Howard Brodie transferred to Europe after doing his first combat art on Guadalcanal (see previous posts). He participated in the Battle of the Bulge and sketched this drawing of a German prisoner executed by firing squad. He could be a member of Otto Skorzeny’s commando unit that was tasked by Hitler to go behind enemy lines to capture some bridges across the Meuse River before the Allies could blow them up. Hitler himself had dreamed up Operation Grief. He personally appointed his favorite commando, Otto Skorzeny, to lead it. Skorzeny had proved himself by rescuing Mussolini from his mountaintop prison. Skorzeny recruited German soldiers that could speak English, but only ended up with ten who could speak it fluently and knew slang. A few American vehicles were provided but disguised German vehicles had to supplement. The men were given American uniforms. Panzer Brigade 150 never came close to the bridges, but a few of the men infiltrated American lines and caused some disruption. They turned around some road signs, but their main effect was the spread of rumors that there were a lot of them behind the lines. Thus American soldiers took to asking strangers questions only a true American could answer, like who won the World Series. Most of the unit ended up donning German uniforms and fighting as regular soldiers, but a few actually penetrated deeper and some were caught. One of them lied and told interrogators that their mission was to capture Eisenhower, which caused a bit of a panic. Over ten of the captives were tried and convicted of violating the Hague Convention of 1907 which forbade infiltration while wearing enemy uniforms. They were executed by firing squad. However, after the war Skorzeny and other officers were acquited in war crimes trials. Their defense was the operation was an acceptable form of deception and the men did not participate in combat wearing American uniforms.
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