The Man Who Went to War - A Reporter's Memoir from Libya and the Arab Uprising

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Chris left Germanyjust two days before the outbreak of World War II to take a job as radaroperator at the small airport at Esbjerg, Denmark. Life wascomparatively uneventful until the Nazi hordes overran their tiny northernneighbor. Suddenly Chris was summoned to the office of a German captain. Why,he wanted to know, was she, a German citizen, working in a foreign land duringwartime? Under the circumstances it appeared dubious that she was loyal to theFatherland. The captain, however, could straighten out everything, could gether beautiful clothes, set her up in luxury, if she would extend certainpersonal favors to him. He waited for her reply. It came quickly.

"Fatpig!"

For this Chris was promptlyarrested, taken to Copenhagen andtried as a traitor. The verdict:  Guilty! The penalty:  Death!

Chris tells of her hairbreadthescape, her perilous crossing into northern Italywith the Gestapo hot on her heels, and her long trek on foot, traveling only atnight, down the Italian peninsula to Naples,where she made contact with friends. One wrong move would mean death before afiring squad.

She next escaped to Tunis,North Africa, where she became a messenger in theUnderground. On one of her missions two friends were instantly killed and shewas severely wounded. She woke up in a German field hospital and was told thatone of her feet must be amputated. General Rommel,the Desert Fox, arrived at the hospital, questioned her, and had hertransferred to a private hospital in Tunis,where the foot was saved. Rommel, who was plottingthe death of Hitler, showed her important documents and told her that she andher deceased friends had actually been working on secret missions for him. Hearranged for her return to Italy,where supposedly she would be safe with friends in Reggio.As the Allied forces pushed into Italy,however, she once more had to flee, the quarry of Nazis and Allies alike.Hunted like a wild animal in the mountains and caves, she was captured by twoGerman soldiers of the Hermann Goering Division whotied her up and beat her so badly that they left her for dead. Rescued by asergeant of the German 3d Regiment, 1st Paratroop Division, she was taken tothe commanding officer, Colonel Ludwig Heilmann, astrong anti-Nazi. She was adopted by the regiment and became the colonel'sconfidante; later, miraculously survived Monte Cassino;and finally joined the American forces.

Often in the thick of battle, sherisked her own life to save the lives of Germans, Italians and Americans alike.Her concern was with humanity, not national origin. She recalls the violentdeaths of most of her friends, particularly the day when she and others stoodbefore an SS firing line. Just as she was to be shot, a soldier and dear friendfrom the paratroop division threw himself before her, taking the bullet andfalling dead at her feet.

She says, "I write of lifehere as I lived it, of what I saw and felt about people. Though once I hatedevery man who wore a German uniform, I later learned that there were manydecent, valiant soldiers, regardless of nationality. One should evaluate theindividual, not the uniform. My story simply tells the plain facts and the fulltruth about 'men at war.'"

Chris came to the United States in 1947 on a troopship crowded withGI's. Now happily married, she lives the quiet life of a housewife in Oakland, California.