The Test of Courage: (A Biography of) Michel Thomas (64 page)

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Authors: Christopher Robbins

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  1. Henri: The nom de guerre of Henri Segal, a French Jew - ‘one of the heroes’, according to Michel.
  2. Attack on Fort Murier: Aime Recquet wrote his own account of this incident - see Nal & Recquet,
    Autres Recits
    (published with
    La Bataille de Grenoble
    ), pp 274-81.
  3. Thérèse Mathieu: Michel did not see Thérèse Mathieu again in the war, but kept in touch and met her years later. After the war she was sent by the Ministry of Education to French Africa to set up a system of education. At the age of seventy she complained that there were certain Alpine peaks she was no longer able to climb. She died in 1955 in a car accident in her beloved mountains.
  4. Battle of Vercors: The best and fullest account is chronicled in Michael Pearson’s book,
    Tears of Glory
    (passim), in which the author interviewed survivors and gained access to classified documents. See also Aron,
    France Reborn
    , pp 182-95; Chambard,
    The Maquis
    , pp 173-94; Ehrlich,
    The French Résistance
    , pp 168-88; Foot,
    SOE in France
    , pp 357-8,391-9; Kedward,
    In Search of the Maquis
    , pp 174-81; Morgan,
    An Uncertain Hour
    , pp 292-300.
  5. Germans turned: Foot,
    Résistance
    , p 252.
  6. Liberation of Grenoble: See Aron,
    France Reborn
    , pp 344-6; Chambard,
    The Maquis
    , p 193; Foot,
    SOE in France
    , pp 412-13; Recquet,
    Bataille de Grenoble
    , pp 296-9; Pearson,
    Tears of Glory
    , pp 301-12.
  7. Horizontal collaborators: Bruckberger,
    One Sky to Share
    , pp 23-4.
  8. Coiffure of 1944: Stein,
    Wars I Have Seen
    , pp 121,243.
  9. Thunderbirds’ history: For a complete history of the division, from its entanglement with Pancho Villa through the Korean War, see Franks,
    Citizen Soldiers
    , passim; Whitlock,
    Rock of Anzio
    , passim.
  10. Praise from Patton: Quoted in Whitlock,
    Rock of Anzio
    , p 53.
  11. Italian campaign: see Reegan, Second World War, pp 287-301.
  12. Thunderbirds: Background on the 45th Division, together with a combat chronology, is provided in
    45th Division News
    ,
    Thunderbirds Special Edition
    , Second Anniversary edition, Vol. V, No. 38, 10 July 1945.
  13. Liberation of Lyon: The Milice witness was Max Pyot; the priest tortured by the Gestapo was Abbé Boussier; the Bron airport supervisor was Joseph Bouellat; the Résistance leader who sent the signed letter to the Gestapo was Yves Farge. See Aron,
    France Reborn
    , pp 345-6, Bower,
    Barbie
    , pp 104-7; Morgan,
    Uncertain Hour
    , pp 308-9, 314-16.
  14. Liberation of Culoz: Stein,
    Wars I Have Seen
    , pp 215-16,244-5.
  15. Thunderbirds’ prisoners: By the end of the war the Thunderbirds would have a tally of one hundred and three thousand, three hundred and sixty-seven POWs to their credit. It is impossible to calculate how many enemy were killed or wounded.
    45th Division News
    , 10 July 1945.
  16. Cracow ghetto: The chemist who witnessed the events in Harmony Square, Cracow, Poland, in the first week in June 1942 was Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who wrote a detailed account. Unknown to him the deportees were sent to Belzec and gassed. Eisenberg,
    Witness to the Holocaust
    , pp 194-203.
