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Keynote Records – Red Army Choir of the USSR

Keynote Records was founded by Eric Bernay in 1937. It focused on left-wing folk music and pro-communism songs. The label included works by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson. The offices for the label were at 522 Fifth Avenue New York 18, N.Y.

Keynote logo. A musical note with the circle a record and the word Keynote resting on top of it.
Keynote Records Logo

In 1943 to find a wider audience, he turned to Jazz.  Dinah Washington‘s recording debut was with Keynote at the end of 1943. 

In 1947 the label made an attempt to manufacture its own records that didn’t go as planned, resulting in the business being acquired by Mercury Records in 1948.

One popular record by Keynote was Songs of the Lincoln Brigade. It was produced in 1937. It is a collection of songs praising the soldiers who went to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

Eric Bernay, died on Nov 5th, 1968 , according to his obituary in the New York Times –

Eric Bernay obiturary article
New York Times, November 5, 1968, pp 44.

Many years ago I was traveling along the I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia when I stopped at an antique store. Not sure of the town but I think it was North of New Market. I found a neat 78 record set, in mint condition. As well as a few single records.

The 78 record set was The Red Army Chorus of the USSR conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. It is Keynote Records Album number 103.

The Red Army Chorus of the USSR front cover. As an image embedded on it of soviet soliders singing and dancing. Red in color.
Front cover

Opening it up showed the lyrics of the songs. It was four 78 records (so 8 songs total)

  • From Border to Border
  • The Young Birch Tree
  • Cossack Song
  • If Tomorrow Brings War
  • Snowstorm
  • Song of the Tachanka
  • Meadowland
  • Along the Vales and Hills
Lyrics of the album
Inside cover

One interesting thing is on the back cover. It has a Restricted Use Notice saying that the record is for non-commerical use on phonographs in homes and cannot be resold for any other use.

Inside back cover

It took a while but I was eventually able to digitize the songs below as an MP3. If you would like the .wav version of the songs, feel free to contact me and I can send you a copy. Enjoy!

From Border to Border

This song is number K209-A in the set and looks like it was composed by Ivan Ivanovich Dzerzhinsky. The song runs about a minute and 50 seconds. You can download the mp3 here or listen to it below. Sung by the Red Army Choir of the USSR.

The Young Birch Tree

The Young Birch Tree is song number K210-B. Music is adapted and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Soloist is V. Pankov. You can download the MP3 or listen to it below.

Along the Vales and Hills

Along the Vales and Hills sang by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and conducted (and composed) by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Also looks like C. Alimov helped to create it too. Number K208-A. You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

Cossack’s Song

Cossack Song (or Cossack’s Song) sang by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Composed by Ivan Ivanovich Dzerzhinsky. Song number K209-B. You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

If War Breaks out Tomorrow

If War Breaks out Tomorrow (or If Tomorrow Brings War). Song number 201-A. sang by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Composed by Dmitry Pokrass and Daniil Pokrass (they were brothers) as well as Vasily Lebedev-Kumach.

The lyrics note that the Red Army Chorus of the USSR was created in 1928 with 12 performers. It has won many awards and now has 200 performers coming from both the Red Army and the Red Navy.

You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

Meadowland (Song of the Plains)

Meadowland (Song of the Plains) is number K208-A. Sang by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Song was composed by Viktor Gusev and Lev Knipper.

You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

Snowstorm

Snowstorm is number K210-A. Sang by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and adapted and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Soloist is V. Pankov.

You can download the MP3 or listen to it below.

Tachanka

Tachanka is number K201-B. Sang by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Lyrics by Mikhail Ruderman and composed by Konstantin Listov. A tachanka is a horse-drawn machine gun, mounted on a peasant cart.

machine gun mounted on a cart with two soliders standing nearby on a street.
Tachanka was used in WW1 (and the Russian Civil War)

According to Wikipedia, there are a lot more verses and/or the lyrics are a bit different depending on how translated. You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

From Kiev to Lubin

This is a single record that I also bought at the same time. It is number K213-B and is sung by the Ukrainian State Choral Ensemble. I’m not sure of the lyrics, though it appears to be a Ukrainian Folk song.

You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

From Kiev to Lubin record

The Internationale

The Internationale is a left-wing song used by various social and communist movements. It was composed by Pierre De Geyter. This is number K213-A and is sung by the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra. Looks like the group associated with the Bolshoi Theatre at the time sang it.

You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

Forward to Victory (Charge of the Tanks)

This was also part of the collection I purchased. Though this doesn’t appear to be Keynote Records. Instead, it is Forward to Victory (Charge of the Tanks). Number 6309B. Taken from the film The Red Tanks and sung by the Moscow Military Chorus (courtesy of Artkino Pictures). The Pokrass brothers composed it. It’s essentially a single from the movie’s soundtrack.

Artkino pictures were the official distributor of Soviet media (like movies and music etc) in North America between 1950 to 1980.

The Red Tanks or Tankisty was a movie made in 1939. You can find the full film on YouTube here.

You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

Forward To Victory label. Lettering in gold against a black background. Outline of soviet worker at top above spindle.

