Bert Trautmann

Discussion in 'Axis Units' started by David Layne, Jun 12, 2007.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    It's out on DVD now.
    Mrs bought it at Morrison's earlier.
    Will watch it soon.
     
  2. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    He gave me a cup of tea once. Back when he played for Man City pro footballers didn't get paid zillions and he lived in a three bedroom detached on a pre war suburban estate. The council had resurfaced the road outside his house and I came off my bicycle on some loose gravel resulting in a very bloody knee. His wife came out and fetched me in and applied cotton wool, hot water and disinfectant and he made a cup of tea. Can't see that happening with any of today's mega stars.
     
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  3. SteveDee

    SteveDee Well-Known Member

    For anyone in UK who missed this film its currently on iPlayer: BBC iPlayer - The Keeper

    We've just watched this film and really enjoyed it.
     
  4. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    I have just watched the first eight minutes. My comments are based on that, and that alone. Please don’t take this film as the gospel truth. I am reasonably sure there were no air raids in St Helens then. Trautmann was not captured in the circumstances as shown, he did not begin as a POW at Ashton in Makerfield in Lancashire. He was first sent to a camp in Cheshire where he played outfield. Trautmann was half way to being trusted by the British as he’d been selected as the driver for the CO of Ashton while in Cheshire. There’s shades of grey in real life, not just black and white. This film must be seen, rather like the new SAS rouge heroes as a dramatisation of real events. What is generally true then is that there was a ‘battle’ growing between pro Nazi and anti Nazi prisoners in many camps. It did result in violence and murders at times in the prisons with murders being disguised as suicides by the perpetrators, usually the Nazi faction. (I don’t know how the film develops, remember, or how the holocaust is covered). I look forward to seeing how it does evolve. Enjoy.
     
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  5. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    We once did an interview with Bert Trautmann for German TV - he told us that he was a truck driver in a German parachute unit and that he was captured near Hamminkeln on or shortly after March 24th, 1945 - in the context of the successful Allied airborne operation Varsity. But I believe he has also presented different versions...
     
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  6. SteveDee

    SteveDee Well-Known Member

    Its just a dramatisation based upon a period of Bert's life. Such films never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

    Possible spoilers: the film starts when he is captured by the British, and ends while he was still playing football, probably in the late 50s.

    As usual, you can get a better idea about Bert's life from Wikipedia: Bert Trautmann - Wikipedia

    I've just downloaded his biography.
     
  7. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    This is what he said in an interview in 2003:

    "We were then transferred to the West - after three years – and went to France. From Debleau (?) near Paris a new regiment was put together or a division which was called 6th Division, Parachute Division and we took part in one or two battles in France. Then came Arnhem, the paratroopers were always used as a fire brigade, then came Arnhem, later came the Ardennes, after the Ardennes came Holland again and then into Germany. In Germany I was captured on March 25, '45, after the Allies had crossed the Rhine on the 24th. I had six wounded in the back of a truck and wanted to bring them to Hamminkeln, which I did not succeed in doing for the simple reason that at the same time as I was driving to Hamminkeln, the entire village was being bombed by low-flying aircraft and twin-engine Maurauders, and of course with the six... I landed with the six wounded in the ditch. I delivered them later and then, maybe it was a mistake, you don't know, with the truck, I drove back the same way and drove through the village. Driving through the same village back again it was incredibly quiet - I have to insert something else, on March 24, '45, when I say, the Allies crossed the Rhine, later on I found out that thousands of airplanes were used, that is, four-engine, two-engine, fighters and cargo gliders, and that was the first time I saw my own branch - airborne units - being used on the other side, how they jumped off and this whole village was occupied by paratroopers. Later - it was midnight by now - I got out of the truck, went to a farm and then I was jumped at and captured. Shortly after I was captured I went to a camp in Weeze also on the Lower Rhine, then Ostend where we were held in a brickyard and then ten days later to England, Kempton Park, a horse racing course and there they had collected prisoners of war."

    Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) - minor corrections by alberk
     
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  8. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member


    As l originally said, it’s not gospel, it’s a dramatisation.
     

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