Zemlyanka was the name for a German-Soviet War song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 written by Alexey Surkov (verses) and Konstantin Listov (music) in 1941 during the Battle of Moscow

Battle of Moscow

The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...

. The use of zemlyanka

Zemlyanka

Zemlyanka — is an Eastern Slavic name for a dugout or earth-house which was used to provide shelter for humans or domestic animals. Based on a hole or depression dug into the ground, these structures are one of the most ancient types of housing known...

s by soldiers is mentioned in the song.

English Lyrics

The fire is flickering in the narrow stove

Resin oozes from the log like a tear

And the concertina in the bunker

Sings to me of your smile and eyes.

The bushes whispered to me about you

In a snow-white field near Moscow

I want you above all to hear

How sad my living voice is.

You are now very far away

Expanses of snow lie between us

It is so hard for me to come to you

And here there are four steps to death.

Sing concertina, in defiance of the snowstorm.

Call out to that happiness which has lost its way.

I'm warm in the cold bunker,

Because of your inextinguishable love.1998.

Popular culture

The entire poem was mentioned in the Canadian historical novel, Four Steps to Death

Four Steps to Death

Four Steps to Death is a historical novel by John Wilson, first published in 2005. It is about the horrors and tragedies of the Battle of Stalingrad...

, by John Wilson, in which Red Army soldiers sing it on the way from Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 to Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd

Volgograd

Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...

). In fact, the name of the novel is derived from a part of the last line of the poem, "And here there are four steps to death."

The song is part of the repertoire of the Alexandrov Ensemble.