This poem referenced in Das Boot is pretty good and you probably haven't heard it before: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=274292

Here is an okay translation of the last verse:

Lonely we lay there in the misery of battle;

we knew that everyone was alone.

But we also knew this:

Once to stand before the inexorable,

where prayers are disenfranchised, whimpering to God

is ridiculous,

where no mother looks after us,

no woman crosses our path,

where everything is without love,

where only reality reigns

with cruelty and grandeur,

this makes us firm and proud.

Unforgettable and deeper

it touches the heart of man

than all the love in the world.

And we feel: this was the measure.