A curious vestige of the code of chivalry is the wartime treatment accorded captured officers by nations subscribing to the Geneva Convention. Last week, under this arrangement, General Jürgen von Arnim and Italian Field Marshal Giovanni Messe were settling down in England to sit the war out in comfortable detention.
The ranking Axis commanders in the Tunisia debacle were quartered in "camps" actually country homes with spacious but well-guarded grounds. The tactful British planted them several miles apart; Messe and Arnim had differed sharply on strategy and were not speaking during the final days. Both are...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
