...reitet für Deutschland (1941)

November 1918. As the First World War draws to a close, Germany is on the brink of military defeat. In endless long-distance rides, German cavalrymen try to make their way back from the East to the German border. The accomplished horseman Captain von Brenken is ordered to break through to a division and request help from it for a brigade encircled by Polish irregulars. On the way, a Polish bullet hits him, and he and his horse, Harro, fall while riding over boggy ground. For hours, the horse’s heavy body lies on top of him, pressing Brenken into the mud. Badly injured, he is eventually freed and rescued by a German sentry. Von Brenken has to spend the following months in a clinic and is initially almost completely paralyzed. With fierce determination, he fights his way back to life. The captain returns in a wheelchair to his estate, Alt-Mellin, where he meets an old school friend, Olav Kolrep, a German-African. Soon Brenken also meets Kolrep’s sister Tomasia, known to everyone as Toms, who comes to the estate for the first time to pay a visit to Brenken’s aunt Ulle. She begins to take an interest in von Brenken. One day, when Sergeant Marten brings Brenken’s horse Harro back to the estate, von Brenken’s will to live is finally rekindled. He firmly resolves to overcome his paralysis and ride in tournaments for the glory of his fatherland. While Brenken trains hour after hour, profiteers and speculators in the Weimar Republic are trying to get their hands on his estate. Kolrep helps his old friend as best he can. Eventually, he manages to postpone the auction of Alt-Mellin. The Grand Prix of Europe has begun in Geneva. When Captain von Brenken and Harro take their place at the starting line, an icy silence greets them from the stands. A little later, at a signal, terrible jeering and booing breaks out. But Brenken refuses to be distracted and completes a faultless round with Harro. At last, only the Italian rider, Captain Vagliasindi, remains in the competition. In the final round, his horse incurs eight penalty points; then von Brenken rides Harro for Germany. He clears the course faultlessly once again, and for the first time cheers ring out for him from the stands. Tears stream down Toms’s face; she has come along in secret. “The opening notes of the Deutschlandlied sound, and Brenken removes his cap. Motionless, like a bronze statue of German strength and greatness, horse and rider stand before this international forum. Captain von Brenken rode and won for Germany!”