Erika | German WW2 marching song

“Erika (or Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein) is a marching song of the German military. The song was composed by Herms Niel in the 1930s, and it soon came into usage by the Wehrmacht, especially the Heer and, to a lesser extent, the Kriegsmarine. The theme of the song is based on “Erika“ being both a common German female first name and the name of the heather plant (German: Heide, Erika; Latin: Erica), of which the heather-yards are considered as a “symbol of German natural heritage“. In itself, the song has no military themes, beyond the fact that the narrator (evidently a soldier, though this is not explicitly stated) is away from his beloved and recalls her when seeing the plant which has the same name. The lyrics of the song were written by Niel, a German composer of marches. The exact year of the song’s origin is not known; often the date is given as “about 1930,“ a date that, however, has not been substantiated. The song was originally pub