Kriegsmarine Iron Cross for using the wrong Toilet !

[Gordon Williamson]

Brilliant little anecdote I heard from the director of the U-Boot Archiv, Horst Bredow. Horst was Leutnant zur See on U-288.

He tells of one NCO who, desperate to relieve himself , went into toilets reserved for officers only. On coming back out, he was spotted by an officer and pulled up for it. Given a real bollicking, his named was written down in the officers notebook so he could later be put on report for this heinous crime.

Well, the officer must have had lots more on his mind and forgot about it. Only thing was, the NCOs name had been written down on the same page in the officers notebook as the names of other sailors who had been recommended for the Iron Cross.

Yup, you guessed it, the guys name was inadvertantly submitted along with the others and he was awarded the Iron Cross. Needless to say, he kept his mouth shut and held on to the EK.

So, next time you look at an Iron Cross , wondering what brave deed the original owner performed, bear in mind, it might have been for taking a piss in the wrong toilet !

[nesredep]

Brilliant little anecdote I heard from the director of the U-Boot Archiv, Horst Bredow. Horst was Leutnant zur See on U-288.

He tells of one NCO who, desperate to relieve himself , went into toilets reserved for officers only. On coming back out, he was spotted by an officer and pulled up for it. Given a real bollicking, his named was written down in the officers notebook so he could later be put on report for this heinous crime.

Well, the officer must have had lots more on his mind and forgot about it. Only thing was, the NCOs name had been written down on the same page in the officers notebook as the names of other sailors who had been recommended for the Iron Cross.

Yup, you guessed it, the guys name was inadvertantly submitted along with the others and he was awarded the Iron Cross.

So, next time you look at an Iron Cross , wondering what brave deed the original owner performed, bear in mind, it might have been for taking a piss in the wrong toilet !

Hello!

Gordon

Very good story.

all the best

Nesredep

[TerryG]

Brilliant!

[norwest78]

Actually, the toilet is a most deadly place. I've heard that billions have been wiped out in them. :rolleyes:

[Ed_Haynes]

Fascinating. Nice to see that even the "Master Race" could be a bumbling and inefficient as any other complex sytem.

[Guest Rick Research]

There was also a notorious case of The Wrong Brother being promoted to General in the waning days of the war. "Because" it had been published, it "could not be retracted" (bureaucracy is bureaucracy is bureaucracy...) and so Wrong Brother not only got a promotion he was not entitled to-- but Right Brother did NOT.

[PKeating]

Fascinating. Nice to see that even the "Master Race" could be a bumbling and inefficient as any other complex sytem.

This may be why they ended up as the only nation in modern times to agree to unconditional surrender after their thousand-year plan disintegrated in just twelve years. Of course, the Aryans came from India...

[Ed_Haynes]

This may be why they ended up as the only nation in modern times to agree to unconditional surrender after their thousand-year plan disintegrated in just twelve years. Of course, the Aryans came from India...

Alfred Rosenberg sort of believed that . . . what a hash of history he made.

[Colin Davie]

Getting back to toilet humour.. don't forget the Funnel Web spider here in Oz which likes to live around the golden throne.. will drop you pretty quick in your hour of need.

My father-in-law always liked to put on a posh voice and tell a story about some well to do radio news reader who was sacked for reading out his item wrongly...

" A woman died today after being bitten on the funnel by a finger web spider"

C

[Chris Boonzaier]

So, next time you look at an Iron Cross , wondering what brave deed the original owner performed, bear in mind, it might have been for taking a piss in the wrong toilet !

Many times when I hear folks talking about their "deeds" in wars I think to myself... "You are so full of sh1t..."

This is just one of those cases that cut to the bone...

[MP38]

Great!!! =)