Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt

Generalfeldmarschall Gerd Von Rundstedt…Continued…

Several months after the war had ended, certain prisoners were allowed to be escorted out of the camp to work in the surrounding areas. Rundstedt was allowed the privilege of being escorted to Bridgend. The shopping crowds in Nolton street and Caroline Street took no notice of the ageing man but would most certainly have done had he not been dressed in civilian clothes.

Some people remembered, though, how in certain shops he would jostle his way to the front of the queue and demand preferential treatment which left many customers angry.

Von Rundstedt was allowed to go to church in Bridgend.  The guards used to escort him to Nolton Church and on certain occasions he went to Merthyr Mawr Church .

Von Rundstedt appreciated the fellowship that he received at St Mary's Nolton for, on his departure back to Germany he sent the following note:


Click To Enlarge Pictures:
Modern Day Pictures Of Nolton Church (St Mary's)

Front Of Church
Rear/Side Profile Of Church

10.5.48

Dear Mrs Lees !
I thank you sincerely
for your kindness to send
me the delicious food-
parcel ! I hope that I

can send the 2 tinned
cans to my grand-chil
dren in Germany.  The
eggs I have very en-
joyed !

With compliments
Yours very sincerely


Von Rundstedt

- Field Marshal

In February 2005, I corresponded with one of the grand-children mentioned in the above letter. Paul von Rundstedt told me: I believe that the tins contained fruits and some drinking chocolate. They did not go far seeing as there were 5 grand children, but we were very grateful, "However, the selfish swine kept the eggs for himself!".

Gerd von Rundstedt is given compassionate leave to attend his son's funeral


Regarded by both Eisenhower and Montgomery as the best of the German commanders, Rundstedt was, in truth, well past his prime by 1942. Never an original thinker, as he was the first to admit, he was a pragmatist, possessed of much common sense, and a believer in decentralised command. His strength lay in his adherence to the Prussian military code of duty, honour, and loyalty, which also made him incapable of actively opposing Hitler and his regime.

27th January 2001

A fortnight ago I met the verger of Nolton Church. He was a man in his 80s but really sharp minded. He told me that he is the only man left alive who can bear witness to the following conversation between the vicar at the time and Von Rundstedt. It was the final church service and they were saying their final good byes

Vicar (Gravell) - "Oh well...we've beaten you twice...let's hope we don't have to do it a third time"
(meaning lets hope there's no more wars and had not meant it the way it sounded)

Rundstedt - "You never beat us"

Vicar - "Well if we didn't then who did ?"

Rundstedt turned to the church alter and said "Your faith in God...that's what beat us"

=+=+=+=+=+=+=

I then asked him if he'd seen any action of the war and he told me that he was meant to have flown out to Normandy for D-Day + 1 and was stationed in Brighton on the south coast. There was an air raid and whenever these happened all soldiers, who were off base, had to return immediately. He was in his lorry returning to the base when a bomb landed in the road infront of them and blew the lorry apart and all the soldiers in it were pronounced dead and were being taken to the mortuary. It was whilst being transferred that his hand moved and they realised he was still alive and took him immediately to hospital. He spent a week in a coma and his eye had been knocked from its socket. In the bed next to him was an RAF pilot who'd been shot down in that very same air raid and the RAF pilot's father had come to hospital to visit him. The father was a Harley Street eye specialist and seeing the eye as it was, offered his services and replaced it. He reckoned he couldn't see out of it for about a fortnight but slowly his sight returned and of the two it is the better sighted eye !!!!!

Brett "Reading between the lines, I get the impression von Rundstedt was referring to the fact that religion was suppressed (but never abolished) under the Nazis. Note that several of the inmates (including Behrends) declared their religion as "gottgläubig" ["believer in God"]. This was a popular declaration, particularly among members of the SS and Nazi Party. This declaration meant that the person in question believed in God, or a higher being in the universe, but refuted (at least publicly) any belief in Jesus Christ and all the forms of organized religion (Catholic, Protestant, etc.) that went along with it. I'm a hardly a theologian, but "believer in God" could best be described as a form of Paganism. "

Decorations & Awards:

NOTE: In The Last Prussian: A Biography of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, 1875-1953, author Charles Messenger lists the Prussian Red Eagle Order 4th Class among von Rundstedt’s decorations. However, this decoration does not appear in the 1 May 1926 or 1 May 1930 editions of the Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres. Messenger also caveats von Rundstedt’s World War II (1939-1945) list of decorations with the statement, “And, possibly, Rumanian, Hungarian, Slovak and Italian decorations.”

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Shoulder Board
Close-up of centre
Photos courtesy of Al Holland

Movie Portrayals:

Sources:

[3] All four generals were held for varying amounts of time at Island Farm Special Camp 11 during their captivity.

[4] As Walther von Brauchitsch had died on 18 October 1948, Erich von Lewenski genannt von Manstein proved to be the only one of the four generals previously indicted that actually went to trial. On 19 December 1949, he was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment for war crimes (later reduced to 12 years). However, he was released in May 1953.

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