WW2 veteran Roy Wooldridge's story of his survival after pre-D...

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Rommel saved me from being shot as a spy

- and even served me cigarettes and beer!
WW2 veteran, 95, reveals astonishing story
of his survival after pre-D-Day mission
Captain Roy Wooldridge was captured during covert mission in May
1944
But instead of shooting him, top German general spoke to him
personally
Rommel gave him food and a stein of lager at Nazi chateaux in Brittany
He then let him go - to survive the final year of WWII in a POW camp
95-year-old of Hendy, Glamorgan, revealed story on Antiques Roadshow
By LUKE SALKELD FOR THE DAILY MAIL and DAN BLOOM FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 14:30 GMT, 20 November 2014 | UPDATED: 00:26 GMT, 21 November 2014

He was viewed as Hitlers finest general, admired even by the Allies for his skills as a military leader.
But to one captured British soldier, Erwin Rommel was the man who saved his life and gave him
beer and cigarettes.
Captain Roy Wooldridge, from the Royal Engineers, has told how he was introduced to the Desert
Fox after being taken prisoner in France.
Scroll down for video
Lucky escape: Captain Roy Wooldridge (left after the war) has revealed how top Nazi general Erwin
Rommel (right) saved his life after he was captured as a spy - and even served him a meal, beer and
cigarettes

He had been caught during a covert night-time reconnaissance mission ahead of the D-Day
landings. Without uniform or identification due to the secrecy of the operation, he was treated as a
spy and told he would be shot.
But Field Marshal Rommel requested a meeting with the new prisoner and asked the Brit if there was
anything he needed.
Captain Wooldridge said he replied: A good meal, a pint of beer and a packet of cigarettes. To his
astonishment he was then ushered into Rommels mess, where all three items were waiting for him.
Capt Wooldridge, now 95, saved the empty cigarette packet as a souvenir and will recount his
adventure on Sundays edition of Antiques Roadshow.
He said: I was told that Rommel always wanted to meet men who had been doing something
unusual when they were captured.
I was meant to have been shot. I was told on several occasions during my interrogation that is what
would happen unless I talked.
Hitler had issued orders that commandos were to be shot but Rommel declined to obey that
instruction. Rommel saved my life. He was a very fine German and a clean fighter.

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Memento: Now 95, the former Royal Engineers soldier has kept the empty cigarette packet he was given

As well as the cigarette packet, Capt Wooldridges Military Cross and Bar and a photo of him being
presented with a ribbon to his MC by British army chief Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery will also
be on display on the show.
He is told by the programmes experts that his collection is worth as much as 10,000 but to
applause from onlookers, he responds: Not for sale.
Capt Wooldridge was awarded the MC for a death-defying mission to clear a path through a
minefield in Alamein while under mortar fire, and the Bar for his role in Operation Tarbrush, the
mission that led to his capture.

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History: Captain Wooldridge receiving his Military Cross ribbon 'somewhere in the Western desert'

Long life: Roy Wooldridge and his late wife Phyllis on their wedding day in May 1944. He was on his
honeymoon when he was called up for the secret mission. He has lived a long and happy life, unlike
Rommel

The operation took place during a remarkable

two weeks in which he got married, met the King
to receive his MC, was captured and
encountered Rommel.

ERWIN ROMMEL: TOP GENERAL WHO

FELL OUT OF FAVOUR WITH NAZIS

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Capt Wooldridge, from Hendy, Glamorgan, said:

I was on my honeymoon in London and there
was a telegram asking me to report to my unit
immediately and that Mrs Wooldridge was not to
travel with me.
Reconnaissance photos had spotted these
obstacles just below the waterline and they
couldnt determine from the pictures what they
were.
'They suspected they were some form of mine.
Capt Wooldridge joined a group of four to carry
out a series of covert night-time inspections
but on the last mission, they were seen by a
German boat and captured.
He recalled: We were taken to a house and
interrogated for two weeks. They wanted to
know what we had been doing but I didnt say
anything.
'After that I was taken to a chateau and given a
cup of tea and some cake. I was told to have a
wash and smarten up because I was going to
see someone very important.

He was feared and respected by Britain's

wartime generals, but Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel was not universally loved by the
Nazis.

I was marched into a room and there behind a

desk was Rommel. I recognised him
immediately because I had studied photographs
of him while in the Western Desert.

He was caught unawares by the D-Day

landings because he was on his way to ask
Hitler for permission to rearrange troops in
France.

He continued: Rommel asked me what I was

doing in France but I didnt say anything. He then
asked me if there was anything I required.

Rommel had to make an urgent return in a

failed bid to stop the Allied advance - but he
fell out of favour with the Nazi high command.

'I just said I could do with a pint of beer, a packet

of cigarettes and a good meal. Then I was
dismissed.

His apparent disobedience of orders to kill

Allied spies would not have helped and
according to his son Manfred, in the summer
of 1944 the general wanted to surrender as he
faced increased Allied troops.

'I was taken to his mess and served by his

waiter and on the table was a stein [mug] of
beer, cigarettes and a plate of food. I couldnt
understand it.

Hitler was having none of it - as he wanted to

take the German people with him to the grave.

Capt Wooldridge was taken to a PoW camp in

northern Germany where he remained for the
rest of the war.

Finally Rommel was forced to take his own life

after being implicated in a failed plot to kill the
Nazi leader.

He went on to become principal of Derby

College of Art and Technology.

The general took cyanide so his family would

be spared in October 1944, just four months
after the D-Day landings.

His wife Phyllis died 25 years ago, and he has

two sons and three grandchildren.
Rommel was forced to commit suicide in 1944
after being implicated in a plot to kill Hitler.
He took his own life after assurances by the
Nazis that if he did so, his family would be
unharmed.

The true reasons behind his death were

covered up until just a few years ago, when a
report emerged by a doctor who confessed he
had falsified the death certificate - to say
Rommel died of a heart attack.

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Belongings: Capt Wooldridge's precious military memorabilia, including his treasured Military Cross

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