Aubrey M. Temples

April 18, 1924- October 8, 2017

Aubrey M. Temples was born in Sulphur Springs, Texas, on April 18, 1924. In 1943 he enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 19. He received his basic training at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, and was deployed to the European Theater in Leicester, England, as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. He participated in the D Day campaign, as well as the subsequent Market Garden airdrop, one of the largest in the history of warfare. He was wounded, was captured by German forces, and spent time in Stalag 7-A, near Munich. Prior to the end of the war, he was transferred to farm duty in the small village of Nussdorf am Inn, Germany.

In early March 1945, twenty of us were transferred from the large POW camp at Moosburg, Germany, to Nussdorf am Inn in southern Germany. Our journey began with an open boxcar ride to Munich, followed by a mile-long walk to another railroad station. We waited in the lobby with both civilians and military personnel, standing in a group with our three guards. When the train was announced, we boarded with everyone else. A guard stood at each end of the car, and we were told to sit in any empty seat. I sat next to a man with family in Kansas who wanted to talk to someone from there. Of the others from our barracks, five were not from Kansas, and I didn’t know about the remaining fourteen.

In less than an hour, we arrived at a railroad yard, and the air raid siren sounded. Everyone, including one of our guards, left the train. The guard soon returned and led us to the basement of a large house, which he said belonged to Hermann Göring. The city was Rosenheim. After the all-clear, we reboarded the train and continued south for another ten or fifteen minutes. When the train stopped, we got off and waited for it to pass before heading east up a steep gravel road. After walking about one and a half miles, we reached a small town with a sign that read "Nussdorf." On the right was a small stone building with a barbed wire fence around it, where one guard was waiting for us. 

The three guards who had brought us then walked back down the road toward the railroad tracks. Inside the building, we found twenty bunks without hay mattresses, running water, a flush toilet, and a shower without hot water. The guard was outside, so we discussed escape but decided to wait until we had regained our strength. We were all in poor health; I had lost about sixty pounds, and the others had lost similar amounts. There was snow in the ditches, and the weather was still cold. We agreed to build up our strength and try to escape later, hoping the war would end soon.

We opened cans of food and ate part of them. This food was to last until Monday morning when we were to work for local families. One man in our group spoke fluent German, and most of us understood and spoke a little.

The building had no windows and only one door, which opened into the barbed wire enclosure. The back portion of the fence was incomplete, allowing us to walk in and out. A short, heavyset man, the mayor, arrived with the guard. He took one man at a time to a farm, except for two men assigned to a larger farm.

Most of the men were assigned before he reached my name. The mayor, who seemed unwashed, led me to a large white three-story house. A large woman, Frau Moser, greeted us from the balcony. Soon, a girl of 18 or 19 brought out a hay mattress for me. Frau Moser told me someone would pick me up at 7:00 a.m. on Monday. 

Our guard had served on the Russian front and had a large, red, frostbitten nose. Someone nicknamed him "Cherry Nose," which he didn’t understand but didn’t object to. We washed clothes on Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, and Sunday, drying them inside the building. The guard often conversed with us, especially with the man who spoke German well. He once left his unloaded rifle, which someone hid under a hay mattress. We returned the rifle, knowing security was lax. We had more food than usual over the weekend, and some saved food in case the farmers didn’t feed us well.

On Monday morning, a boy of 11 or 12 picked me up at the gate, holding my hand for the two blocks to the house. There, I met the Moser family: Frau Moser, her daughters Agathe (19) and Theresa, called "Resi" (15), and her mother, likely 65 or 70. Lastly, I met Herr Moser, the farmer, who had suffered a stroke. He couldn’t talk clearly, and Frau Moser fed him in the bedroom. We ate breakfast in the kitchen, where I realized I had taken the grandmother’s place at the table. The breakfast included fresh sliced wheat bread, butter, and jelly. 

After breakfast, we went to the barn, which housed twelve milk cows and two oxen. The cows had chains around their necks to keep them in place, and there was little odor. Sometimes, when working away from the house, Frau Moser packed a picnic basket and called “Brotzeit” at lunchtime, offering bread and jelly.

Soon after arriving in Nussdorf, Frau Moser introduced me to the man next door who spoke English and six other languages. He was an artist and writer with a 6 or 7-year-old son named Adrian. He had two sons in the army from a previous marriage. He learned that the Moser family struggled to pronounce my name, so he suggested they call me “Tex,” as I was from Texas. He visited often, saying he needed to practice his English. [P3]

The house had three stories: the first floor had a living room, a bedroom, the master bedroom, and the kitchen/dining area; the second floor had six bedrooms; the third floor had four bedrooms, housing people whose homes had been bombed or burned. The barn was larger than the house, with a basement mainly used for cattle waste storage.

On Saturday afternoon, we took turns washing clothes. The guard conversed with us, especially with the man who spoke German well. He once left his unloaded rifle, which someone hid under a hay mattress. We returned the rifle, knowing security was lax. We had more food than usual over the weekend, and some saved food in case the farmers didn’t feed us well.

The townspeople were friendly, and many visited [the camp] to see an American. The neighbor, who spoke English, visited daily, needing to practice his English. He told me Mr. Moser had not supported Hitler and had predicted Germany would lose the war. Streets were maintained by conscripted labor, and a rock crusher owned by the town was used to gravel the roads. Some prisoners worked on the streets for a day, but I did not.

A neighbor’s son, badly injured in the army, visited often. We exchanged war stories. He had been trapped under a dead officer and had to cut off the officer’s leg to free himself. As the war neared its end, more German troops passed through town, heading for the mountains. We tuned the radio to BBC for news, as authorities allowed only one station to be heard.

In mid-April, “Cherry Nose” informed us of President Roosevelt’s death. He believed America would stop fighting and Germany would win the war. None of us could recall the Vice President’s name, though I remembered he had been a Senator from Missouri. Later, I learned it was Harry Truman.

Throughout my time as a prisoner, I had seen no civilian automobiles, only a few trucks. Horses and wagons were used for deliveries in Munich, and trains were used for long-distance travel. More German troops passed through town daily (in the last few days prior to our liberation on May 2, 1945). Mrs. Moser treated me like family, worried that German soldiers might shoot me on my way to and from the barracks (so, she told me to stay inside their house or barn when I was there).

Frau Moser and the neighbor said many (German) soldiers preferred capture by the Americans over the Russians. Peter Moser didn’t talk about the soldiers, but at the barracks, we stayed inside as much as possible, as the road was close to our fence. Frau Moser arranged for a young girl to walk with me to the barracks, holding my hand for added safety.

The Aubrey Temples Interviews

Over several months in the winter and spring of 2017 the author of this work conducted seven interviews with Aubrey Temples. For a man of 93, Aubrey displayed a remarkably keen memory. Although the interviews were typically 40 minutes long, he seldom tired, even under what must have felt like courtroom cross-examination. He never protested when pushed to clarify, explain, or provide more details. 

The following is the transcript of these interviews.  Explanatory and clarifying commentary is italicized.

INT:  Aubrey, after your capture by the Germans, were you sent to a POW camp?

AUBREY:  Yes.  I was sent south by truck and rail to Moosburg, Germany.

INT:  You were in Stalag 7-A, correct?

AUBREY:  Yes, that’s right.[1]

Commentary

Aubrey was with the 82nd Airborne Division when he was captured during Operation Market Garden.  He and a few other men were loaded aboard a Ford truck, along with the corpses of dozens of German soldiers, and taken to Germany. 

In a newspaper article from 1987, the reporter wrote that directly following capture Aubrey was imprisoned for two days in a huge, moated castle in “Lindburg, Germany”, before continuing by train to Moosburg.

Since no Lindburg Germany exists—then or now—it was necessary to figure out which castle this was.  Limburger Schloss (also known as Burg Limburg) at Limburg an der Lahn, Germany, is huge, but does not have a moat. At over 160 miles, it seems too far south for a simple truck ride for dead German soldiers. 

At just over 100 miles away from the 82nd Airborne’s drop zone in Holland, Schloss Georghausen (Georghausen Castle) is also a candidate. This large, moated, castle is in Lindlar, Germany, about seven miles east of Cologne.

The fact Limburg is the name of the Dutch region just south of where the 82nd Airborne Division parachuted into Holland complicates matters.  Perhaps the author of the article thought Aubrey said he was first imprisoned in Limburg, whereas Aubrey said he had been captured in Limburg. 

Finally, there is a Lindberg, Germany, a few miles from the Czech frontier.  But more plausible is Burg Linn, located in Krefeld, halfway between Duisburg and Düsseldorf.  It’s only fifty miles south of the point where Aubrey was captured. It is quite large, moated, and seems much more suitable as a potential prison than the other two candidates.  For this reason, this author has concluded that the reporter simply reversed the words “Burg Linn” and came up with “Lin(d)burg”.[2]

INT:  Were you transferred to another smaller camp in March of 1945?

AUBREY:  Twenty of us were selected for farm detail.  We were sent to Nussdorf.  Three German guards went with us by train.  The guards returned by train to Moosburg after we were transferred to the care of a sergeant at Nussdorf.  Only one man guarded us in Nussdorf.

INT:  Just a clarification, was this Nussdorf-am-Inn?

AUBREY:  Yes. Nussdorf is a village on the Inn River in Bavaria.  It’s not far from the border of Austria.

INT:  While in Nussdorf-am-Inn you were assigned to work for the Moser family.  Is that correct?

AUBREY:  Yes, the Mosers lived in a very nice house.  Typical Bavarian style.  The Mosers were well-respected.  The Mosers treated me very well. After the war we kept in touch for many years.  I have returned to visit them.

INT:  Is it true that you even dined with the Mosers regularly?

AUBREY:  Every day I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner with them.  I sat at the table with them. They let me sit in their grandmother’s seat, while she sat over by the stove. They were just as nice as could be. At first a teenage boy who lived with the Mosers came to the barracks to guide me to the Mosers’ house.  He was 12 or 13 years old.  He and his older sister and mother all lived with the Mosers.  The older sister was probably a year or so older than him.  They had lived in Munich, I think.  Their place was bombed, and it killed their parents.  The mother was a widow.  She received food stamps, or something of that sort, and was assigned to the Moser’s house.  The boy held my hand on the walk to the Moser’s house for the first two or three days.  After that, I walked to the Mosers unescorted.

Commentary

 In March-April of 1945 the Moser family consisted of Herr and Frau Moser and their three children. Agatha and Resi (Therese) were teenage girls, Peter was a teenage boy. 

Aubrey was assigned to work for the Mosers because the father had suffered a stroke and was physically incapacitated.  Already when Aubrey worked with the family Mr. Moser rarely left the house; he died March 26, 1946.[3] 

Although Aubrey was 21, he was trusted to be around the Moser daughters, unsupervised. They knew Aubrey took his Christian faith and marriage vows seriously.

The Mosers kept 12 cows on the farm, and often accommodated people whose houses had been destroyed by bombing.

At the time, Nussdorf am Inn was a bucolic community of approximately 1,500 villagers. Its population swelled to around 2,000 as wounded soldiers and refugees from the eastern front arrived at the very end of Aubrey’s time there.[4] 

INT: After your daily work was complete where did you spend the evening?

AUBREY:  I walked down the road to the small stone barracks. It had no windows.  It had a fence around it.

Commentary

The Nussdorf prison camp was windowless because the locals had converted an old “Flachsbrechmühle” (Flax Mill) into a barracks.  This barracks had running water, a single flush toilet, and even a shower.[5]  When Aubrey returned to visit the Mosers in the summer of 1982 there was a Mercedes dealership near the place where the barracks had been.  In 2017 the Fischbacher auto-repair shop stands on that spot.[6] 

INT:  Why didn’t you and the other 19 men who were kept in this barracks attempt to escape?  It sounds like you could walk around town without being under guard.

AUBREY: We had one guard we called “Cherry Nose”.  He wasn’t much of a guard, really. He was a sergeant, about 25 to 28-years-old, and had served on the Russian front.  He had sustained some serious injuries.  He had been injured in the nose in combat.  That’s why we called him “Cherry Nose”. He was not strict with us.  He didn’t even lock the barracks gate.

INT:  Why didn’t you or the other men just run away?

AUBREY:  At first it was because we were so weak.  We all had lost a lot of weight from our time at Moosburg.  I still suffered pain from multiple injuries.  Besides, there was nowhere to go. Where would we have gone? 

INT:  Did you anticipate the war would be over soon?

AUBREY:  We didn’t know much about what was going on, but we all couldn’t imagine it would be too much longer.  We were treated well. “Cherry Nose” carried an unloaded rifle, you know.  You know, we just went about our business, walked around that town, just like you would right here.  I mention this in my book.

INT:  Yes, Aubrey, it’s quite a story. I’d like to ask you about the morning of April 30, 1945.  Did you walk to the Moser residence that morning?

AUBREY:  Yes.

INT:  Do you recall what time it was when you began your walk to the Mosers’ each morning?

