THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE 16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945

Roddie Edmonds’ United THE ARDENNES FOREST States Army regiment was part of what is known as The Battle of the Bulge - also known as the ”Ardennes Counteroffensive” as it took place in the densely forested Ardennes forest in Belgium.

More US soldiers were killed here than in any other WW2 battle. Roddie was one of the many thousands of soldiers taken prisoner by the Germans. BERLIN

His regiment was marched ZIEGENHAIN to Gerolstein station, where they were first taken in cattle trucks on a 4-day journey to Bad Orb PoW Camp. There he saw fellow GEROLSTEIN American Jewish prisoners BAD ORB deported to Braga Concentration Camp. As he was not the senior US officer in charge and was unable to stop it.

Shortly afterwards his regiment was transported north to POW Stalag IX A in Ziegenhain.

Families of captured soldiers were It took some time for the information sent telegrams informing them of to filter through - what had happened to their sons. this date is 6 weeks This telegram (right) was received by after his capture the parents of Paul Stern, a member of Roddie Edmond’s regiment.

This was Paul Stern’s “dog tag”. Every soldier wore one to aid identification if they were killed in action. The “H” in the bottom corner stands for “Hebrew” - information needed to ensure any necessary burial arrangements were religiously appropriate. But it could also be used to help the Germans identify which prisoners were Jewish. The war was drawing to a close and the Germans were losing control over more and more territory. Consequently they began to relocate thousands of captured soldiers and PoW camp Stalag IX A, in Ziegenhain (left) was filling up with American, British, French and Russian prisoners (centre). Despite the imminent end to hostilities, committed Nazis such as the camp commander Major Siegmann (right) were still driven to carry out his party’s ant-Jewish policies. On the night of January 27th he decreed that all Jewish prisoners were to gather outside the complex the next morning.

This time, as Master Sergeant, Roddie was the most senior American soldier. There were about 1200 other Americans in the camp (left), 200 of who were Jews.

Roddie organised for every American soldier to gather outside the camp. Paul Stern and a fellow Jewish serviceman Lester Tanner, both later described the exchange that took place.

Siegmann - You can’t all be Jews? Edmonds - We’re all Jews here. Siegmann - (holding a gun to Roddie’s head) – you will order the Jews to step forward or I’ll shoot you right now… Edmonds – You can shoot me, you can shoot all of us, but we know who you are. And when this war is over you will be a war criminal.

Siegmann lowered his gun and walked away.

Roddie ensured that 200 people lived.

But perhaps the impact of his courage can only be measured by the size of the family’s these men were then able to have. Paul Stern is fourth from right in this photograph, taken at his granddaughter’s wedding…

…these are similar family gatherings of those Roddie’s actions saved. Roddie never spoke about all this. It was only after his death, when his son (left) discovered his father’s wartime diary (right), that it came to light.

In 2016 President Obama (below) presented Roddie’s family with the medal from Yad Vashem that honoured him as Righteous Among the Nations. In his speech he said… “Would we have the courage of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds? I know he said he was just doing his job, but he went above and beyond the call of duty, and so did all those who joined in that line. Faced with a choice of giving up his fellow soldiers or saving his own life, Roddie looked evil in the eye and dared a Nazi to shoot. His moral compass never wavered. He was true to his faith, and he saved some 200 Jewish American soldiers as a consequence. It’s an instructive lesson, by the way, for those of us Christians. I cannot imagine a greater expression of Christianity than to say, I, too, am a Jew.”