Gentleman agreement in Afrika?????

[kristensen]

Dear sirs.

I once read about a german officer in Afrika during WWII who made gentleman agreements with the British to stop fighting and to collect the wounded ect.

I can't remember who it was. Have any of you heard about it? Can any of you help me?

[JaimeH]

There were many examples of this sort of behavior in Africa early on. Pilots would give time for enemy soldiers to exit their vehicles before they were strafed. Rommel had a truck load of alcohol returned to the British because "we're not thieves". Soldiers exiting burning talks were not shot at.

On a personal side note, my uncle who fought in N. Africa listed who he disliked the most 1.Arabs 2.Italians 3. Germans.4.his officers.

[kristensen]

Hi Jamie.

Thanks for posting. I find stories about this type of gentleman war very exiting.

It's just that I read about this one officer about whom it was writtin that when he fought in Afrika - I belive on one of the flanks - he often made ceasefire with the british. They didn't fight at night ect. But I simply can't remeber where I read it or who he was.

[Ypenburg]

Another example happened near the city of Dordrecht, may 11th 1940, where men of artillery-units wanted to recover their lost canons. 2 comp. of bycicle-troops were in support of these troops when the Germans dropped about 150 FJ(FJ Ersatz und Ausbildung Kp, Olt. Moll). On their flank the Germans were attacked by vaandrig Marijs and 2 plt. Many FJ were killed and many were taken POW(incl. Olt. Moll, a Lt. Tottke, and the artsz Nordheim). Olt. Moll was garded by a sergeant. Marijs soon found out Moll had asked the sergeant to let him go back to his troops to end the fighting. As you can emagin Marijs went out off his mind, till he saw Moll comming back with a with flag in his hands.
He asked Marijs for a ceasefire to take care of the dead and wounded. Marijs didn't feel much for this but agreed as he was out off ammo . The Germans and Dutch came together at the De Tongplaat farm. They put out some red-cross flags and both parties agreed to keep their arms. The German Kp turned out to be only 33 men strong. The dead were buried near the farm together, both Moll and Marijs spoke to the men and there was a 2 FJ/2 Dutch strond honourgard, all of them armed. This status-quo was kept till the morning og may 12th 1940. Then a strong German unit approached. Marijs and his men knew they couldn't fight, being out off ammo and surrended. The germans treated him with much respect because off his action, and because he personally had captured German 2 officers. The Dutch POW were then marched to Tweede Tol, but allowed to cary there weapons. When Oberst Brauer at Tweede Tol saw this he to went out of his mind, until Olt. Moll told him about the ceasefire. Brauer then told Marijs he was sorry but had to ask the Dutch to drop their guns. But Marijs was allowed to keep his "klewang", a small sword.

After this something more happened. The Germans used Dutch POW's fot all kind of things. At some time a Feldwebel wanted Marijs's men to gather containers with ammo that were dropped on a field. The Dutch troop in the neighbourhood were covering that field with mg- and riflefire. The Dutch refused and the Feldwebel got angry. This was told to Marijs by the Dutch sergeant. Marijs went to Brauer.Brauer asked the Feldwebel if this was treu. When the feldwebel told it was treu, Brauer slapped him in the face and appologiced again to Marijs.

Some strange things happen in war. This is just one of them.

Cheers,

[Peter J.]

If I'm not mistaken, Oberst Hans Luck gives a detailed description about these events, in his most interesting book "Panzer-Commander". It's well worth the reading

KR
Peter

[Gary T]

Hi Jamie.

Thanks for posting. I find stories about this type of gentleman war very exiting.

It's just that I read about this one officer about whom it was writtin that when he fought in Afrika - I belive on one of the flanks - he often made ceasefire with the british. They didn't fight at night ect. But I simply can't remeber where I read it or who he was.

The book you are referring to is by Hans von Luck and is called Panzer Commander.

[kristensen]

Hi Peter and Gary.

You've done it!!!! Hans von Luck is the man! Thank you very much. I've searched and searched in all my books, but with over 20 years of reading to keep track of, it's not easy.

The passage I was thinking of was in Stephen Ambrose's Pegasus Bridge:

In North Africa, Hans von Luck was fighting in the only war he ever enjoyed. He commanded the armed reconaissance battalion on Rommel’s extreme right (southern) flank. He thus enjoyed a certain independence, as did his British opposite number. The two commanding officers agreed to fight a civilised war. Every day at five p.m. the war shut down, the British to brew up their tea, the Germans their coffee. At about quarter past five, von Luck and the British commander would communicate over the radio. “Well,” von Luck might say, “we captured so-and-so today and he’s fine and he sends his love to his mother, tell her not to worry.” Once von Luck learned that the British had received a month’s supply of cigarettes. He offered to trade a captured officer – who happened to be the heir to the Players cigarette fortune – for one million cigarettes. The British countered with an offer of 600,000. Done, said von Luck. But the Players heir was outraged. He said the ransom was insufficient. He insisted he was worth the million and refused to be exchanged.

One evening, an excited corporal reported that he had just stolen a British truck jammed with tinned meat and other delicacies. Von Luck looked at his watch – it was past six p.m. – and told the corporal he would have to take it back, as he had captured it after five p.m. The corporal protested that this was war and anyway the troops were already gathering in the goods from the truck. Von Luck called Rommel, his mentor in military academy. He said he was suspicious of British moves further south and thought he ought to go out on a two-day reconaissance. Could another battalion take his place for that time? Rommel agreed. The new battalion arrived in the morning. That night at five thirty p.m., just as von Luck had anticipated, the British stole two supply trucks.

[Peter J.]

Like I said earlier, this is a book for all to read. I believe the "excited corporal" was a newcomer, but he soon realized how things worked down there . The passage about the fighting in north-east France against the Americans, in and around a small village for one week, is also a great piece.

KR
Peter