AUBREY:  It was about 7:00.

INT:  Were any of the other American soldiers with you as you walked to the Moser’s house?

AUBREY:  No, I always left earlier than the others to go to the Mosers.  I was the only prisoner who ate breakfast with a local family.

INT:  Do you recall any Germans on the streets as you walked that morning?

AUBREY:  Well, no.  Except, of course, for the German soldiers and the three black Mercedes I saw at the intersection.

INT:  Was this intersection far from the Moser residence?

AUBREY:  Not far at all.

INT: Can you be as specific as possible about the distances involved in your walk? How far from the barracks were you when you encountered these cars?

AUBREY:  It was just up the road, a block from the barracks, at the very next intersection.

INT:  Where were you when you first saw the three Mercedes?

AUBREY:  The cars drove slowly; they turned the corner only a few feet from me. I was standing at the corner and the cars came to a complete stop within a few feet of me.

INT:  Had you seen these Mercedes before?

AUBREY:  There were tractors and carts but only one black Mercedes that I had ever seen in Nussdorf.

INT:  Where was the Mercedes you had seen on a prior occasion?

AUBREY:  At Mr. Pullen’s house.

INT:  You mention this Mr. Pullen in your book.  Are you sure his name was “Pullen”?

AUBREY:  Well, everyone called him “Herr Pullen” you know.  His house was up the hill a bit from the Mosers.

INT:  Aubrey, I’m going to spell out the name of a very prominent member of the Nazi government who had a big home in Nussdorf am Inn:  B-O-U-H-L-E-R.  I’m going to say this last name as a German would pronounce it.  Could you be mistaken about the name being “Pullen”?  Could it actually have been “Bouhler”?  I’ll pronounce it again.

AUBREY:  That sounds like what the Mosers called him.  “Herr Bouhler” sounds right.

INT:  Aubrey, a very high-ranking Nazi government official lived in that house.  The house you are talking about belonged to Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler.[7]

AUBREY:  The Mosers said “Herr Pullen” was an old friend and ally of Hitler from Munich. 

INT:  In your book you mention that the young Moser boy, Peter, told you that this “Herr Bouhler” addressed Hitler as “Adolf” whereas everyone else called him “Mein Führer”.[8] How did a kid know this?

AUBREY:  He told me privately what everyone else knew.

INT:  Interesting. I want to talk about the Mercedes you saw parked at Reichsleiter Bouhler’s residence.  Was it the only car you remember in Nussdorf prior to the morning you saw REDACTED?

AUBREY: In Nussdorf there were horse drawn carts and some farming tractors, and military trucks sometimes.  Only one Mercedes.

INT:  Was “Herr Bouhler’s” Mercedes black?

AUBREY:  Yes.

INT:  Was it always parked at Bouhler’s estate?  Did you ever see Herr Bouhler or his wife driving or being driven in that Mercedes?

AUBREY:  No.  I think I only saw it once, maybe twice, parked there.

INT:  Did Herr Bouhler’s Mercedes resemble any one of the black Mercedes you saw on the morning of April 30?

AUBREY:  I never thought about that.  Yes, it looked the same.

REDACTED

INT:  Aubrey, Reichsleiter Bouhler’s estate was close to where you walked to get to the Mosers’ house every day; did you ever see Herr Bouhler in person, or his wife?

AUBREY:  I talked with Herr Bouhler, at least twice, along the road.

INT:  You talked with him?  Do you remember when?

AUBREY:  The end of March or beginning of April, I think.

INT:  What did you talk about?  Did he speak English, or did you attempt to speak German?

AUBREY:  No.  It was just “Guten Morgen”.

INT:  You never chatted?

AUBREY:  No.

INT:  This is very important. Describe, as best as you can, what Herr Bouhler looked like.

AUBREY:  He was an old fellow, tall and lanky.

INT:  Did he wear black rimmed, round glasses?

AUBREY:  Yes, but not round.

INT:  Aubrey, was he shorter than you, perhaps five-foot-seven?

AUBREY:  No, he was close to my height, maybe an inch taller than me.

INT:  You said he was an old fellow.  How old do you think he was?

AUBREY:  In his sixties, probably.

INT:  Did he have dark hair, slicked back?  Do you know the style I’m referring to?

AUBREY:  No.  Mr. Pullen wore a Hamburg hat.  The hair I could see was white.

INT:  Did Herr Bouhler walk with a limp or seem to favor one leg when he walked?

AUBREY:  No, he didn’t limp, but he did have a cane and walked slowly, like an old fellow.

INT:  If you only ever said, “Guten Morgen”, how did you know it was “Herr Bouhler?”

AUBREY:  He went for walks every day.  I saw him often.

INT:  Did he ever introduce himself as “Herr Bouhler”?

AUBREY:  No.  He walked up and down the hill on the private road that led to his house.

INT:  Was there ever an attractive woman with him, or at the Bouhler residence?  This woman would have been in her early 30’s.

AUBREY:  Not that I saw.

Commentary

These questions about “Herr Bouhler” may seem irrelevant. They were asked because Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler and his wife Helene “Helli”[9] Bouhler owned a landhaus in Nussdorf[10], but, according to most accounts, they were not in Nussdorf at the time Aubrey claims to have met this “Mr. Pullen”.  The Bouhlers had a second home in Berlin.  It is widely reported that they did not return to Bavaria until April 21, when they drove south to Bavaria as part of Hermann Göring’s caravan of cars and trucks, and that instead of going to Nussdorf they stayed at Göring's Obersalzberg estate.

Additionally, Philipp Bouhler was born on September 11, 1899.[11] He would have been 46 when Aubrey met him in Nussdorf.  Clearly, Aubrey did not meet a 46-year-old. Aubrey estimated that the “tall” and “lanky” old man was in his sixties.  Philipp Bouhler wore his dark brown hair slicked back and round glasses with thick black rims.  In almost all known early pictures of Philipp Bouhler he wore the same style mustache as Hitler. By the time Hitler came to power, Bouhler was cleanshaven. He was approximately Hitler’s height, maybe an inch shorter.  On the other hand, the old man Aubrey met in Nussdorf was taller than Hitler, had white hair, distinctly different glasses, and no mention is ever made of what would have been his most obvious feature to Aubrey: a Charlie Chaplin mustache.

Philipp Bouhler was ten years younger than Hitler. He had a young-looking, almost boyish face.[12] Bouhler’s wife would have been 33 years old in April/May 1945.

Philipp Bouhler suffered a major injury to his leg during World War I[13] and the rest of his life walked with a noticeable limp.

