhiev.
He was born on December 5, 1889 in Gabrovo. He graduated from the Sofia Theological Seminary with honors in 1911. There he studied violin with Naumov and composition with Dobri Hristov. He became a teacher at the State Institute for Blind Children, where he spent his entire life. During the wars, he served as a soldier in the 23rd Infantry Shipka Regiment. In the two Balkan Wars, he participated in the battles for Edirne, Chataldzha, Sultan Tepe, and in the First World War he fought at Mount Kitka and traveled the entire route of the regiment to Struga.
During the First World War, when the regiment was in position near Lake Ohrid, Mikhail Shekerdzhiev met Second Lieutenant Konstantin Georgiev. He was born on May 27, 1884 in Kazanlak. He studied at the military high school, and in 1905 graduated from the Military Academy. After his service, he went into the reserves and went to study law in Russia. He did not graduate due to the outbreak of the First World War. In 1915 was mobilized in the 23rd Infantry Shipka Regiment. He participated in the battles at Drin and Struga and poured out his admiration for the modest and indomitable Bulgarian soldier in the immortal poem.
Mikhail Shekerdzhiev really liked his poem – in two days he wrote music for it and so the song “Great is our soldier” in 1916 took its glorious path to reach our days. Although there is another march of the 23rd Shtip Regiment, the song by Georgiev and Shekerdzhiev is better known.
Very soon the march became very popular throughout the Bulgarian army, it was enthusiastically sung by civilian choirs, and it became one of the most beloved soldier songs.
The text was changed several times for political reasons, especially after September 9, 1944. The march was so loved by all Bulgarians that the communist authorities did not manage to ban it, as happened with other military masterpieces. « Shumi Maritsa» and « A Testament».
Under different texts “Velik e nashajat voinik“ existed without interruption for more than 100 years, and on May 31, 2001 was declared the anthem of the Bulgarian Army, by order of the Minister of Defense Boyko Noev. In honor of the march in 2017, a modest monument was erected in Kazanlak.
This battle march is such a peak achievement of Bulgarian musical and poetic art that it cannot be repeated and remains unique in the full sense of the word.
No one, ever, with every change of political regimes, could neither deny this march nor forget it. He remains in the heart of the Bulgarian, as his dignity, his support and faith.
OUR STRIKER IS GREAT
/ original text/
Great, great, great!
Wet, hungry, tired,
He fought day and night without rest,
He split the mountains in anger
with his terrible cry “To the knife!“.
From there Kitka flew in an instant,
He cut the Timok deep,
At Ravna, Vina, Leskovik,
God himself marked his path.
At Mavrovo, buried in snow,
they would freeze to death with their hands,
in Botum he opened a road to the Drin,
he drove out the enemy to the last man!
And again calm, silent,
at Ohrid today he stands
and waits for a new enemy to defeat
with his terrible cry: “To the knife!“