Resist and Bite (song)

Resist and Bite is the seventh song on the album Heroes album by Sabaton.

Information

The story was given to the band by a Belgian fan who gave a document about it in Flemish, which was complicated for the band as nobody in the band speaks the language and the band couldn't verify it at first.
The band didn't expect this particular story from Belgium.
The song features Latin sentences like their previous songs f.ex Attero Dominatus or The Lion from the North.
Gloria fortis miles translates to "glory to the brave soldier".
Adversor et admorsus translates to "resist and bite".
The song was released as a single.

Background

Pär: "It's quite unusual, and it's a store we rarely had heard anything about. (...) It was a fan actually in Belgium, who gave us the story in a Flemish document."

Indy Neidell: "Do you speak or read Flemish?"

Pär: "Not a single word. So it became a bit complicated and the person translated it for us like, sort of, so that we could understand the story, but we could really never verify that it was absolutely true and because we couldn't find any other alternative sources for the exact thing."

Pär: "A lot of Belgians over the years have also asked us to write songs about their history nad stuff, and this one we found from World War II, which was a little bit like unexpected of all the stories from Belgium."^[1]

Historic fact

The story of the Chasseurs Ardennais, whose emblem is the wild boar. A small Belgian unit of soldiers who were supposed to defend the borders and hold their ground along the K-W Line in May 1940. When the German armies, which included Rommel’s Ghost Division, approached the unit, they were supposed to retreat but due to communication failure the order never reached them. Instead they honoured their original orders, which were to defend the border at all cost. They fought so bravely and on such a large front, that they tricked the axis into believing that they were facing a force much larger than 40 rifles strong. When finally they were captured and their captors asked them -”where are the others?” they simply laughed and answered. -”There are no others, we are all!”. The song gets its title from their motto Resiste Et Mords, in English, Resist and Bite.^[2]

Live

The song was a staple during Heroes on Tour, The Last Tour and the 2019 North American Leg of The Great Tour.
During the 2020 European Leg of The Great Tour it was played during one show in Antwerpen.
Joakim plays on guitar during the band's live performances of the song.

Lyrics

War is coming swiftly The border is closing in We’re a company of soldiers We’re 40 rifles strong All alone Stand alone Ardenner ground is burning And Rommel is at hand As the Blitzkrieg’s pushing harder The war is all around! All around Hold your ground! Fight for 18 days of battles No odds are on our side Few will fight for all Until the bullets are gone We! We will resist and bite! Bite hard, cause we are all in sight We! We take up arms and fight! Fight hard, resist and do what’s right! No matter our fighting Their numbers will still count We’re outgunned and few in numbers We’re doomed to flag or fail We fought hard Held our guard But when captured by the Axis And forced to tell the truth We will tell them with a smile We will surprise them with the laugh We are all We were all We were told to hold the border And that is what we did Honoured by our orders In despite of our foe Gloria fortis miles The Wehrmacht’s closing in Adversor et admorsus The Boar against the Eagle Gloria fortis miles The Wehrmacht’s closing in Adversor et admorsus The Boar against the Eagle

Video

SABATON_-_Resist_and_Bite_(Live_-_The_Great_Tour_-_Antwerp) — SABATON - Resist and Bite (Live - The Great Tour - Antwerp)

Sabaton History

References

[1] Sabaton History

[2] Sabaton.net

[1]

[2]