In 1938 the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain visited Munich to meet Adolf Hitler in a final effort to avoid another world war. During that forlorn trip Hitler invited him to his mountaintop retreat in Berchtesgaden. While there the Prime Minister explored the Fuhrer's lair and found a reproduction of Fortunino Matania's famous Marcoing painting showing allied troops during the First World War. Puzzled by his choice of art he questioned Hitler who explained, "That man came so near to killing me that I thought I should never see Germany again.”
That man was Henry Tandey, a 27 year old Englishman from Warwickshire, who served in the Green Howards regiment in Ypres and Passchendaele. Tandey was mentioned five times in dispatches and certainly earned his spurs during the capture of the French village crossing in 1918 at Marcoing. His regiment was held down by heavy machine gun fire but Tandey crawled forward, located the machine gun nest and took it out. Arriving at the crossing he braved heavy fire to place wooden planks over a gaping hole enabling troops to charge across and take the battle to the Germans. But the battle was still not over so he successfully led a bayonet charge against superior enemy troops which helped bring hostilities to an end.
As the ferocious action wound down and enemy troops surrendered or retreated, a wounded German soldier limped out of the carnage and into Private Tandey's line of fire. The battle weary man never raised his rifle and just stared at Tandey, resigned to his inevitable end.
"I took aim but couldn't shoot a wounded man," said Tandey, "so I let him go." The young German soldier nodded in thanks and the two men took their separate paths.
Hitler took the opportunity to have his best wishes conveyed to Tandey by Chamberlain who promised to find him on his return to London. It wasn't until that time Tandey knew the man he had in his gun sight 20 years earlier was Adolf Hitler.
Tandey was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Marcoing, but what medal would we have given him if he'd pulled that trigger?
