As the legend goes, on September 28, 1918, as World War 1 was nearing its end, Private
Henry James Tandey came across a wounded and unarmed German soldier and spared his life.
He was Adolf Hilter.
Tandey supposedly encountered the future dictator during the battle of Marcoing, after which
he was awarded the Victory Cross and emerged as a hero.
One of the most decorated privates of the British forces during World War 1, Tandey
eventually became famous because of what he reportedly did when he faced Hitler, a rumor
that seems to have been spread by the Fuhrer himself.
Decades later, Tandey would remark: (QUOTE) "If only I had known what he would turn out
to be.
When I saw all the people, women and children, he had killed and wounded, I was sorry to
God I let him go."
Diamond In The Rough
Henry James Tandey was born in Warwickshire in August of 1891.
His father was a former soldier, and his mother passed away when he was still a child.
Thus, Tandey spent part of his childhood in an orphanage and later became a boiler attendant
at a hotel.
Shortly before turning 19, Tandey enlisted in the British Army with the Green Howards
Regiment.
He served in Guernsey and South Africa after basic training.
When World War 1 broke out, the young private joined the Battle of Ypres.
Two years later, he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme and hospitalized, returning to
the frontline in 1917.
Still, he was wounded yet again at the Battle of Passchendaele.
In July of 1918, the private was transferred from the Green Howards to the Duke of Wellington’s
West Riding Regiment and posted to the 5th Battalion.
Then, on August 28, the battalion saw action at the west of the Canal du Nord during the
2nd Battle of Cambrai, where Tandey was leading one of several bombing parties on the German
trenches when he saw that the forward parties were being held up.
He then called upon two other men and, under fire, the three soldiers dashed across no
man’s land and reached an enemy trench.
Coming from their rear, they then bombed the trench and returned with no less than 20 prisoners.
With that first exploit, Tandey facilitated the capture of the German positions and received
the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
His citation praised his: (QUOTE) “Daring courage throughout the whole of the operations.”
Two weeks later, the 5th Battalion became engaged in an attack at Havrincourt, and on
September 11, he rescued several wounded men while under fire.
Moreover, the following day he led a bombing party into enemy trenches and returned with
another handful of prisoners.
This time, the private was bestowed with the Military Medal.
True Hero
Towards the end of September of 1918, Tandey was involved in a counterattack at the canal
following the capture of Marcoing, with relentless machine-gun fire targeting his platoon.
Crawling forward within the village, Tandey then located the gun position and led a few
men into a house.
They then silenced the machine gun with Lewis gunfire.
Notably, later that same day, he alone fixed the damaged bridge, replaced the planks, and
allowed the rest of the British forces to cross over.
However, the Germans overthrew his platoon by the evening.
Private H. Lister would later recount: (QUOTE) “Private Tandey, without hesitation, though
he was twice wounded very nastily, took the leading part in our bayonet charge on the
enemy, to get clear.
Though absolutely faint he refused to leave us until we had completely finished our job,
collected our prisoners and restored the line.”
Tandey and eight comrades had ultimately captured 37 enemies through sheer bravery.
The story goes that during that battle, the British forced their enemies to retreat, and
suddenly a wounded and unarmed German soldier wandered into Tandey’s line of fire.
Still, the private could not in all conscience shoot a disarmed and weary man, and he would
later recall: (QUOTE) “I took aim but couldn’t shoot a wounded man, so I let him go.”
The German thankfully nodded and walked away.
Back home, Tandey became a beloved hero and was awarded the Victory Cross in December,
securing a place among the most decorated privates of World War 1.
However, news of his exploits would reach even Germany, where one day a young Adolf
Hitler reportedly spotted his picture in a newspaper in which Tandey was seen carrying
an injured soldier on his back.
The future Fuhrer was then able to put a name to the face of the man who had spared his
life.
Urban Legend
In 1938, twenty years after the so-called “war to end all wars” ended, British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain paid a visit to the Fuhrer at his Bavarian retreat known
as the Berghof in an attempt to deter the unnecessary violence.
