Incorrect SAS commemoration ? Pte Gerhard Wertheim

Operation pistol took place in Europe flying from the UK . The casualties are :

Birnie - Groesbeek memorial

Ashe - Durbach

Wertheim - Medjez el Bab memorial North Africa

That's got to be wrong in the case of Gerhard Wertheim ?

 

Don't think so.
www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/results?lastName=wertheim&war=2
Tim

 

Looks like Wiki have it wrong as well

Operation Pistol - Wikipedia
and Private Gerhard Wertheim, who was captured in September 1944. Wertheim was executed by the Germans between Niederbuhl and Rotenfels in Germany, the date of his execution is not known


TD

 

Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current
Name: Pvt Gerhard Wertheim
Death Date: 2 Dec 1944
Cemetery: Medjez-El-Bab Memorial
Burial or Cremation Place: Medjez el Bab, Béja, Tunisia
Has Bio?: N
URL: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...

Germany, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
Name: Gerhard Wertheim
Birth Date: 20 Sep 1914
Cemetery: Jews of Germany Murdered in the Holocaust
Has Bio?: N
URL: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...

TD

edited to add:
The 2 databases above seem to be contradicting each other

 

Well gentlemen - I contacted a friend who I thought had a copy of the book - The SAS and LRDG Roll of Honour 1941-47 fortunately he had a copy and has sent me this piece on Gerhard Wertheim and a very well, indepth piece it is.

Owen - is it worth adding his name to the thread title ?

PRIVATE GERHARD WERTHEIM [BNA/13809492] FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION, PIONEER CORPS AND 2ND SAS (HQ SQN)

Gerhard Wertheim was a German Jew who before volunteering for 2nd SAS had served in the French Foreign Legion and 337 (Alien) Company, Pioneer Corps. The latter consisted of entirely German and Austrian nationals who had fled Nazi oppression. Once in France they had joined the Foreign Legion in order to escape French internment camps but on reaching Vichy-held North Africa were employed on tasks verging on hard labour and were treated almost as prisoners. After the Allies landed in the region during November 1942’s Operation Torch a process began enabling such men to volunteer for the British Army’s Pioneer Corps. Although Wertheim’s service record cannot be located, war crimes correspondence note that he had dental treatment at Cap Matifou near Algiers in June 1943, his service number suggesting that he had enlisted into the company approximately two months previously. It is not known when he volunteered for 2nd SAS, although jump records from No.1 PTS Ringway show that during April 1944 he attended parachute course 111A. Here he was recorded as being an ‘average jumper, keen’.

Wertheim parachuted into France, close to the German border in the area west of Ingwiller, on the night of 15–16 September 1944 for Operation Pistol. With heavy ground mist and no reception committee, his patrol, B.1 under Lieutenant Ron Birnie, landed in trees, two of the party being separated as a result. They regrouped the following day, the pair having been guided by the footprints of their comrades. This unavoidable laying of sign was shortly to prove the patrol’s undoing. Wertheim and Birnie subsequently made contact with two woodcutters who helped them to dispose of their parachutes and locate their supply pannier, pinpointed their position and later provided information on enemy dispositions as well as some welcome beer. However, when the woodcutters failed to return later that day as promised Birnie grew suspicious and moved the patrol’s lay-up point farther into the wood.

Marching north on the 17th Birnie and Wertheim went to observe train traffic on their target, the railway line running towards the front. Returning to the patrol they found that children and adults had followed their tracks, Birnie therefore sending the German-speaking Wertheim to keep them at distance whilst the group packed up. However, a German policeman was amongst the civilians and spotted them. He could not be caught and appeared to be trying to ascertain their numbers so the patrol rapidly stripped down its kit and moved off. That night, having prepared explosives, Birnie took Wertheim and Lance-corporal ‘George’ Davison to attack the railway line in a tunnel north of Puberg, making arrangements to rendezvous with the remainder of the group at a later date. 2nd SAS subsequently reported that: ‘this party did not return to the [patrol’s] RV arranged for the 21st Sept, but resupply dropped for them was received by the right recognition letter at Q669430 on 24/25th Sept’ (WO 361/716). Meanwhile, Pistol’s post-operation report notes that the ‘attack probably successful as it was reliably reported subsequently that all traffic stopped for four days’ (WO 218/205).

‘Missing Parachutists’, the SAS War Crimes Investigation Team’s final report, later established that Wertheim’s group was: ‘taken prisoner near Wingen [on 1 October] and brought to Strasbourg where they were confined in the rue du Fil prison. Here Wertheim was separated and the remainder sent to Stalags’ (see Birnie’s entry under Groesbeek Memorial, Netherlands, Volume III). Kriminalrat Marie Uhring, a member of the Gestapo later held in the same prison for suspected war crimes, confirmed:

At the end of September or beginning of October 1944 I interrogated a number of English parachutists who had been captured in the Wingen area. I can remember a Lieut Birnie, and a signaller called Davison, a Frenchman called Voisin [Corporal G. Voisin of the same patrol], and a Jew who had been born in Germany, with a German name. I took Prof Gallinski as my interpreter … he got no results.

