‘Nowhere were we treated with anything but tolerance and courtesy.’ Stewart Roddie, who was to spend much of the next seven years travelling around Germany on various army assignments, went on: ‘It is perhaps a curious fact that although I had duties to perform which might, naturally enough, have made me an object of hatred and detestation to the Germans, I cannot recall one occasion on which I received rudeness or insult from them. Difficulties – yes. Obstruction – yes. Stupidity – yes. But never incivility – and never servility.’24