  17. Silver Star: The recommendation was written - and appallingly spelt, in what seems to be the house style of American military reports - by Martin F. Schroeder, executive officer, 1st Battalion, 180th infantry, 45th Division, Seventh Army (undated). The medal was never awarded, possibly because Michel was a foreign national. ‘I never looked into it or followed it up. I believed in Mathieu’s credo that we were not in it for decorations. I still do.’ The recommendation reads: ‘From the time of the liberation of Grenoble, France, in August 1944 through the battle of the Vosges mountains in Alsace in November of the same year, Michel Kroskof-Thomas, a Lt of the French Forces of the Interior (Maquis Commando Group), was attached to the S-2 section of 1st Bn, 180th Infantry. During this time in adverse weather conditions and against intense enemy Résistance, he successfully led reconnaissance patrols into enemy territory to gain vital information necessary for the continued advances of our forces. Often he led as many as three patrols in one day, and on several occasions he volunteered to go on these patrols alone with utter disregard for his personal safety. He was instrumental in capturing many enemy prisoners whom he personally interrogated and obtained much vital information. His fluent knowledge of various languages was beneficial in interrogating German prisoners and captured slave laborers, and French civilians. In September 1944, in the vicinity of Aubry, France, one of the companies of the Bn was holding a bridgehead across a river, and was in an exposed position which was continuously threatened by counter-attack. Michel Kroskof-Thomas personally established contact with an agent of the FFI in a strongly held enemy town and obtained vital knowledge and exact information as to movements, positions, enemy strength, installations, armor, and minefields. Later, he supervised the maintenance of contact with agents in other enemy-held towns in the vicinity, and thus he daily received information concerning enemy movements, reinforcements and proposed activities of the enemy on a larger scale. On one occasion when two patrols had been captured while attempting to obtain further information concerning enemy positions he volunteered to go alone into the positions. On this patrol he personally observed all the enemy minefields in the vicinity, and succeeded in reaching a single house where he captured an enemy soldier and obtained additional information as to positions and activity. When other enemy soldiers approached the house, he succeeded in withdrawing with the prisoner and returned to friendly positions and with information concerning artillery targets in the vicinity. A few minutes after he left the house, it was set afire by the enemy. By knowing the location of strategic positions and installations, and giving personally observed results of our shelling, he was able to effectively direct fire on these enemy positions causing them to withdraw from their prepared positions. This greatly relieved the strain on the forces holding the bridgehead.’
  18. Temporary release from Thunderbirds: ‘To Whom It May Concern: This is to certify that Michel Kroskof-Thomas, of Grenoble, France, has been attached to our Intelligence Unit S-2 since 27 August 1944, in the capacity of interrogator and scout. His services proved invaluable to this organization. He disregarded personal safety to carry out hazardous patrol missions and as a result was able to submit important information on enemy installations and strength. His ability to speak French, German and Polish has aided this organization in the interrogation of French civilians and German PWs. Reluctantly, we are forced to release Michel Kroskof-Thomas, in accordance with AG 230, Headquarters, VI Corps, dated 6 October 1944. He leaves with our sincere thanks and highest recommendation.’ Henry F. Teichann Jr, 1st Lt, Infantry, Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 180th Infantry, APO 45, Postmaster, N.Y. New York, 19 October 1944.
  19. Take no prisoners: The quoted written order was given to the US 38th Infantry Regiment. Whiting,
    Massacre at Malmédy
    , p 62.
  20. Battle of the Bulge: A library of books has been written on the Ardennes campaign. The fullest account is Cole’s
    The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge
    ; the best is MacDonald’s
    The Battle of the Bulge
    ; the most readable is Toland’s
    Battle: The Story of the Bulge
    .
  21. Transfer to CIC: The date of the transfer, 28 March 1945, is quoted in a recommendation written by Michel’s senior officer, Captain Rupert W. Guenthner, 20 July 1945.
  22. COWARDS AND TRAITORS: Quoted in Bishop,
    Fighting 45th
    , p 161.
  23. Battle for Aschaffenburg: Reports on the battle appeared in
    Time
    magazine and the Associated Press, 2 April 1945.
  24. Landseer: The breed is considered to be the black and white variant of the Newfoundland. It is named after the artist Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73) who featured it in many of his paintings. By 1920 the breed was virtually extinct; German breeders recreated it by crossing the St Bernard with the Great Pyrenean Mountain dog.
