Henry James Tandey, (born Tandy, 30 August 1891 – 20 December 1977) was a British soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the second most highly decorated British private of the First World War and is most commonly remembered as the soldier who allegedly spared Adolf Hitl He… Henry James Tandey, (born Tandy, 30 August 1891 – 20 December 1977) was a British soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the second most highly decorated British private of the First World War and is most commonly remembered as the soldier who allegedly spared Adolf Hitler's life near the end of the war. Born with the family name of Tandy, he later changed his surname to Tandey after problems with his father, and because of this, some military records have a different spelling of his name. On 28th September 1918 during the taking of the crossing over the Canal de St. Quentin at Marcoing, I was No.1 of the Lewis gun team of my platoon. I witnessed the whole of the gallantry of Private Tandey throughout the day. Under intensely heavy fire he crawled forward in the village when we were held up by the enemy MG and found where it was, and then led myself and comrades with the gun into a house from where we were able to bring Lewis gun fire on the MG and knock it out of action. Later when we got to the canal crossings No. 34506 Pte. Henry Tandey, D.C.M., M.M., 5th Bn., W. Rid. R. (T.F.) (Leamington). For most conspicuous bravery and initiative during the capture of the village and the crossings at Marcoing, and the subsequent counter-attack on 28 September, 1918. When, during the advance on Marcoing, his platoon was held up by machine-gun fire, he at once crawled forward, located the machine gun, and, with a Lewis gun team, knocked it out. On arrival at the crossings he restored the plank bridge under a hail of bullets, thus enabling the first crossing to be made at this vital spot. Later in the evening, during an attack, he, with eight comrades, was surrounded by an overwhelming number of Germans, and though the position was apparently hopeless, he led a bayonet charge through them, fighting so fiercely that 37 of the enemy were driven into the hands of the remainder of his company. Although disputed, Tandey allegedly encountered Adolf Hitler at the French village of Marcoing on 28 September 1918, while Tandey was serving with the 5th Duke of Wellington's Regiment. That day, Tandey took part in a battle for which he would be awarded the VC for bravery. As the battle neared its end, a wounded German soldier wandered into Tandey's line of fire and he chose not to shoot. The German soldier saw him lower his rifle and nodded his thanks before wandering off. Although Tandey reputedly commonly spared wounded and disarmed German soldiers, the soldier from that day is dubiously claimed to have been Hitler. Hitler, however, took his second leave from military service from 10 to 28 September 1918, indicating that he was still in Germany at the time. Tandey was decorated with the VC in late 1919, after which reports of the ceremony circulated with a picture of Tandey carrying a wounded soldier during the First Battle of Ypres (1914), which Hitler may have become aware of. In 1923, the Green Howards Regiment commissioned a painting from Fortunino Matania, showing a soldier purported to be Tandey carrying a wounded man at the Kruiseke Crossroads (northwest of Menin) in 1914. The painting was made from a sketch, provided to Matania by the regiment, based on an event at that crossroads. A building shown behind Tandey in the painting belonged to the Van Den Broucke family, to whom the regiment presented a copy of the painting. In 1937, Hitler became aware of the Matania painting, a copy of it being owned by Dr. Otto Schwend, a member of Hitler's staff. Schwend had been a medical officer during the 1914 Battle of Ypres and in 1936 had been sent a copy of the painting by a Lieutenant Colonel Earle, whom Schwend had treated in a medical post at the Menin Crossroads; the pair stayed in touch after the war. Schwend gave a large photograph of the painting to Hitler, who purportedly identified the soldier carrying the wounded man as Tandey from the photo of him in the 1918 newspaper. Hitler's adjutant, Captain Fritz Wiedemann, wrote Schwend in response: I beg to acknowledge your friendly gift which has been sent to Berlin through the good offices of Dr. Schwend. The Führer is naturally very interested in things connected with his own war experiences, and he was obviously moved when I showed him the photograph and explained the thought which you had in causing it to be sent to him. He was obviously moved when I showed him the picture. He has directed me to send you his best thanks for your friendly gift which is so rich in memories. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain visited Hitler at the Berghof for talks that led to the Munich Agreement, noticed the painting and asked about it. Hitler replied: That man came so near to killing me that I thought I should never see Germany again; Providence saved me from such devilishly accurate fire as those English boys were aiming at us. Hitler reputedly asked Chamberlain to give Tandey his best wishes and gratitude. Chamberlain promised to phone Tandey upon his return. Supposedly, the phone was answered by the nine-year-old William Whateley, a relative of Tandey's wife Edith. The records related to the 1938 meeting at the Cadbury Research Centre (which holds copies of Chamberlain's papers and diaries) do not reference Tandey, who at the time lived at 22 Cope Street, Coventry, and worked for the Triumph Motor Company. Neither that company nor British Telecommunications record a telephone line registered to Tandey's address in 1938.

British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler | September 28, 1918 | HISTORY SEP 28 SEP 28 Choose another date OK September 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 By: HISTORY.com Editors 1918 British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler HISTORY.com Editors Published: October 28, 2009 Last Updated: February 18, 2025 On September 28, 1918, in an incident that would go down in the lore of World War I history—although the details of the event are still unclear—Private Henry Tandey, a British soldier serving near the French village of Marcoing, reportedly encounters a wounded German soldier and declines to shoot him , sparing the life of 29-year-old Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler . Tandey, a native of Warwickshire, took part in the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914 and the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where he was wounded in the leg. After being discharged from the hospital, he was transferred to the 9th Battalion in France and was wounded again during the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in the summer of 1917. From July to October 1918, Tandey served with the 5th Duke of Wellington Regiment; it was during this time that he took part in the successful British capture of Marcoing, for which he earned a Victoria Cross for “conspicuous bravery.” As Tandey later told sources, during the final moments of that battle, as the German troops were in retreat, a wounded German soldier entered Tandey’s line of fire. “I took aim but couldn’t shoot a wounded man,” Tandey remembered, “so I let him go.” The German soldier nodded in thanks, and disappeared. Adolf Hitler Take a look at the life and impact of Adolf Hitler, who as leader of the Third Reich orchestrated the the death of 6 million Jews, in this video. 4:55m watch Though sources do not exist to prove the exact whereabouts of Adolf Hitler on that day in 1918, an intriguing link emerged to suggest that he was in fact the sol