Germany’s Defiance of Military Convention

Heroes Remember

Germany’s Defiance of Military Convention

Transcript

They used some pretty rough tactics there. The Germans too because they’d capture an American tank or jeeps and stuff, take American uniforms. We were told, you know, like, they had passwords that they, if anybody comes along with an American uniform on in a jeep, make sure that you know, you had different things, like, different questions you’d ask them. Some of them were just offhand I can’t think of, you know, who is the president of the United States and who is this and who was Babe Ruth and you ever heard of Babe Ruth or, you know, sort of the things that the Americans should know, you know. If you didn’t know, well okay, we’re going to have to take you up a little higher and see some officer and get interrogated by somebody a little higher up. But apparently they had taken uniforms, you know, that’s a no-no. You can be shot for that, you know, taking another person’s uniform and wearing it.

Description

Mr. Bruce describes Germany’s use of captured American uniforms and jeeps, an illegal act in wartime, and how the Canadians became much more vigilant as a result.

Robert Bruce

Robert Bruce was born on February 11, 1922 at Sturgeon Valley, Saskatchewan. He was the second youngest of eight children. After they were forced to sell their farm when his mother was widowed, the community built Mr. Bruce’s family a new house across from the local school. He left school at fourteen, didn’t qualify academically for the air force, and eventually joined the army, where he served as a truck driver. Mr. Bruce served in post D-Day Europe from France to Germany. After the war, he returned to Canada and worked on the railroad.

Meta Data