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"Ritter der Nordsee" (also: "Unser die Freiheit der Meere") is a German navy song from WWII (1940, lyrics by Heinrich Anacker, melody by Herms Niel), and should have nothing positive for England.

I cannot understand the context of the words "Engelands Macht" which appear in the refrain and seem to be unconnected to anything.

What is the refrain trying to say, about "Engelands Macht..."? Am I correct in interpreting this as "Our night watch will free the seas from England`s might?"

Flagge am Mast,
Die der Führer uns gab,
Flagge, wir machen dir Ehre,
Engelands Macht
Uns're Stunde die Nacht
Unser die Freiheit der Meere.
Unser, unser,
Unser die Freiheit der Meere.

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    Could the people who voted to close this question for 'lack of details or clarity' please leave a comment and add which details they're missing? Thank you.
    – Arsak
    Commented Jan 26, 2021 at 13:18
  • There is an ellipsis at work here: "Uns're Stunde [ist] die Nacht" is a complete sentence. "Unser [ist] die Freiheit der Meere." is also a complete sentence.
    – Polygnome
    Commented Jan 26, 2021 at 13:31
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    Interestingly I've found a second version of the lyrics that says "Engellands Macht muß zu Grunde hinab", which is more obvious in attacking England verbally - but I don't know which of the two is the original one.
    – Arsak
    Commented Jan 26, 2021 at 13:38
  • @Polygnome I don't think the question is about the ellipsis in "uns're Stunde die Nacht" - but about just dropping "Engelands Macht". Which might sound as if the writer/singer was acknowledging or even admiring England's (= the enemy's) power/might.
    – Arsak
    Commented Jan 26, 2021 at 13:47
  • While a more complete text can be found here, I find it insufficient for anything exceeding a pure guess on the meaning in the refrain (if there is any beyond providing a rhyme).
    – guidot ♦
    Commented Jan 26, 2021 at 16:31

2 Answers 2

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It basically means that Germans will defeat England in the night - so they will take the power of England (Engelands Macht) away during night. Uns're Stunde die Nacht means that at night Germans are most powerful (because of all advantages when attacking an enemy at night).

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As mentioned in the comments, there are two sources 1 and 2.

The refrain in the first version is

Flagge am Mast,
Die der Führer uns gab,
Flagge, wir machen dir Ehre,
Engelands Macht
Uns're Stunde die Nacht
Unser die Freiheit der Meere.
Unser, unser,
Unser die Freiheit der Meere.

It has eight verse lines and two rhymes (lines 3, 6, 8 and lines 4, 5).

The refrain in the second version is

Flagge am Mast, die der Führer uns gab,
Flagge, wir machen dir Ehre!
Engellands Macht muß zu Grunde hinab,
unser die Freiheit der Meere!
Unser, unser, unser die Freiheit der Meere!

It has five verse lines and two rhymes (lines 1, 3, and lines 2, 4, 5) where the fifth line appears to be separated from the first four lines. This is more plausible than the first version - especially because all other parts of the text are quatrains with rhyme scheme 1- 3 / 2 - 4.

To clarify which is the correct version listen to this old record. The text agrees with the second version. Therefore the question is based on a false assumption.

However, I observed a weird phenomenon: When I listened to the song, I understood "Engellands Macht muß [...] die Nacht", where I couldn't identify the part [...]. Only when I followed the text while listening, it became quite clear that is "Engellands Macht muß zu Grunde hinab".

And I hope that nobody listens to this song except for historical research interest.

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