Perth Voice Interactive

A Coolbinia war veteran who struck up a “unique rapport” with one of Hitler’s most decorated commanders is set to relive his memories with a visiting German historian.

Talbot Bashall was a young British army lieutenant when in 1947 he was given the job of guarding Albert Kesselring—a Nazi field marshal facing the death penalty for war crimes.

The charges included being in command when 335 Italians were slaughtered at the Ardetaine Caves near Rome in 1944.

“Smiling Albert”, as the Allies dubbed him, was one of Nazi Germany’s most skilled commanders and was one of only 27 soldiers awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

“He was in charge of the Luftwaffe’s Second Air Fleet in the Battle of Britain and sending over the bombers when I was a schoolboy,” recalls 87-year-old Bashall.

“We used to cower behind the couch when the bombs came down that he had ordered, and now I was guarding him.

“I mean, I’d never met a general and here was a fellow who helped plan Hitler’s war.”

Over the next few months, Bashall guarded Kesselring in a 24-hour on-off shift in a Venice apartment.

The pair slowly built up a strange bond and would spend an hour or two each shift discussing “everything under the sun”, including the war. But Kesselring wouldn’t be drawn on details of the holocaust and the feared SS, commenting only that they were “a law unto themselves”.

“I especially remember Kesselring saying that he cared little for field marshal Rommel,” said Bashall.

“He told me Rommel was a good tank commander but more than that he was not really capable.

In May 1947, Kesselring was sentenced to death by firing squad for war crimes.

The verdict proved controversial in Britain, where Kesselring was regarded as a fair and honourable soldier. Wartime leader Winston Churchill branded it too harsh and the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

In October 1952 Kesselring was released from prison on grounds of ill-health, as he’d been diagnosed with throat cancer.

In 1953 he wrote his memoirs A Soldier to the Last Day and sent a copy to Bashall, who was working for Hong Kong’s prison service.

Over the next few years, the pair exchanged letters and keept in touch.

Kesselring died in 1960, aged 74, following a heart attack.

“I was only 20 years old when I was guarding him,” says Bashall, who was born in Surrey, England.

“But at the time I believed what he was telling me—that he was innocent.”

Bashall will share his memories with a German historian visiting UWA later this year.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK