Derek Mills-Roberts: Difference between revisions

Later in the war, Mills-Roberts took part in the [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]]'s liberation. When ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' field marshal [[Erhard Milch]] was captured and surrendered his [[Baton (symbol)#Third Reich|command baton]] to Mills-Roberts, the latter ventedventing his anger about the atrocities he had seen at Bergen-Belsen, marchingthen Milch around the camp and demandingproceeded to knowbrutally his thoughts onstrike the terrible sights witnessed. Milch's reply (who spoke English) was along the lines of "these people are not human beings in the same way as you and I!" This infuriated Mills-Roberts, who took Milch's field marshal's baton from under Milch's arm, and then proceeded to brutally strike it over Milch's head until it broke and then repeatedly beat Milch with a champagne bottle. Mills-Roberts went to Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]] the following day to apologise for losing his temper with a senior German officer and Montgomery put his hands over his head in mock protection jokingly saying "I hear you've got a thing about Field Marshals", and nothing more was said. This incident left Milch with several contusions and a fractured skull.<ref>{{cite book |title=D-Day 1944 – voices from Normandy |first1=Robin |last1=Neillands |first2=Roderick de |last2=Normann |publisher=Cold Spring Press |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/dday1944voicesfr0000neil_z4m1/page/238/mode/2up |year=1993 |page=238 |isbn=1593600127 }}</ref> The broken pieces of the baton were retrieved by his batman and the remains were given to Mills-Robert's wife Jill, who had the baton restored at Swayne Adeney Brigg in London, but the replacement shaft was slightly longer than the original. In later years, Jill sold the baton at auction. Before the auction, an injunction was put on the sale by the Milch family, who contested ownership, saying that the baton was 'stolen' from Milch. A local magistrate in the United Kingdom decided that the baton was legitimate war booty and the sale continued; eventually the baton went to an American collector in Florida.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} By June 1945, Mills-Roberts was a [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]] (temporary).<ref name="LG 19 June 1945" />