Song of the Fatherland

Song of the Fatherland, number 6309-A. Sung by the Moscow Military Chorus (courtesy of Artkino Pictures). A single from the film, One Day in Soviet Russia, was produced in 1941. The film is essentially a propaganda piece to help garner pro-soviet sympathy after Germany invaded it. It was narrated by Quentin Reynolds, a journalist, who would be very much anti-communist in the 1950s.

You can download the MP3 here or listen to it below.

Song of the Fatherland label. Lettering in gold against a black background. Outline of soviet worker at top above spindle.

The Internet Archive

The Internet Archive has Along the Vales and Hills, Snowstorm, From Border to Border, Cossack’s Song, The Young Birch Tree, and Meadowland available for download too. So if the MP3s aren’t to your liking you can find more copies there.

The archive also includes other Keynote Record songs like The Clouds Fly High and Blue Night. All were sung by The Red Army Choir of the USSR and conducted by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.

I’ve embedded both of those below.

Blue Night

Clouds Fly High

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Cigarettes in World War II

This link here http://www.questmasters.us/Crates_Page_3.html does a pretty good job at covering cigarettes during World War II. It focuses mostly on Lucky Strikes but includes others like Chesterfield + more.

I really like how it broke down the nuances of the packages and brands so the discerning collector knows what’s period correct and what isn’t.

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World War II Army Field Manuals

World War II Army Field Manuals

FM 7-10 Rifle Battalion Sept 1942

FM 7-15 Heavy Weapons Company Rifle Regiment May 1942

FM 7-40 Rifle Regiment Feb 1942

FM 20-15 Tents and Tent Pitching FEB 1945

FM 21-100 Soldiers Handbook 1941

FM 2345 Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, HB M1919A4

FM24-20 Field Wire Systems 4 OCT 1944

FM 105-5 Umpire Manual April 1942

FM 105-5 Umpire Manual MAR 1944

FM 70-15 Operations in Snow and Extreme Cold NOV 1944

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Building a 60mm Mortar for the WW2 Reenactor

60mm mortar Belgium

The information contained below is for historical and educational purposes. Unless you have the right local, state, and federal requirements and licenses you should not build a mortar that launches real shells filled with TNT.

The Poor Man’s Armorer a “…Magazine of Improvised Weaponry” was a magazine that was created in 1978 or 1979 by Bonnie and Clyde Barrow (likely a pseudonym for Kurt Saxon). The magazine was essentially a hobbyist magazine appealing to folks interested in shooting, hunting, exotic weapons development, and survivalist types. It was published for a couple of years and had several editions. Finding a complete physical book is difficult, however, there are E-editions online where one can find a complete book or at least a complete edition such as the one at Archive.org: The Poor Man’s Armorer Vol 2.

Kurt’s politics aside (which if I am being generous are incoherent), he did publish a chapter in one of the editions on how to make a 60mm Mortar. Considering that real 60mm mortars can command thousands of dollars those reenactors with an interest, time, skills (or skill development), and perhaps a knowledgeable friend could build a 60mm mortar for use at reenactments or public displays.

The chapter goes into detail on how to build out the actual mortar shells along with the baseplate, tripod, and collar assembly. It includes actual blueprints and design specs. This requires access to machinery and metalworking tools required to create it.

Part One: The Mortar

Part one is the design specs for how to build the mortar shell. Kurt discusses the chemicals in the TNT but doesn’t explain how to make those chemicals. You can download How to Build a 60mm Mortar part 1 here. He also suggests one could obtain practice mortar shells if you don’t want to build the actual shell yourself.

60mm mortar shell blueprint

Part Two: Baseplate, Bipod, Tube, and Collar Assembly

Part two goes into detail with the blueprints and design specs for building the mortar tube, bipod, baseplate, and collar assembly. You can download How to Build a 60mm Mortar Part 2 here.

60mm Baseplate

Mortar Accessories

While Kurt does not explain how to build the accessories he does diagram out the M-4 sight and explain where one can possible find it. However, he doesn’t include blueprints on how to build the sight or other accessories like the canvas tube cover, the M2 Ammunition Vest, Binoculars, Compass, Asbestos Mitten, cleaning staff, and the M2 shoulder pad. These will all likely need to be purchased online or at Military shows.

60mm Mortar Sight

Using the Mortar in Reenacting

While using the mortar in reenacting is beyond the scope of this article, the 90th ID published a document called: Tableau Number 1 The 81mm Mortar Squad which while it focuses on the 81mm mortar is similar in usage as the 60mm. It is a good article to read over.

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World War II Service Food Menus and Base Brochures

Service Food Menus

Oftentimes different units would create service menus for special occasions such as Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Years. These are some examples

Travel Base Brochure

Below is base brochure handed out to personnel when they arrived at base and are expecting to stay awhile. This one is from Harmon Field in Stephenville, Newfoundland. Dated Feb, 1945

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World War II Birthday and Holiday and Postcards

Birthday Cards

Valentines Day Cards

Postcards

These could often be found at post exchanges or other on base facilities.

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Civil Affairs in World War II

This post will contain information on Civil Affairs in World War II and how to set-up a reenacting impression around it.

Field Manuals

FM 27-5 Civil Affairs: Dec 22nd 1943.

Studies

Civil Affairs in World War II:  A study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies