"Born in Berlin in 1928, Kruger's father, an engineer, was a supporter of Adolf Hitler and an early member of the Nazi Party. He made his acting debut in the German film The Young Eagles, but his career was interrupted when he was drafted by the German Wehrmacht - one of the Nazi armed forces - in 1944 when he was 16. He went onto fight for the 38th SS Division Nibelungen, but when he was ordered to ambush a group of US soldiers, he refused, and was nearly executed after being sentenced to death for cowardice, before another SS officer overturned the ruling. Kruger eventually escaped and hid out in Tyrol in Italy until the end of the war, and frequently spoke out against extremism and in favour of democracy. When asked if he was afraid of death in 2018, ahead of his 90th birthday - Kruger told German press agency DPA: 'I grew up with death, I got used to it.' " www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10422041/A-Bridge-Far-star-Hardy-Kr-ger-dead-93-Actor-passes-away-Calfornia.html
Lucky guy for not being shot refusing to follow an order. I have read that waffen-ss shot their own men for robbing their own kitchen during the night. Also in mid-Finland they had an attack ca 1943, Finnish Company in the middle and SS Nord companies covering the flanks. The Finns attacked but Nord on both sides refused. Both SS Nord Company commanders were shot.
They got something wrong on their captions. It was James Stewart he starred with in Flight of the Phoenix. I enjoyed his work, especially The One That Got Away. RIP.
I enjoyed his role in The Wild Geese, a typically racist South African who comes to befriend the black leader the team was sent to rescue. At one point, as they are fleeing through the jungle, Hardy is carrying the older man and says something like "I just found you, I'm not going to lose you."