While there, the Prime Minister noticed a particular painting hanging in Hitler’s
study.
The picture in question was a replica of Italian painter Fortunino Matania’s depiction of
a scene at the Menin crossroads in 1914, with a soldier carrying a fellow combatant to safety,
in the same fashion as Tandey’s newspaper clipping.
Although the details are blurry and the facts are difficult to corroborate, what happened
next gave birth to an extraordinary legend.
It is said that Hitler turned to Chamberlain and told him that the man in the painting
had spared his life.
Supposedly, he said: (QUOTE) "That man came so near to killing me that I thought I should
never see Germany again.
Providence saved me from such devilish accurate fire as those English boys were aiming at
us."
The museum of the Green Howards, Private Tandey’s former Regiment, commissioned the painting
from Matania in 1923 - and confirmed that a copy was hanging on Hitler’s wall.
A member of the Fuhrer’s staff, Dr. Otto Schwend, had come across the painting and
obtained a large photo as a personal gift to Hitler.
Captain Weidemann, Hitler’s adjutant, replied in a letter: (QUOTE) “The Führer is naturally
very interested in things connected with his own war experiences, and he was obviously
moved when I showed him the photograph and explained the thought which you had in causing
it to be sent to him.”
At age 29, Hitler had indeed been involved in said battles in late 1918.
In fact, he was twice decorated as a soldier, but he was temporarily blinded by mustard
gas that October and therefore sent to a military hospital in Germany.
While hospitalized, Hitler learned of the German surrender, and his initial feelings
of glory turned into deep disillusion and even despondency.
As he admitted in 1941: (QUOTE) “When I returned from the War, I brought back home
with me my experiences at the front; out of them I built my National Socialist community.”
Demystifying the Legend
Legend says that upon realizing who the man in the picture was, Hitler asked Chamberlain
to pass on his gratitude.
The Prime Minister himself then allegedly phoned Tandy to exchange details on the story,
but the private was not home, so he talked to his nephew.
However, British Telecom archives indicate that Tandey didn’t even own a telephone.
Furthermore, modern research indicates that it was nearly impossible for the two men to
have met.
Their respective units were indeed deployed close to each other, once in 1914 at Ypres,
Belgium, and again in 1918, near Marcoing, France.
But as Tandey’s biographer, David Johnson, pointed out, the meeting was supposed to have
happened on September 28.
And evidence from the Bavarian State Archive shows that the then-Lieutenant Corporal Hitler
was on leave between the 25th and the 27th.
The expert stated: (QUOTE) "This means that Hitler was either on leave or returning from
leave at the time or with his regiment 50 miles north of Marcoing."
Johnson then inferred that Hitler might have made up the story as he became aware that
Tandey was among the most decorated and beloved heroes from World War 1: (QUOTE) "If he was
going to have his life spared by a British soldier, who better than a famous war hero
who had won a Victoria Cross, Military Medal and a Distinguished Conduct Medal in a matter
of weeks?
With his god-like self-perception, the story added to his own myth - that he had been spared
for something greater, that he was somehow "chosen".
His story embellished his reputation nicely."
Meanwhile, Private Tandey was noncommittal about the event.
He did acknowledge sparing soldiers on September 28, but despite his initial disposition to
entertain the idea, he always claimed that he needed more information to confirm the
story.
In 1939, he told the Coventry Herald: (QUOTE) "According to them, I've met Adolf Hitler.
Maybe they're right but I can't remember him."
Tandey’s biographer went to great lengths to back his subject, stating that: (QUOTE)
“We must not forget that in 1918, no-one knew who Hitler was.
Why would Henry remember and regret that specific encounter.
[sic]”
Regardless, the newspapers fueled the urban legend, claiming that: (QUOTE) "Nothing Henry
did that night could ease his sickening sense of guilt” and: (QUOTE) "He could have stopped
this.
He could have changed the course of history."
Still, the mystery surrounding the supposed epic serendipity remains the stuff of legend,
leaving open the possibility that the world could have been a much different place.
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