In my report I particularly emphasised that these men were prisoners of war. I pointed out that as they were wearing uniform and had 2 SAS on their shoulders they were obviously regular troops. Schneider [SS-Obersturmbannführer Wilhelm Schneider, deputy commander of the SD in Alsace] with whom I discussed this, said it was not at all clear whether SAS was a regular formation or not. I assumed that this group was not killed because Isselhorst [Dr Erich Isselhorst, commander of the SD in Alsace] and Schneider were afraid that I would split on them and tell the Red Cross [WO 309/717].

By the beginning of July 1945 the truth was beginning to unravel, the Regiment’s message log noting: ‘Source Armand Souchal. Wertheim reported killed Niederbuhl [a camp across the Rhine in Germany] 8 Dec. Will investigate. Do not take as conclusive yet’ (WO 218/216). Roger Souchal, a member of the Maquis who had worked alongside 2nd SAS not far from Pistol on Operation Loyton, and who was known as Armand to members of the Regiment, subsequently stated:

I left Schirmeck for the camp at Niederbuhl on the 22nd November 1944. On arrival at the camp at Niederbuhl I saw an SAS soldier in battle dress wearing a red beret, and with the letters SAS on his shoulders. He was a German Jew, and I remember his name was Wertheim. I saw him again with a party that was moved to Ottenau, at the beginning of December, where we remained three days, but after returning to Niederbuhl, Wertheim disappeared and I never saw him again [WO 311/1154].

Dr Armand Fritz, a fellow inmate assigned the role of camp doctor, took up the story:

The day after our return [around 27 November], between 3 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon, a green truck and gendarmerie in green uniform arrived at the camp [Niederbuhl]. Two of them came in and asked for ‘the two men’. Pfeifer, the Commandant of the camp, then pointed out the first parachutist whom I have described [Wertheim], and an epileptic Alsatian from Colmar or Mulhausen [a man later identified as a Mr Heckmann]. Both were taken to the truck outside the camp, were handcuffed and driven away in the direction of Rastatt [WO 311/1154].

Meanwhile, Paul Philippi, assistant to Fritz in the camp’s infirmary, recalled:

I saw the two parachutists for the first time at Ottenau at the end of November 1944. The first had black curly hair, looked Jewish, had a brown face and was about 1m75 tall. He was wearing khaki waterproof jacket, and had no head-dress. He spoke German and said that he had left Germany about ten to twelve years before, and that he had lived in America.

The second was smaller and thinner, and I do not know what happened to him.

I saw the first parachutist whom I said looked Jewish, being taken away from the camp at Niederbuhl. This occurred between the 5th and 7th of December. I think the Chief of Police of Niederbuhl or Rastatt was present at the truck, and I noticed the green uniform different to the [Wehrmacht’s] feldgrau. I saw this clearly from the camp dispensary. The soldier was put in handcuffs, and a young epileptic civilian was taken at the same time. The truck left in the direction of Rastatt [WO 311/1154].


Although one investigator wrote ‘suggest we defer presumption [of death] pending completion of further enqs … of German nationality, remains remote chance he turned renegade under pressure’ Major ‘Bill’ Barkworth, the commander of the SASWCIT, noted that ‘the possibility that he was not killed is extremely low’ (WO 361/730). His team’s ‘Interim Report’ simply states: ‘Lieut Birnie and Pct Wertheim were left with the Gestapo at Zabern when the other member of the party [Davison] was moved to Strasbourg. Lieut Birnie and the other man [Davison] have already been reported PW by the Germans’ (WO 218/209).

Wertheim’s French Foreign Legion pay book, found at Niederbuhl camp, was retained as an exhibit for any subsequent war crimes trial. In view of the evidence Barkworth had already concluded that Wertheim had been killed and his body disposed of en route to the nearby Rotenfels camp as there was no record of him arriving there. Sadly the case summary simply reads:

1. No evidence after leaving Niederbuhl. 2. No statements of Baumann or Weiler and Pfeifer. Further evidence required: 1. Identity of accused 2. Wertheim employed in operation and has not returned 3. Discover grave. Captured; 5 Oct 44. Shot; After 7th Dec 44 [WO 311/1154].

Despite witness statements Wertheim’s date of death is officially recorded as 2 December 1944. Both Isselhorst and Schneider were tried over separate war crimes involving members of the SAS and subsequently sentenced to death (see Black’s entry under Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany, Volume III, for further details).

Son of Solomon and Selma Wertheim of Riverside Drive, New York.

Age 30.

Medjez-el-Bab Memorial, Tunisia, Face 38. The reason that Wertheim is commemorated here rather than on the Groesbeek Memorial in the Netherlands is unknown although it may be because he enlisted into the British Army in this region of North Africa.


I thank my friend for taking the time to transcribe the section and send it to me
TD

 

All very odd and outwith my usual area. I would think that the answer lies with CWGC. If they've made a mistake it is likely that it has been copied by these other sites. I'll leave it to you experts to sort out.
SAS Wertheim, Gerhard
Tim

 

I think there will be situations such as this one where the true story of what actually happened will never be known and therefore who writes what on which memorial will be better than nothing and may also be contradictory, but it must be said as in this instance they are not forgotten - thanks to sites like this

TD

 

No - the Wertheim memorial for him is Medjez el Bab as he was recruited from North Africa. So it is correct.
GA