  25. A fabric of moans: The words are those of Staff Sergeant Donald Schulz. Bower,
    Paperclip Conspiracy
    , p 104.
  26. Unrecognisable as humans: Report by the US Signal Corps, quoted in Gilbert,
    Holocaust
    , p 796.
  27. Murrow in Buchenwald: CBS radio broadcast, 15 April 1945. Text reproduced in
    Reporting WWII, Vol. II
    , pp 681-5.
  28. Liberation of Dachau: Associated Press and various other correspondents mistakenly reported that the 42nd Division helped capture the camp, but in fact it did not arrive until after it had been liberated solely by the 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry of the Thunderbirds.
    The Seventh Army Daily News Summary
    , 1 May 1945.
  29. Combat rage: The GIs’ rage is described by Whitlock,
    Rock ofAnzio
    , p 360.
  30. SS men killed: A ‘secret’ report on the killings was prepared by the Seventh Army’s assistant inspector-general, Lt Col Joseph Whitaker. It recommended that four members of the 45th Division be charged with murder and tried by court-martial. One of the officers to be charged later reported that General Patton destroyed the report in his presence. No disciplinary action was taken. Whitlock,
    Rock ofAnzio
    , pp 388-9.
  31. Female journalist: Martha Gellhorn, then married to Ernest Hemingway, visited Dachau after the troops liberated it. ‘Actually she came in days later and struck people as self-important and pretentious,’ Michel says. Gellhorn, ‘Dachau’,
    Collier’s
    , 23 June 1945.
  32. Infernal fire: The journalist was Sam Goldsmith, a Lithuanian Jew who had sought asylum in Britain before the war. His report appeared in
    Haboker
    , Tel Aviv, 1945. Quoted in Gilbert,
    The Holocaust
    , p 799.
  33. Emil Mahl: Mahl was actually captured and interrogated in Munich, where he had fled at the approach of Allied troops.
  34. Confession: Michel has kept the document of yellowing paper, ‘a souvenir of one of the gruesome testimonies of our time’. It is signed twice by Mahl on the final page.
  35. Work detail in Dachau crematorium: The detail was made up of: Eugen Seybold, from Munich; August Ziegler, from Mannheim; Franz Geiger, from Augsburg; and Johann Gopaz, from Hariborg (Yugoslavia). All the men were interviewed at length by Michel and volunteered to give testimony in writing.
  36. Dachau doctors: Gellhorn, ‘Dachau’,
    Collier’s
    , 23 June 1945.
  37. Fritz Spanheimer: After the war Spanheimer remained in Munich and became a prominent attorney.
  38. Nazi Party membership profiles: The mill owner, Hans Huber, later claimed to a reporter from the
    Los Angeles Times
    that he was against Nazism and had ‘preserved the files and kept them hidden’ until their discovery by ‘an American GI’ ‘Berlin Document Center Aids Nazi Hunters’,
    Los Angeles Times
    , 11 March 1979.
  39. Freight cars of documents: Robert Wolfe,
    A Short History of the Berlin Document Centre
    , 1994, p xii.
  40. Post-war reorganisation of American forces: Franks,
    Citizen Soldiers
    , p139.
  41. Child in Buchenwald: The American officer was Rabbi Herschel Schechter. The child, Israel Lau, was kept alive by the cunning and love of his nineteen-year-old brother, Naftali. After the war Israel Lau became Chief Rabbi of Netanya, in Israel. His brother became consul-general in New York. Bonnie Boxer,
    The High Holidays: Israel El Al
    , p 11. The incident is also quoted in Gilbert,
    The Holocaust
    , p 792.
  42. Dr Frundsberg: Ted Kraus, Michel’s senior officer in CIC at this time, was party to the SS sting operation. ‘Michel posed as an important SS figure, and had an elaborate place set up which was very impressive, and he was able to put it all over. He had a theatrical touch.’ It was Kraus who organised and ran the tape recordings of the meetings. ‘I doubt very much if the transcripts still exist.’ Ted Kraus, interview with the author, New Haven, Connecticut, 30 October 1997.

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