Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma
Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma (11 September 1891 – 30 April 1948) was a German army officer who served in World War I, in the Spanish Civil War, and as a general in World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Thoma is known for his indiscretion while a POW in British captivity, when he unwittingly revealed the existence of the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 weapons programmes. He was subject to surveillance by British intelligence and while speaking to another German officer, was recorded discussing rockets that  were being tested at Kummersdorf West, which he had observed while on a visit that also included "Generalfeldmarschall" Walther von Brauchitsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army. British reconnaissance flights over Peenemünde Army Research Center in May and June 1943 brought back unmistakable images of rockets at the facility; the subsequent bombing of the site severely disrupted the programme. Military career. Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma was born in Dachau in 1891 as son of a Bavarian tax official and became career officer with the Bavarian Army. Thoma took part in the first World War with 3rd Bavarian Infantry Regiment  (part of 2nd, then, from 1915, 11th Bavarian Infantry Division) on the Western (1914/15/16/17/18) and Eastern Front (1915/16), the Serbian Campaign (1915) and the Romanian Front in 1916/17. During the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918 he was captured by French-American forces and became a prisoner of war until September, 1919. He was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order, the highest military decoration for bravery in the Bavarian Army and was awarded the noble title of "Ritter". After the war, Thoma remained in the new German army, the Reichswehr. During  the Spanish Civil War, and now a colonel, he commanded the ground element of the Condor Legion, following the Nazi Germany intervention on the side of the Nationalists led by Francisco Franco. During the 1941 Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, Thoma led the 17th Panzer Division and then the 20th Panzer Division, which took part in the Battle of Moscow. In December 1941, Thoma received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In September 1942 he was transferred to serve with the "Afrika Korps" in North Africa, where he took part in the Second Battle of  El Alamein in October 1942. Under British surveillance as POW. On 4 November 1942, Thoma was captured by the British forces and for the remainder of the war he was a prisoner in several senior officer prisoner-of-war camps in Great Britain, including Trent Park, Wilton Park, Grizedale Hall and Island Farm. Thoma was subject to surveillance by the Secret Intelligence Service and while speaking to another POW, General Ludwig Crüwell, was recorded discussing rockets that were being tested at Kummersdorf West, which he observed while on a visit that also included Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, the Commander -in-Chief of the Army and other technical programme details. Following his indiscretion, further British reconnaissance flights over Peenemünde in May and June 1943 brought back unmistakable images of rockets at the facility which was developing guided missiles and long-range ballistic missiles better known as the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 ballistic missile. When reconnaissance and intelligence information regarding the V-2 became convincing, Churchill's War Cabinet directed the first planned raid (Operation Hydra), the attack of Peenemünde in August 1943, as part of Operation Crossbow, the Anglo-American campaign against the "Vergeltungswaffe", the German long-range weapons  programme. In late 1945, Waffen-SS commander Kurt Meyer, captured in Belgium in September 1944 while commanding the 12th SS-Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend", arrived at Trent Park and noted that Thoma, the German camp leader, was "...highly thought of by the English. Relations between him and the guards is excellent". Churchill's high regard for Thoma is evident from his many later quotations of Thoma's opinions on strategic matters, especially in his book about the war. After Montgomery invited Thoma to dine with him in his private trailer, Churchill remarked: "I sympathize with General von Thoma: Defeated, in captivity  and... (long pause for dramatic effect) dinner with Montgomery". In 1946 Thoma's leg was amputated while he was still in English captivity. He was repatriated later that year. Thoma lived in his hometown of Dachau until his death of a heart attack in 1948. (Spanish Civil War) (Second World War)