So, who was this “Mr. Pullen” with whom Aubrey exchanged pleasantries? Could it have been Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler’s father, Emil? Emil would have been 78 years old in 1945.  He had been a career military man, commanding a Bavarian artillery regiment in the First World War[14] and afterwards serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Bavarian War Office. 

No. Emil Bouhler can be eliminated as “Mr. Pullen” because he passed away many years prior to 1945.  Although Emil Bouhler’s exact year of passing is still in question,[15] multiple Munich phone listings show Emil’s wife (Philipp’s mother) listed as a widow already in 1930, as illustrated by the following clip:[16]

Helma Bouhler was Philipp’s sister.[17]  She is listed as a “music instructor” living at “Bruderstrasse 12” with “S. Bouhler” (Sophie Bouhler, née Welsch[18]).  Sophie was Philipp’s mother. She is listed as an “Oberstenswitwe”, indicating she was the widow of a former German army colonel.

This phone listing is three years prior to any listing of Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler’s residence at Nussdorf am Inn.

Sophie and Helma Bouhler moved into Philipp’s villa in Nussdorf after the carpet bombing of Munich by the RAF and USAAF on April 24/25, 1944, and remained there until given the boot by the occupying US Army in May 1945. Sophie Bouhler’s last known address prior to taking up residence in Nussdorf was Kufsteinerstrasse 2 in Munich. 

The man Aubrey assumed was “Mr. Pullen” remains a mystery.  But it’s reasonable to posit he was Helli Bouhler’s father, who would have been 68 or 69[19] years old. Is it reasonable to suspect that Helene’s parents also moved into Philipp’s Nussdorf villa to escape Allied bombing?

Indeed, it is. Hitler had visited Bouhler’s Nussdorf villa several times between 1936 and the beginning of World War II, as verified in the Bouhler’s guestbook, which ended up in the hands of US 7th Army Major Charles W. Sudlow. Sudlow’s anti-aircraft artillery brigade requisitioned Bouhler’s Nussdorf villa as a command post just prior to V-E Day.[20]  At the time, Sudlow hailed from Philadelphia and his story caused quite a sensation in Pennsylvania newspapers after the war in 1946.

These guestbook pages ended up in the Swann Galleries (NYC) in 1984, and after Charles Sudlow passed away in December of 2011, at the age of 93, they were put up for auction in the summer of 2017.  In addition to the inscription, “With hearty greetings and best wishes, Adolf Hitler, 23 May 1937," the guest book pages include the signatures of Joachim and Annelies von Ribbentrop, Baldur and Emma von Schirach, Hans and Brigitte Frank, Hans-Heinrich and Eva Dieckhoff, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, Viktor and Paula Lutze, Walter and Charlotte Darre, Heinrich, Marga, Gudrun, and Gerhard Himmler, Wilhelm Bruckner, Sepp Dietrich, and Karl Brandt.[21]

Bouhler’s Nussdorf villa was commandeered by the US 7th Army and used as a command post until the spring of 1946 when it was taken over by the USAAF and used to house Wilhelm Ernsthausen and twenty-four other German Aero Medical specialists.  These Germans were later sent to the Aero-Medical Laboratory at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, to continue their aero-medical research for the United States in 1947.[22]

The Bouhler villa continued to be used by the US occupation forces for housing commanders and their families, as illustrated by “Doreen S.” who posted the following on ww2gravestone.com in 2016:

   “...due to a housing shortage, my family lived in Haus Bouhler in Nussdorf in 1949-50. This was Bouhler's private residence. I have tried to find out the final disposition of this lovely Bavarian villa, but all I have come up with is that it became an orphanage around 1961. One memorable feature of Haus Bouhler was the iron barred windows installed as a security measure for Hitler's visits. Yes, the house came complete with a Hausmann, Putzfrau and a Kindermadchen. And my dad was only a lieutenant then!”[23]

INT:  Were there ever armed guards at the Bouhler house?

AUBREY:  Yes.  SS-men, but only the last few days before the [American] soldiers first arrived.

REDACTED

INT:  How did you know they were SS?

AUBREY:  They had SS insignia on their uniforms.

INT:  Were their uniforms black or grey?

AUBREY:  Grey.

INT:  Did they wear helmets or caps?

AUBREY:  Caps.

INT:  With visors or without.

AUBREY:  No visors.  Grey garrison caps with an eagle and skull.

INT:  You also mention in your book that there were some German troops in Nussdorf in the last days of the war, troops who had fought the Russians and retreated to Nussdorf.

AUBREY:  They came in trucks and buses and camped out in the area.

INT:  Did they camp out within the village of Nussdorf?

AUBREY:  No, they camped close to the bridge, over the river. They marched sometimes from the town[24] on the other side of the river and into Nussdorf.  Mrs. Moser was very protective of me.  If soldiers came by when we Americans were in the barracks, we stayed inside and remained quiet until they left.

INT:  Is the bridge you’re talking about the one that crosses the Inn River to Brannenburg?

AUBREY:  Yes.

INT:  Where these troops SS or Wehrmacht?

AUBREY:  Wehrmacht, and there was one general among them.

INT:  What was this general’s name?

AUBREY:  I don’t remember.

REDACTED

INT:  Did you ever see Hitler Youth in Nussdorf?

AUBREY:  There were German teenage boys who organized themselves.  They didn’t have Hitler Youth uniforms.  A few had military hats and even guns.  It wasn’t serious.  I knew some of them and they were friendly to me and the other Americans.

INT:  OK, Aubrey, we need to backtrack.  Let’s talk about the three Mercedes.  In your book this is what you wrote, “...I saw three large black cars approaching.  The cars turned at the corner, a few feet from where I was standing.  The first car had five or six guards, each holding a rifle.  My first concern was that I would be shot, but none of the guards even glanced my way.  The second car had two guards, also holding rifles.  In the back of the second car, behind a thick glass enclosure, sat REDACTED.  He was looking directly at me. He looked old and tired...The third car had guards like the first vehicle.”

Is there anything in this account that you’d like to revise/change?

AUBREY:  No. That’s right.

INT:  Certainly, the SS guards walking along with the Mercedes saw you, Aubrey.

AUBREY: They did.

INT:  But they didn’t react to seeing an American POW?  Isn’t that a bit strange?

AUBREY:  They looked right past me, up and down the roads.

INT:  Were you wearing a prison camp uniform?

AUBREY:  I was wearing my well-worn US Army uniform.  No hat.

INT:  A US Army soldier was within a few feet REDACTED and they didn’t even point a gun at you or order you to “Get lost”?  People are going to have a difficult time with that.  Are you sure you were really within a few feet of REDACTED?  Perhaps it just seemed that close because you were afraid.

