EXECUTION FAKED TO TRICK NAZI P.O.W.’S

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22657, 7 June 1948, Page 5

EXECUTION FAKED TO TRICK NAZI P.O.W.’S

LONDON, May 11

A trick that won vital information from a German prisoner of war just before the battle of El Alamein was disclosed by Mr. S. W. Dattner, a former captain of British intelligence services today. , . . _ Mr. Dattner was engaged chiefly m counter-espionage work in Vienna, Germany, Britain, and with the Army. He was speaking at a Legacy luncheon. He said that before the battle of El Alamein, the British Army desperately needed to know the location of the German 26 Panzer Division. Two German prisoners-of-war, when questioned, gave information authorised by the convention of war—their names, regimental numbers, and rank —but would not disclose the division’s whereabouts. They were then told that having lied, they had lost their prisoner-of-war status, and would be treated as spies. Early next morning a firing squad, with an officer carrying a pistol, and a padre, drew up outside the prisoners cell. , . , One man, was marched away out of sight. Came a ringing volley, then silence, and the squad marched past, with the prisoner lying on a stretcher. Next morning the squad returned to the cell for the other German. He broke down and gave the information. The first prisoner, unharmed, was then returned to the cell. Mr. Dattner said tricks such as these were common methods of securing information without violating rules of war.