Liverpool FC Forum

Legendary Man City keeper passes away at 89

Ex-German Paratrooper who survived the russian front , escaped four times from Allies and played 17minutes of FA Cup final with a broken neck

Just dont make players like that anymore

RIP

yeah he was one of the true greats of the game, the big fair haired ex paratrooper was the peter schmeichel of the  50`s.
because his famous injury happened in an F.A cup final there is pathe news footage of bert breaking his neck but even more remarkable is that about 5 minutes later he goes diving out again at a forwards feet in an exact replica of the challenge that caused his horrific injury in the first place! doctors said he could have easily been killed. the modest german said he was feeling `a bit woozy` at the time from the broken neck and was on autopilot so bravery wasnt really a factor because he didnt know what he was doing!
fvcking hell these days they are surrounded by teams of paramedics and stretcher bearers and get put in leg braces and oxgen masks if they break a fingernail.
R.I.P Bert.

Probably only second to Lev Yashin. The broken neck game is definitely something worth remembering by. R.I.P.

laza » Sat Jul 20, 2013 12:33 am wrote:Legendary Man City keeper passes away at 89

Ex-German Paratrooper who survived the russian front , escaped four times from Allies and played 17minutes of FA Cup final with a broken neck

Just dont make players like that anymore

RIP

You forgot to mention that as a para he also won the Iron Cross first class. 

woof woof ! » Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:09 pm wrote:

laza » Sat Jul 20, 2013 12:33 am wrote:Legendary Man City keeper passes away at 89

Ex-German Paratrooper who survived the russian front , escaped four times from Allies and played 17minutes of FA Cup final with a broken neck

Just dont make players like that anymore

RIP

You forgot to mention that as a para he also won the Iron Cross first class. 

Yeah Woof his bio makes for interesting reading even before football career , talk about a life a little less then ordinary

In 1941, Trautmann joined the Luftwaffe, initially as a radio operator. During training, he did not show much aptitude for radio work, so he transferred to Spandau to become a Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper).[7] He served first in Occupied Poland, though being stationed far behind the front line resulted in boredom for his regiment, which resorted to sports and practical jokes to pass the time. One such practical joke involving a car backfired on Trautmann, resulting in a staff sergeant burning his arms. Trautmann was court-martialled, and received a three-month prison sentence. At the start of his confinement, Trautmann came down with acute appendicitis, and spent the remainder of his sentence in a military hospital.[8]

In October 1941, he rejoined the 35th Infantry Division at Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, where the German advance had halted because of the early onset of winter. Over-winter hit-and-run attacks on Soviet Army supply routes were the main focus of the unit, and in spring, Trautmann was promoted to Unteroffizier (corporal). Gains were made in 1942, but the Soviet counter-offensive hit Trautmann's unit hard, and by the time it was withdrawn from the Eastern Front, only 300 of the original 1,000 remained.[9] Trautmann won five medals for his actions on the Eastern Front, including an Iron Cross First Class.[6]

Promoted to Feldwebel (sergeant), Trautmann was part of a unit formed from the remnants of several others which had been decimated in the east, stationed in France in anticipation of the Allied invasion of Normandy. In 1944, he was one of the few survivors of the Allied bombing of Kleve,[10] and with no unit left, he decided to head home to Bremen. By this point, German soldiers without valid leave papers were being shot as deserters, so Trautmann sought to avoid troops from either side. However, a few days later, he was captured in a barn by two American soldiers. Deciding that Trautmann had no useful intelligence to give them, the soldiers marched him out of the barn with his hands raised.[11] Fearing he was about to be executed, Trautmann fled. After evading his captors, he jumped over a fence, only to land at the feet of a British soldier, who greeted him with the words "Hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?"[12] Earlier in the war, he had been captured by the Russians and later the French Resistance, but escaped both times.[6] With the war drawing to a close, Trautmann did not attempt a third escape.

He was initially imprisoned near Ostend, Belgium, then transferred to a transit camp in Essex, where he was interrogated. As a volunteer soldier who had been subject to indoctrination from a young age, he was classified as a category "C" prisoner by the authorities, meaning he was regarded as a Nazi.[13] Trautmann, one of only 90 of his original regiment to survive the war,[10] was then transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp at Marbury Hall, near Northwich, Cheshire, interned with other category "C" prisoners. He was soon downgraded to non-Nazi "B" status,[14] following which he was taken to PoW Camp 50 (now Byrchall High School) in Ashton-in-Makerfield, a small town in Lancashire between St Helens and Wigan, where he stayed until 1948.[13]

Football matches were regularly held at the camp, in which Trautmann played outfield. However, in a match against amateur team Haydock Park, Trautmann picked up an injury while playing centre-half. He asked to swap positions with goalkeeper Gunther Luhr, and from that day forward played as a goalkeeper.[15] It was during this time he became known as "Bert", as the English had trouble pronouncing "Bernd", the abbreviated version of his name.

I haven't heard about this and just now. So he is a great man indeed. You can really appreciate people's love for sports from his acts before when he is still healthy.