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Captured by a farmer's wife.

Discussion in 'WWII Today' started by GRW, Nov 26, 2021.

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Location:
    Stirling, Scotland
    Love these kind of stories.
    "If we were confronted in our gardens by a 6ft 4in airman armed with a pistol, most of us would be tempted to turn and run.
    But when farmer's wife Evelyn Cardwell spotted a German who was parachuting onto her land after his Junkers 88 was shot down by the crew of a Hurricane in the Second World War, she marched towards him and told him to put his hands up.
    The story of the woman's incredible bravery in July 1940, which saw her rewarded with an MBE by King George VI, is recounted in book Faces of the Home Front 1939-1945, by historians Neil Storey and Fiona Kay.
    With her husband away, Mrs Cardwell, 45, who was only 5ft 8in, had at first tried to call the authorities when she saw the German soldier in the sky above her home in the village of Aldborough, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, but then discovered the phone did not work.
    Instead, she told one of her farmhands to go on his bicycle and alert the police, whilst she plucked up the courage to walk outside.
    She told reporters how she put on her 'fiercest frown' and told the airman, who did not speak English, 'to put his hands up' before pointing to the automatic pistol on his hip to make him understand.
    He is said to have 'smiled wryly' before handing the weapon over and was then marched by Mrs Cardwell along the nearby main road until police and soldiers arrived to take him away.
    She became the first woman to capture a German airman in the Second World War.
    Photos which were printed in the Daily Mail at the time show Mrs Cardwell posing with her dog and meeting the King, whilst another shows the flaming wreckage of the German's Junkers 88."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10245683/Story-Yorkshire-woman-capture-German-airman-home-soil-WW2.html
     
  2. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    Eat your heart out, Mrs. Miniver.
     
  3. harolds

    harolds Member

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    What else could the airman do? He just escaped death in the air. Was he going to shoot the lady, thus making sure he would be killed?
     

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