Derek Mills-Roberts: Difference between revisions

Later in the war, among other actions, he 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 vented his anger about the atrocities he had seen at Bergen-Belsen bymarching savagelyMilch beatingaround the camp and demanding to know his thoughts on the terrible sights witnessed. Milch's withreply a(who champagnespoke bottle,English) afterwas breakingalong 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 Marshall's baton overfrom under Milch's headarm withand numerousbroke blowsit over his head. MilchThe sustainedbroken apieces were retrieved by fracturedhis skullbatman and athe numberremains ofwere contusionsgiven fromto thisMills-Robert's assaultwife Jill who had the baton restored at Swayne Adeney Brigg in London but the replacement shaft was slightly longer than the original. ThisIn later years, Jill sold the baton at auction. Before the auction, an incidentinjunction was filmedput on the sale by athe BritishMilch soldierfamily who contested ownership saying that the baton was 'stolen' from Milch. A local magistrate in UK decided that the the baton was legitimate war booty and the sale continued, the baton going to an American collector in Florida. <ref>http://www.fpp.co.uk/docs/ReadersLetters/EvStd200886.html</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=September 2018}} By June 1945, he was a [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]] (temporary).<ref name="LG 19 June 1945" />