Posted on 02/14/2010 1:08:40 AM PST by Daffynition
The reason for the frequency with which Greasley put his life in danger, he admitted with engaging good humour and frankness, was simple: he had embarked on a romance with a local German girl. Rosa Rauchbach was, if anything, running even greater risks than Greasley.
A translator at the camp where he was imprisoned, she had concealed her Jewish roots from the Nazis. Discovery of their affair would almost certainly have meant doom for them both.
Greasley recounted the almost incredible details of his wartime romance in the book Do The Birds Still Sing In Hell? (2008), which he had been "thinking about and threatening to write" for almost 70 years. But while the book is described as an "autobiographical novel", the story was largely confirmed at his debriefing by MI9 intelligence officers shortly after the war.
Horace Joseph Greasley, nicknamed Jim, was one of twin boys born on Christmas Day 1918 at Ibstock, Leicestershire. He was 20 and working as a young hairdresser when Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, and the Military Training Act made all men between the ages of 18 and 40 legally liable for call-up. Horace and his twin brother Harold were conscripted in the first draft.
A client whose hair he was cutting offered, when Horace mentioned that he was going into the Army, to get him a job as a fireman, a reserved occupation which would actually pay better than joining the services. Horace Greasley turned the offer down.
But his war proved a short one. After seven weeks' training with the 2nd/5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, he landed in France at the end of the "Phoney War" as one of the British Expeditionary Force; on May 25 1940, during the retreat to Dunkirk, he was taken prisoner at Carvin, south of Lille.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
That picture shows that Greasley definitely had an attitude, and a brush with history.
What a striking photo, it is almost too perfect to believe.
The photo is doubtful. First of all it is printed front to back - uniforms buttoned the wrong way - and then it has been attributed to a visit by Himmler to a camp with Russian POWs.
The insignia on the guy’s left breast to the left of Himmler, should be on the right, if I am reading my ‘German Military Uniforms and Insignia 1933-1945’, correctly.
Good story. Some people are born bold.
“What a striking photo, it is almost too perfect to believe.”
He’s giving Himmler the Mojo eye.
“The photo is doubtful. First of all it is printed front to back - uniforms buttoned the wrong way - and then it has been attributed to a visit by Himmler to a camp with Russian POWs.”
Now that I’ve looked closer at the photo I think you’re right. Look at the caps the prisoners are wearing too. Could be they grabbed a stock photo?
I am having “buyer’s remorse” for posting this story in the wee hours, after having done a bit of research.
Initially, I thought it a great Valentine love story, and like you, have discovered otherwise.
Posted by concerning this obit:
Lesley Glaze (Greasley)
on February 13, 2010
at 12:07 PM
“I would like to clarify that my father, Horace Greasley married my mother Kath in 1946 who was also the mother of my brother Stephen. Brenda was his second wife and they had no children of their own. The Telegraph should ensure that the information in Obituaries is accurate before being published.”
She makes no mention of the photo above.
Then:
“According to the US National Archives, among other sources, this photo is not Horace Greasley, nor was it even taken in Germany. I believe it was taken at the Shirokaya Street Concentration Camp in Minsk, Byelorussia, on or about August 15, 1941, during Himmler’s trip to visit the Eastern Front. This POW is unidentified, but probably Jewish, and probably died of exposure or starvation in the months after that. I’d love for the Telegraph to explain how this identity of Greasley was made.”
Something isn’t ringing true.
At this time of the night, a lot is excused, it is a pretty serious photo though, and that man in the photo was real.
They do look Russian like ScaniaBoy said.
Also included is an obit by KEN DOUGLAS, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, LIBROS INTERNATIONAL ...and a statement by his ghost writer, Ken Scott.
Especially since Spielberg and Hollywood are going to have a hold on it.
LOL, that is pretty incredible.
Perhaps the negative got printed backwards.
“Perhaps the negative got printed backwards.”
What I meant was the style of the caps on the prisoners behind him. They look Russian not British.
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