AUBREY:  I was afraid.  I froze.  I didn’t move.  I didn’t put my hands up.  I was only a few feet away.  I stood there, not believing what I was seeing and hoping the others [his fellow prisoners] would come by.  I knew they weren’t even up yet.

INT:  Did any of the German soldiers in or around the three cars say anything to you?  Did they motion to you or point at you, giving non-verbal commands to get away.

AUBREY:  Not a word.  No motions or pointing at me.

INT:  How long were you standing [there] REDACTED?

AUBREY:  About three minutes. 

REDACTED

INT:  In your book you indicate that after you arrived at the Moser house and told them this, that Mrs. Moser was concerned for your safety.

AUBREY:  Yes, we did not go out of the house to work as usual after breakfast.  By the time we finished breakfast there were hundreds of German troops outside.

INT:  Were these the same Wehrmacht troops you talked about before?

AUBREY:  Yes, but there were many more this time. 

INT:  Were these troops hostile?  Were they looking for you?

AUBREY:  No, they were just sitting on the ground.  Some were standing. They all had looks of defeat on their faces.

INT:  You also wrote in your book that young Peter Moser did go outside.  Was he trying to find out what was going on?

AUBREY:  Yes, he was.  Peter went out.  After a while he came back. He told us that the mayor’s daughters had delivered fresh milk [to Mr. Pullen's house].  The mayor of Nussdorf was a short, fat fellow in his early sixties. 

INT:  In your book you relate that Peter said, “...the mayor’s daughter had carried a jug of milk[26] under her fur coat up to the [Bouhler] house REDACTED.
AUBREY: REDACTED

INT:  Before you saw the three Storches in Nussdorf that day [April 30, 1945], had you ever seen that sort of plane before?

AUBREY:  Not at Nussdorf.

INT:  What about when you were at the POW camp in Moosburg?

AUBREY:  No.

INT:  Did you ever see a Fieseler Storch in Germany prior to the day you saw those three in Nussdorf?

AUBREY:  No, but I had heard about them during training.  I knew they were similar to our cubs.

INT: Did the 3 Storches in Nussdorf land—or take off—on a runway?

AUBREY:  Oh, no, there were no runways in Nussdorf.  They were already parked in a row in a pasture.

INT:  So, you didn’t see or hear them land that morning? Nussdorf must have been a very quiet village. 

AUBREY:  It was quiet.  No.  They only started up after the three Mercedes drove up to the fence by the pasture.  I could hear them then.

INT:  You never saw or heard them arrive?

AUBREY:  I don’t know when the planes arrived.

INT:  Did you see them lined up in the pasture on April 29?

AUBREY:  No.  I didn’t look at the pasture on that day.

INT:  Aubrey, I hope you don’t mind, but I need to ask some very specific questions about the three Storches.

AUBREY:  That’s fine

INT:  What was their color scheme?

AUBREY:  Well, I’m color blind, so I can’t say for sure.

INT:  What about patterns of colors or shades?

AUBREY:  Well, yes, I can certainly remember that.

INT:  Were the planes of a solid color or perhaps camouflage?

AUBREY:  Solid.

INT:  How about shade? 

AUBREY:  Not too dark.

INT:  Close to black?

AUBREY:  No.  Probably all grey or all green.

INT:  What about markings?  Did you remember any numbers?  Do you remember the swastika on the tail fins or the German Army crosses on the wings or sides?

AUBREY:  They were unmarked.  No numbers or anything.

INT:  Not even a German Army cross?

AUBREY:  No.  If there were numbers, they were too small, or I was too far away to read them.  I don’t think any numbers were on the planes.

INT:  Did that strike you as unusual at the time?

AUBREY:  I don’t think I thought about it being unusual at the time.

INT: What about the pilots?  Do you remember any details about the pilots?

AUBREY:  Well, I saw them at a distance.  I didn’t see details of their faces.

INT:  In your book you wrote this: “While I waited, I saw three small airplanes, piper cub-type, leave from 300 to 400 yards away.  I could not tell who was aboard two of the planes, but REDACTED

AUBREY:  Yes.  The planes were closer than that to begin with.

INT:  How close?

AUBREY:  Around 100 to 200 yards away.  They were parked closer to the fence.  Once REDACTED boarded, they moved up the hill and away for a while.  Then they ran down the hill and took off towards Austria.

INT:  Let me make sure I understand.  You’ve been on a football field before, haven’t you?

AUBREY:  Well, yes.

INT:  Try to imagine the length of a football field.  Were these Storches originally lined up one or two football fields away from you? 

AUBREY:  When REDACTED arrived and climbed in, they were about one football field away. 

INT:  So, you’re saying that REDACTED, these planes taxied farther out on the pasture, traveling uphill first for a while, before running down hill and taking off?

AUBREY:  Yes, that’s correct.

INT:  Could you tell me the approximate age of the three Storch pilots?

AUBREY:  They were quite young, probably not much more than 18 or 19.

INT:  How were they dressed?

AUBREY:  All three pilots wore black boots, grey pants, and white jackets which came down below the hips.  The jackets did not fit well.

INT:  Are you sure they were wearing white? Could it have been light tan or khaki colored?

AUBREY:  No, they wore white jackets.

INT:  Did these white jackets have any markings or insignia?

AUBREY: No.  I remember thinking that the coats looked unprofessional. 

INT:  Are you sure that the Storches did not have a big cross on them, like for the German Red Cross?  Could they have been Med-Evac planes or Red Cross planes?

AUBREY:  No.  They were unmarked.  There were no doctors or nurses there.

INT:  I neglected to ask the obvious.  Were there three pilots and were they all already there waiting with their planes when the three Mercedes pulled up to the fence?

AUBREY:  All three were standing outside the planes waiting.  The one in the second plane set up a special step and personally helped REDACTED climb into the back seat of his plane.

INT:  REDACTED got into the second of the three planes which were lined up in a row on the pasture. 

AUBREY:  Yes, REDACTED climbed up a ladder and sat directly behind the pilot’s seat.

INT:  Back to the pilots’ uniforms, if you don’t mind.  What sort of hats did they wear?

AUBREY:  They weren’t wearing hats.

INT:  Did they put on pilot’s caps before they took off?

AUBREY:  No.  None of the pilots wore caps that I saw.  The drivers, guards and helpers with the three cars wore hats and uniforms.

INT:  Did the pilots put on radio headsets?

AUBREY:  No.

REDACTED

INT:  You were wearing an American Army uniform, Aubrey.  It seems odd that none of these guards noticed you watching.  It seems like they’d do something about a US soldier watching REDACTED

AUBREY:  At the intersection they all saw me, but they didn’t pay any attention to me. I stood there and didn’t move.  They never pointed guns at me or ordered me away.

REDACTED

INT:  [Where the planes were] Was this a fence for cows?

AUBREY:  Well, yes, it was a cow pasture.

INT:  Were there any cows grazing in the field at that time?

AUBREY:  No.

INT:  Were there houses close by to where the planes started?

AUBREY:  No. Not then. When I visited Nussdorf in 1982 newer houses had been built on that spot.

INT:  What about the rest of the field?  Was it still there in 1982?

AUBREY:  Yes.

INT:  So, the part of the hill that was more than two football fields away, the place where the planes took off, it was still a field in 1982?

AUBREY: Yes.

REDACTED

INT:  REDACTED. Do you remember the name and rank of the [American] officer you gave the report to [A letter Aubrey wrote to General Eisenhowe]?

AUBREY:  He and three other men came to Nussdorf in a Jeep.  There was a half-track too.  I don’t remember his name.  He was an Army Major.  He had a pilot’s wings pin on his uniform.  That pin caught my attention, and I told him about the planes before giving my written report to him.

INT:  Was this Major a pilot?

AUBREY:  Didn’t seem like one.  He had on an unusual uniform which had pilot’s wings pin on it.

INT:  How old would you estimate this Major was?

AUBREY:  In his thirties, I suppose.

INT:  Do you remember the unit this Major was with?

AUBREY:  No.

INT:  According to the official history of the 7th Army/ 36th Infantry Division was the first to recon Nussdorf. The 36th continued south after Nussdorf, along the Inn River, and then captured Kufstein, Austria.

AUBREY:  That sounds right.  Kufstein was not far away.

INT:  In your book you wrote, “Only four American soldiers with one jeep and one half-track from the Second Armored Division came to Nussdorf...”  There is a problem with this.

AUBREY:  What problem?

INT: The Second Armored Division was in the area of Schönebeck, Germany, in late April/early May 1945.  Schönebeck is just south of Magdeburg along the Elbe River.  They were about 400 miles directly north of Nussdorf.

AUBREY:  Oh, I see.  They were not in Nussdorf.

INT:  No, the Second Armored Division wasn’t even close to Nussdorf.  As an occupation force, they ended up in Berlin. 

AUBREY:  Well, I must have confused Seventh with Second.

Commentary

Whereas Aubrey was mistaken about being liberated by the 2nd Armored Division, fellow US-POW at Nussdorf, Matthew Ziemak,[29] correctly recalled that it was the 12th Armored Division. Aubrey's confusion is quite understandable, as the unit insignia/patches are nearly identical.  Even their nicknames are remarkably similar:  "Hell on Wheels" for the 2nd and "Hellcats" for the 12th.  At the time of Aubrey’s liberation, the 12th Armored Division spearheaded the 7th Infantry Division.

INT:  That’s understandable, Aubrey.  You didn’t write your book until 2013, sixty-eight years after the fact.  Heck, I have a hard time remembering things from ten years ago!  That’s why we’re talking this through. It’s important to be as accurate as possible. 

   Since you don’t remember the Major’s name, I’m going to try something unusual.  I’m going to read a list of Majors from the 36th Infantry Division in random order. 

AUBREY:  OK.  Please speak slowly.

INT:  I will. Here we go...Ernest Rambo, Alexander Erskine, Alvin Newell, Tommy Rose, Isaac Baker, Joseph Duncan, Phillip Broadhead, Clark Wren, Preston Longino, Alfred Lenz, Roswell Doughty, Louis Ressijac, Vincent Lockheart, Alfred Lentz. 

AUBREY:  Could be Baker.  Sounds right.

INT:  Major Isaac M. Baker?

AUBREY:  It could be a Baker.  He had a funny first name; it wasn’t Isaac.

INT:  Perhaps the Major went by a nickname? Maybe he went by his middle name?  Some people do.

AUBREY:  Maybe.

INT:  I’ll find out more about this Major Baker.  I’ll call you again when I find out more about him.

INT:  Aubrey, the 36th Division published a roster of all its officers during World War II. Major Isaac M. Baker, Jr., of Norfolk, Virginia was an Air-Ground Liaison at the end of the war. That fits.

AUBREY:  He had a southern accent, but a lot of people did. The fellow I met wasn’t called Isaac.

INT:  His full name was Isaac Mitchell Baker, Jr.  And, according to his obituary, people called him “Junie”.

AUBREY:  Well, now. Yes, “Junie” sounds right!

INT:  Major Baker’s nickname was “Junie”.  Do you think he’s our man?

AUBREY:  Junie.  Oh, my, that’s the officer I told about  REDACTED and the planes.  I handed him my report and asked him to get it to Eisenhower.  He said he worked at HQ and would make sure it was sent up the chain of command.

  He talked to other local boys [in Nussdorf] about what they knew about the planes. 

INT: After talking with those boys did Major Baker ever come back to you and tell you what he found out from them?

AUBREY:  No, he drove off in his Jeep and I never saw him again.  I don’t know where he went.  I left Nussdorf that day.

INT:  I found his obituary.  I think it establishes Baker was the officer you gave your report to.  Shall I read it to you?

AUBREY:  Yes, please.

INT:

Isaac "Junie" Mitchell Baker Jr., 82

A U.S. Army veteran of W.W.II, and also served in the Army Reserve where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was an honored 33rd Degree Mason, a member of Norfolk [Virginia] Masonic Lodge, No. 1, Owens Masonic Lodge, No. 164, Norfolk Scottish Rite Bodies where he was Director of Work for 20 years, Khedive Shrine Temple, Order of Jesters.

He also was a member of the Military Order of the World Wars, the 36th Infantry Association, and the Reserve Officers Association where he was a Life Member.[30]

Commentary

During World War II Isaac “Junie” Mitchell Baker, Jr. was attached to the Headquarters of the 7th Army Air Support Control Section, and in the last months was on temporary duty with the 36th Division of the 7th Army as Air Liaison Officer.[31]

Army Air Liaison officers did wear uniforms with a pin on them that resembled pilot’s wings.  This pin has an “L” in the middle between the wings. Their uniforms were different from USAAF pilots, in the sense they looked more like regular Army.

