Five Brothers and a War

Operation Manna/Chowhound

General Bedell Smith

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The meeting the following day, April 30, was attended by even higher ranking officers on the Allied side, and key officials on the German side. Now leading the meeting was Lt. Gen. W. Bedell “Beetle” Smith, Gen. Eisenhower's Chief-of-Staff in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). Gen. Smith was the person who signed the armistice with the Italians on behalf of Eisenhower, a task he also completed in signing the German instrument of surrender. Ultimately, after the war, he would be made a full general when he was given his fourth star. This was a remarkable achievement for a man who started in the American Armed Forces as a private.

Maj. General Sir Francis de Guingand was present again, though this time he was not in charge. HRH Prins Bernhard was also in attendance. He had just come into possession of the Mercedes used by Seyß-Inquart, courtesy of a combination of events where the Reichskommissar had to quickly evacuate his home in Apeldoorn during the Allied assault ending April 17, and a young man working with the Dutch resistance drove off with the car, then found a way to deliver it to Prins Bernhard. On April 30, Bernhard parked it in the most conspicuous spot possible in the schoolyard to ensure that Seyß-Inquart would see it.

the war

Arthur Seyß Inquart's Mercedes, still with its “RK-1” plates (meaning Reichskommissar showing it to being driven by the Allies, not the Germans. HRH Prins Bernhard used it it for no other reason than to annoy Seyß Inquart. 1”) was quickly given markings

Five Brothers and a War

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