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This book is an original publication of Penguin Random House LLC.
Copyright 2015 by Andrew Gerow Hodges, Jr., and Denise George.
The letter that appears on page 125 provided by Bernie Rader.
The letters from Professor M.R.D. Foot on pages 303309 courtesy of Dr. M M. Foot.
Appendix I written by Harlan Hobart Grooms, Jr.,
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eBook ISBN 978-0-698-17002-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hodges, Andrew G.
Behind Nazi lines : my fathers heroic quest to save 149 World War II POWs / Andrew Gerow Hodges Jr., Denise George.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-425-27646-4 (hardback)
1. Hodges, Andrew Gerow, 19182005. 2. World War, 19391945Prisoners and prisons, German. 3. American Red CrossBiography. 4. World War, 19391945War workRed Cross. 5. Prisoners of warUnited StatesBiography. 6. Prisoners of warFranceSaint-NazaireBiography. 7. Saint-Nazaire (France)History, Military20th century. 8. United States. Army. Infantry Division, 94thBiography. 9. FranceHistoryGerman occupation, 19401945. I. George, Denise. II. Title. III. Title: My fathers heroic quest to save 149 World War II POWs.
D805.5.S27H66 2015
940.54'7243092dc23
2014045820
First edition: August 2015
Jacket design by George Long.
Jacket photos courtesy of Andrew Gerow Hodges Family Collection and the J. B. Scales Collection.
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the author nor the publisher is responsible for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Version_1
To my motherone of my two heroes Mary Louise Shirley Hodges, who, like millions of WWII brides, stood by her man while he was overseas, doing his part for America and the world.
AUTHORS NOTE
The storys dialogue came from statements made by Andrew Gerow Hodges, Michael R. D. Foot, and the POWs that attended the Samford Reunion on January 25, 2002. These were video-recorded and included in the award-winning documentary For One English Officer. Other dialogue came from POW diaries, newspaper articles, military records, recorded statements, letters, telegrams, correspondence, and conversations with living participants and family members of participants. Some of the dialogue was created in a logical sequence to match documented stories and events.
All stories and events in this book happened just as they are described and can be documented by records, newsreels, military information/records, etc. All characters in this book are real, and appear in the story as they did in the real life events. The names of Schmitts nephew, Walter, and sister, Greta, were created. Schmitt had a sister and a nephew, but their names could not be found. The German sentry in Lorient, Klaus, was a created name/person.
The names Lon Spanin (his birth name) and Lon Rollin (his pseudonym) are used interchangeably throughout the book. He is also referred to by his nickname, Leo.
PART ONE
THE FIRST EXCHANGE
There was one man... on the Allied side, armed only with his wits and a Red Cross badge.
HARLAN HOBART GROOMS, JR., COLONEL, U.S. MARINE CORPS RESERVE (RETIRED), PAST PRESIDENT OF THE BIRMINGHAM BAR ASSOCIATION, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, USA
ONE
A CROSS, A FLAG, AND A DANGEROUS JOURNEY
Thursday, 23 November 1944, Thanksgiving Day, 94th Infantry Division Headquarters, Chteaubriant, France
Andy Hodges had been handed a job no one else dared to accepta direct order from Major General Harry J. Malony, commander of the 94th Infantry Division, headquartered in Chteaubriant, France.
Its a suicide mission, Malonys chief of staff, Colonel Earl Bergquist, had told him. But Andy had his orders, even if hed most likely become the target of a German bullet.
However dangerous the assignment, deep down Hodges welcomed the opportunity to serve his country. He thought about the lives that were depending on himmen with families in America, France, and Britainmothers, fathers, wives, and siblings who waited for a word of hope about their loved ones recently declared missing in action. He hoped he could save the POWs held in the St. Nazaire prison camp. The prisoners were cold, hungry, and becoming deathly ill. They needed help, and quickly.
On that dismal predawn morning in late November, a cold rain spattered the sleeping French countryside. Andy placed a white flag in the jeeps front holder, climbed inside, and began his trek toward enemy lines. Probably, no one expected his arrival on this day. In his hand, he carried a copy of a letter, dated November 21, 1944, typed in German on American Red Cross stationery. It was addressed to the camps Kommandantwhoever he was.
An den Deutschen Kommandanten, St. Nazaire, it said. Thats all. No specific name.
I hope the Kommandant has already received the original letter I sent beforehand. But I have no way to know.
The letter he held was his protection, his only defense, if he were stopped, questioned, and searched. But he knew it would provide little security against so brutal an enemy.
In seven or eight hours, back home in Geneva, South Alabama, Thanksgiving Day would dawn. He wanted to be there, sitting in his chair around the big family table, with his new bride and toddler son, his parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and longtime friends. He could almost smell and taste the traditional oven-baked turkey and cornbread dressing, marshmallow-crowned sweet potato casserole, last summers homegrown canned tomatoes, and pumpkin pies his family would feast on that day. But the whole world was at war, and he had his orders.
Dinners at home will have to waittill next year, or the year after that. I sure hope I get to sit at my familys Thanksgiving table again one day.
As he drove slowly down the narrow path from Chteaubriant, he shined his flashlight on the old, crinkled map of France, the only one he could find. When he reached Chauve, he stopped and checked the tangle of thread-like roads that branched out like a spiders web from the small Allied-occupied village southeast of St. Nazaire on the western coast of central France.