During World War II Air Liaison pilots were all enlisted men; pre-war career military, just as Major “Junie” Baker was.  Ironically, US Army liaison pilots flew light, recon-type aircraft similar to the Fieseler Storch so often mentioned in Aubrey's interviews.  Of course, as he correctly points out, the US Army Piper L-4 was very common.

INT:   What do you think, Aubrey?

AUBREY:  That’s him. He was an Army Major wearing a pilot’s wings pin. He was interested in my story.  He promised to get my report to headquarters—to Eisenhower.

Commentary

There was no way for Aubrey to have known this at the time, but it was unlikely that his handwritten report was going to be “sent up the chain of command” to Ike. 

Major Baker probably gave little to no credence to the tale told by Aubrey—or shabbily dressed Hitler Youth—of seeing REDACTED.  By the time Aubrey was telling his story to the Air Liaison Officer REDACTED.

Major Baker was more interested in getting his hands on the three Fieseler Storches. These planes were potentially valuable war booty.  Major Baker was told by an English speaking teenager that the three Storches had once belonged to Erwin Rommel.

INT:  Aubrey, I’ve gone out of order again from what I intended to ask you about.  I’d like to go back and talk about the planes.

AUBREY:  That’s OK.

INT:  Did you watch which direction the planes flew when they took off from Nussdorf?

AUBREY:  For a few minutes, then I went to the Mosers’.

INT:  While you were watching, where did the three Mercedes go? Did they return in your direction?

AUBREY:  They were still on the path by the fence when I left for the Mosers’.

INT:  So, you don’t know where the three Mercedes went?

AUBREY:  Sorry.  No.

INT:  Do you recall anyone in Nussdorf, like the Mosers, who also saw or heard the Storches?

AUBREY:  Many people knew about the planes.  Peter [Moser] and the other boys who lived across the street knew.

INT:  Aubrey, believe it or not, one of those boys who lived across the street now lives in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.  He was a teenager in Nussdorf when you were there.

AUBREY:  What is his name?

INT:  His name is William Knippschild. [32]  It’s a long story, but William was born in the US and moved to Nazi Germany in 1934.  He has written memoirs, too. 

AUBREY:  My goodness.  And you talked to him?

INT:  I talked to him on the phone for quite some time.  I asked him many questions, and he was able to answer most of them.

AUBREY:  Did he remember me and the Mosers?

INT:  He remembered you after I mentioned everyone called you “Tex”.  He remembers the Mosers, and many more things REDACTED.

AUBREY:  That’s wonderful. What did you say his name was?

INT:  His name is William Knippschild.  He would have been 14 or 15 in 1945.  Everyone in Nussdorf called him “Willi”.

AUBREY:  Yes, Willi lived next door to the Mosers.  I remember.

INT:  Willi’s father ended up in an allied prison camp after the war [and died there] and his mother was killed during an allied bombing raid at the very end of the war.  But because William was a Natural Born US citizen, he was able to return to live in the US in February of 1948.[33]

AUBREY:  I see.

[1] Record of Aubrey’s internment at Moosburg can be viewed online at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/recorddetail.jsp?dt=466&mtch=1&cat=all&tf=F&q=Aubrey+Temples&bc=&sort=11673%20desc&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=120500

Stalag 7A/Moosburg, Bavaria, 48-12 (Work Camps 3324-46 Krumbachstrasse 48011, Work Camp 3368 Munich 48-11) Serial Number: 38481870

[2] Jane M. Wirich article, entitled, “A Happy Reunion for Temples” in the DeSoto News-Advertiser, vol. 5, no. 38 of Nov. 25, 1987.

[3] Aubrey Temples – Moser Family Correspondence:  Letter written in German by Agatha to Aubrey in Dallas, Texas, February 3, 1947. This same letter sends heart-felt thanks to Aubrey for sending a care package to them.

[4] Nussdorf am Inn population, 1939: 1,525

http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/rosenheim.html#ew39rnus

[5] Aubrey Temples, Recollections of WWII, p. 47

[6] “Er kam aus Dallas an den Inn: Ehemaliger amerikanischer kriegs gefangerer besuchte Nussdorfer Familie”, Rosenheim Anzeiger, 10 Okt. 1982.

-http://fischbacher-nussdorf.de/

[7] Bouhler was both a Reichsleiter and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP. He had a residence in Berlin and a Landhaus (country house) in Nussdorf am Inn. Hitler purchased the property for them. - Roland Götz, Guido Treffler, Das Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs im Erzbistum München und Freising: die Kriegs-und-Erzbistums München und Freising, Teil 2, p. 1019; NSDAP Hauptarchiv: Guide to the Hoover Institution microfilm collection, Stanford University (1964) p.84; Joseph Goebbels, Die Tagebücher: sämtliche Fragmente. Diktate 1941-1945. Oktober-Dezember 1942, Saur (1996) p. 521; Nationalsozialistisches Jahrbuch, Zentralverlag der NSDAP., (1938) pp. 165-168; Hartmann Lauterbacher, Erlebt und mitgestaltet: Kronzeuge einer Epoche 1923-1945: zu neuen Ufern nach Kriegsende, K.W. Schütz, 1984 p. 278; Amtliches Fernsprechbuch für den Reichspostdirektion München, 1938. p. 377. (Nussdorf am Inn was listed under Brannenburg in those days).

[8] Hitler and Bouhler were friends from the earliest days of the Nazi Party’s development in Munich. Göring and his wife were close friends with Philipp Bouhler and his wife, too.  In fact, Göring personally created a special office, headed by Bouhler that acted as the central conduit, repository, and handler of all significant complaints from public and private citizens.  This included all complaints and advice addressed to the national government, particularly things involving the effects of the war and the economy. —“Göring beauftragt Bouhler”: Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro, Berlin: December 2, 1939 Nr. 1693.

[9] Helli Bouhler and Hermann’s Göring’s wife, Emma, were friends.  Hermann Göring was born in Rosenheim and kept an estate there until the end of the war.  Rosenheim is a mere 6 miles north of Nussdorf am Inn.

[10] Philipp Bouhler’s phone number at his villa in Nussdorf am Inn was 146, according to the Amtliches Fernsprechbuch für den Bezirk der Reichspostdirektion München, 1940. 

[11] Baldur von Schirach, Die Pioniere des Dritten Reichs, 1933, p. 25

Note:  in Schirach’s book we find that Philipp was born into a prominent military family from Munich, on Sept. 11, 1899.  His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were officers.

[12] A living relative of Helli Bouhler described him as “Milchgesicht Bouhler” (Milk-faced) in an email exchange with this author (July 24, 2019)—a German idiom akin to “Baby faced” in English.

[13] Philipp Bouhler was listed as "Schw. verwundet (seriously wounded)" on Nov. 9,

1917. List Number: 1650, Volume: 1917-XVI, Deutsche Verlustlisten 1914 bis 1919. Berlin, Deutschland: Deutsche Dienststelle.

[14] According to Die Kriegsfahrten der 7. Batterie Bayer. Reserve-Fussartillerie-Regiments Nr. 1 im Weltkrieg 1914-1918 (page 9), Emil Bouhler retired in 1928 but continued for some time as an officer in the reserves. 

[15] According to the Bayerisches-Hauptstaatsarchiv, Emil Bouhler was born on July 17, 1867. No death date is listed. [urn:nbn:de:stab-3a972c2d-6632-4145-b962-21fd9d1391251/BayHStA, Offizierspersonalakten 58067].The best evidence available indicates Oberst Emil Bouhler (Regts.-Stab) passed away March 15,1920 in Munich  [Gedenkbuch der K. B. Schweren Artillerie / zur steten ehrenvollen Erinnerung an ihre im Weltkrieg 1914-1918 gefallenen Helden / zusammengestellt von Oberlt. a. D. Scheuerecker / München 1923 / Verlag des Bayerischen Kriegsarchivs].

[16] Amtliches Fernsprechbuch für den Oberpostdirektionsbezirk München, 1930. 1931, 1932, 1933, etc. The clip is from 1933.

[17] Barbara Feller, Wolfgang Feller, Die Adolf-Hitler-Schulen: Pädagogische

Provinz versus Ideologische Zuchtanstalt. Juventa Verlag GmbH, 2001, p.176

-Also confirmed in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Volume 100 (1933) p. 252.

[18] https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101199964

[19] This age can be determined by the inscription on the family gravestone at Waldfriedhof München, Grosshadern, which reads “Max Mayer 1876-1946”. [https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2018/1/UNCEM_639233_682f1bc6-233d-4fb7-b2fb-4e5454f77996.jpeg] Note: Among other family members, Helli’s mother is also listed: Gisela Mayer 1887-1977, who often went by “Ella”.

[20] "Officer Snares Signatures of Nazi Big Shots", The Edinburg Daily Courier (Edinburg, Indiana) Wednesday, April 24, 1946, p. 2.  [Knowing the value of the signatures Sudlow kept the pages of Bouhler’s guestbook in a Philadelphia Bank safety deposit box].

-In an article entitled, "Führer ehrt Reichsleiter Bouhler" reported on page 1 of the Dec. 2, 1936, edition of Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro, Hitler’s presence at Bouhler’s Nussdorf villa is reported in connection with Hitler’s honoring Bouhler as a founding member of the NSDAP, with 15-years of crucial administrative service.

[21] https://www.justcollecting.com/militaria/lot-12-third-reich-guest-book-pages-2

[22] "Report from Heidelberg: the story of the Army Air Forces Aero Medical Center in Germany, 1945-1947", (Heidelberg, Germany) Army Air Forces Aero Medical Center, 1947, Exhibit 16.

[23] https://ww2gravestone.com/people/bouhler-philipp/

[24] This town is Brannenberg, Germany.  There was a small train station in Brannenberg to this day.  Aubrey had arrived at Nussdorf by train on the Munich-Rosenheim-Brannenberg route. At the end of WWII, the First Battalion of the100th Gebirgsjägerregiment (Mountain-Hunter-Regiment) were housed there, along with multiple other transient German military units.  This barracks was later used by the Bundeswehr and known as “Karfreit-Kaserne”.

[25] "Everybody was talking about REDACTED spending the night with the rich man on the hill.  I didn't get back to the barracks to tell you that I had seen him.  After we were liberated, and we got together I don't recall whether we discussed it."

-Email from Aubrey Temples to Matt Ziemak, Feb. 30, 2001, "re: War Experiences".

[26] According to the September 28-29, 1944, entry of Dr. Theodor Morell's medical diary, REDACTED had eaten mashed potatoes and other light things but had some milk in his soup and apparently got nausea and cramps immediately after the meal.  Morell ordered a day's fasting, with only unsweetened tea and no milk or alcohol.

REDACTED was already sick at the time and the milk had simply exacerbated the condition.  Milk was not a regularly prohibited part of Hitler’s diet.  During the war years, he had a particular fondness for cakes of all sorts and did eat ice-cream. 

In the early days, when Hitler was dirt poor, his breakfast typically consisted of a glass of milk and two slices of dry bread.  In the days prior to coming to power Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl reported that Hitler’s breakfast often included hot milk and gruel along with digestive powders, (Ernst Hanfstaengl, Unheard Witness, 1957 p. 228). During the war years, according to Hitler’s bodyguard, breakfast typically consisted of a cup of warmed oatmeal gruel, dried rye bread, tea and an apple (Rochus Misch, Hitler’s Last Witness: The Memoirs of Hitler’s Bodyguard, pp. 114-115.). Hitler’s personal chef travelled nearly everywhere with him from September 1944 to the end of the war. Her name was Constanze Manziarly.

[27] Matt Ziemak befriended a young Polish forced laborer named Walter who was assigned to the Bürgermeister (Mayor).  Ziemak frequently helped out at the mayor’s farm. -Email from Matt Ziemak to Aubrey Temples, Feb. 6, 2001, Re: Nussdorf Work Detail.

[28] For more, see The Nussdorfers: Frau Anneliese Wagner (nee Auer).

[29] Matthew Zigmund Ziemak was decorated WWII veteran, who died June 30, 2016. Fighting with the 83rd Division / 331st Infantry he was captured in Normandy, France.  He eventually ended up in imprisoned at Nussdorf am Inn, along with Aubrey Temples.

-Burlington County Times (NJ) obituary, July 3, 2016. Aubrey and Matthew carried on a brief email correspondence in early 2001, and sadly were unable to locate other surviving Nussdorf POW's.

[30] The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) - June 21, 1995, Page B6

[31] Military Order of World Wars, Turner Publishing Company, June 15, 1996. p.71

[32] For more on William Knippschild, see chapter, entitled, Nussdorfers.

[33] William Knippschild's memoirs were published by Xlibris as Footsteps in the Sand in 2016.
-According to the passenger manifest of the USS Marine Flasher, William Knippschild (then 17 years old) sailed from Bremen, Allied Occupied Germany, to NYC, arriving March 3, 1948. US National Archives, Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 7555; Line: 13; Page Number: 198. 

[34] http://www.aubreytemples.com/

[35] Aubrey Temples, Recollections of WWII and...:  The War Experiences of Aubrey M. Temples (2013).