The Human Side of War - German Paratroopers' Remarkable Act of Kindness during WWII

Did you know the scene in The Eagle Has Landed where German paratroopers help Jewish people is based on a true story? In the Netherlands, in 1944, paratroopers shared their rations with Jewish children, risking their lives to defy SS guards. A powerful reminder of humanity's strength even in the darkest times. #TheEagleHasLanded #WWII #History #Humanity #Courage #Defiance #TrueStory #FactCheck

[j.t.]

My father was saved by a german soldier during ww2, in the netherlands. He was 2 at the time, and fell in a canal. The soldier jumped after him and saved him

[manueltome-pe]

Similar story happened with the top tanker Kurt Kniespel. In a railway station he saw a soldier punching a soviet pow and intervened in behalf of the prisoner. For that defying act he would latter miss medals and promotions.

[vincentxu]

Even though this isn’t European world war related, it still is a story about humanity

My grandpa was born in 1937 Guangxi. In 1939, the Japanese launched an attack in South Guangxi. He and his family had to hide in the mountains and trying to avoid any Japanese at all cost. The Operation Ichi Go had occurred in 1944, being one of the biggest offensive of the second sino Japanese war. The Japanese launched attacks on Changsha, hengyang, and then Guilin where my grandpa lives nearby. The Japanese connected the land of southern Guangxi and Guilin which the Japanese soldiers can freely raid cities and villages in their occupied land. My grandpa and his family had to go to another place to hide but was stopped by 2 Japanese soldiers which they checked their backpacks incase of any weapons, they didn’t find any weapons so they let them go.

[preshlock]

my grandpa was on a mortar crew on the West Front in the US Army. During a German counter attack in December 1944 {shortly before the Ardennes Offensive} his unit was overrun while he shot twice in the stomach and captured. Sadly he passed away before I was born but my dad said he was properly cared for by the Germans.

[Airland_combat]

The Wehrmacht and SS always fought with each other. However, that became clearly obvious during the battle of Castle Itter

[joshuauriarte]

Many German soilders who did not know about the camps were horrified as these camps were unknown by most troops. Whole transporting was known, many didnt know it was to their death.

[theguy]

Even in the darkest times, There's Still a shed of

[tobiasfreitag]

When the us army closed in on the city of salzburg in spring of '45 the comander of the local wehrmacht garison, Oberst Hans Lepperdinger, send a message to the SS comander in the area, requesting them to intercept a non-existent force moving thru the mountains south of the city so that they where not in the way of him surrendering his forces and the city to the US forces moving in from the north.

Also the comander of this US force, the 42. (Rainbow) Division, Harry J. Collins, was later honored by the citizens of salzburg, made him a honorary citizen of the city, and he is now buried in the citys oldest cemetery (more than 1000 years old) in a very prominent spot, with a memorial plague telling of his deeds.

[Sky-Lan]

Also German army around that time started to really dislike the prideful SS soldiers

[adunreathcooper]

They were paratroopers, not nazis. This is a fantastic movie. Michael Caine at his best.

[dukejordan]

Imagine if Germany won WW2, but there was a civil war between the SS and the werchmart.

[charlesb]

The Fallschirmjäger were probably the most hardened of the German military. That and probably the Gebirgsjäger, the SS were not real combat troops. Though the Waffen SS were, but they were fanatics as well.

[abntemplar]

yea trying to intimidate a paratrooper at any level is kind of stupid. those guys are crazy, especially back then.

[PrinzEugen]

I am from Austria and so i know good that the Wehrmacht didnt like the SS. And the fighting SS units also hated the SS guards in the KZs. Long time the SS guards werent allowed to wear german Abzeichen because everybody knew that they are criminals.

[georgewilkie]

Those that don't believe there were German WW2 Soldiers that were good Men, please just GOOGLE, "KURT KNISPEL" KNISPEL was the best Panzer Tank ACE the Panzer Divisions had. There was just one other ACE that compared to KNISPEL.. Whitmann. However, KNISPEL was never awarded the KNIGHTS CROSS, and received very little publicity because he was actually an anti-Nazi. The NAZIS looked the other way because KNISPEL was their Top Combat Ace. KNISPEL saw a German POW Guard beating up a Russian POW. KNISPEL ran over and knocked out the German Guard with only one punch. He was reprimanded, but that was all! KNISPEL was the Top Ace and considered a Hero by the general public. But, he was disgusted by the Nazi regime. Again, those interested merely GOOGLE the name ...KURT KNISPEL. And, there were many others like Kurt. So, hell yeah! There were some very good and noble German Troops.

[kimeggert]

The escape of almost all Danish jews (more than 7000) to neutral Sweden, was a succes because of a German warned warned the Danish politicians and resistant movement, so they had time to organise the escape to Sweden, the German navy was ordered to look the other way, when the jews were "smuggled" to Sweden

[ralfe]

Some wrong spots there.
The soldier running to keep the Luftwaffe members from leaving the train couldn't recognize Caine's rank, but he salutes the Iron Cross on Caine's neck. The soldier's gorget patches are regular "Wehrmacht", not SS.
The skull sign on the german officer's cap shows he is a member of the "SS-Totenkopfverbände", a part of the S . The movie starts about at the end of 1943 - at this time the "Totenkopfverbände" had had a lot of changes in organization. A part of them were responsible for running the concentration camps, deporting and killing people. His rank insignia shows he is a "SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS". That is the 3rd highest rank in the SS, only the "SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer" and then the "Reichführer SS" (Himmler) superior. What in all hell would he do there at the train station?
The train station sign reads "Nachschub Bahnhof Ost Polen" - which translates to "Supply Station East Poland" .. lol .. no.
One more thing about the skull sign: In real video clips of WWII and in a lot of movies you will see german tank crews wearing black uniforms and the skull on their gorget patches. They are not SS, the uniform's color and the skull has been a traditionell sign of the german Wehrmacht tank crews.

[daveanderson]

What happened to the paratroopers afterwards? You don't go and show up Himmlers boys without consequences. Although, the paras were Gorings boys, and Goring hated Himmler. Interesting.

[normanhines]

Not all German soldiers were Nazis. That's why loyalty is a secondary virtue; it depends upon what one is loyal to.

[eugenekoivisto]

My great grandpa was sent to military prison and labor camp during ww2, when an officer saw him giving food to soviet prisoners.
The officer wanted to execute him for aiding the enemy, but grandpa’s nco talked him out of it.