The story of Hitler's last soldier

(To David Bartoccini)
28/07/16

Certain war stories can appear surreal, incredible tales worthy of the pen of a fanciful novelist; but that of Wilhelm Dege, the last soldier of the Third Reich to surrender in the Second World War, is all true.

Commander of the Operation Haudegen, Lieutenant W. Dege had reached the Svalbard Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic region on board the U-11 submarine with his team of 307 men. The goal was to establish a weather observation station that provided the Navy and the Reich Air Force with the information needed to plan their operations as successfully as possible. The 5 August 1944 station was operational and for 12 months the team of specialists in weather surveys informed the German High Command about the atmospheric phenomena in the northern European area.

12 months were exhausting; passed in total isolation at temperatures prohibitive for survival, spent fighting hungry polar bears, and living with the constant threat of an ambush of the British Commados, that all over Europe were sent just to eliminate that kind of objectives. Dege and his, however, the Allies never saw them. They regularly transmitted their bulletins until 5 1945 May, until they were informed that Berlin had fallen, the Reich no longer existed and Germany unconditionally surrendered the 7 May.

Equipped only with a small rowing boat, the unit could not abandon the island and was waiting to be picked up by 'someone'. It was only months later, the September 3 of 1945, which saw a small Norwegian boat off the Rijpfjord fjord Blasel.

On board a ship, the ship's captain, L. Albertsen, landed. Dege welcomed Captain Albertsen addressing him in English, but he received no answer. Then he tried in Norwegian, who spoke well of being a translator for the Wehrmacht from 1940 to 1943, and said, "Do we want to discuss our performance here on the beach, or can I offer you coffee and grappa before?" The Norwegian captain replied, "True coffee and true German grappa? Why not!"

After sharing what was left of rations and cigarettes, the captain was embarrassed that the Royal Norwegian Navy had instructed him to surrender the Germans and bring them back, but that he did not have the slightest idea what the procedures were. Even the Germans did not know them; it was then that Wilhelm pulled out his Luger gun, and resting on the table said, "Here's to her, with this I'm giving up."

The Norwegian captain, impatient, could only say, "Can I hold the gun?"

Dege then wrote a document in Norwegian language concerning the surrender that everyone signed: thus making official the surrender of the last German military unit during the Second World War.

Back at home, Wilhelm Dege was the last soldier to be awarded the Knight Cross (worthy of honor) of the 1939-45 conflict. After the war, Dege came in contact with the companions with whom he had lived that hard and unforgettable experience of camaraderie and courage, between frozen nights, privations and loneliness, with nostalgia of the house and the doubt that would remain forever among the snow Norwegians. The meetings continued despite the Cold War tensions that had divided Germany in two and when Dege died of natural causes 1979, his son Eckbart continued this tradition, revealing this extraordinary story to the world.

(photo: Eckbart Dege)