Aberdonian may have helped capture Himmler

● Researcher on hunt for man thought to have met the SS leader

It was a chance encounter in the dying days of the Second World War that led to the capture of one of the highest-ranking members of the Nazi regime.

Five men from the 196 battery, 73rd anti-tank regiment, Royal Artillery, were on a routine patrol in north-west Germany in May 1945 they stopped three Germans to check their identity papers.

They proved to be false and it soon emerged that one of three was one of the world’s most wanted men, Heinrich Himmler.

The high-ranking Nazi led the notoriously brutal SS and is considered an architect of the Holocaust.

Now a historian has revealed one of the men who captured Himmler may have been from Aberdonian.

Chris Mannion, from Warrington in Cheshire, discovered around seven years ago that his own grandfather, Lance Sergeant Patrick Mannion, was one of those involved in bringing the war criminal to justice.

He is now penning a book on the capture and has found a record of a Gunner P Murison, whose address was listed as 16 Seaton Drive, Aberdeen, and who was in the regiment at the same time as his grandfather.

He is trying to trace all the men in the picture to find out exactly who was involved in the capture of the SS chief.

Mr Mannion said: “They landed on D-Day then fought through France, Belgium and Holland and then on into Germany.

“Just after the war finished, the 73rd was based in north-west Germany and a five-man patrol had been sent out to help keep law and order.

“They came across three Germans whose ID papers did not seem correct.

“It turned out one of these men was Heinrich Himmler, though as he was using false ID papers, the men themselves didn’t know his true identity.

“Years later, this story was passed down to me, though sadly not by my grandfather, who before I was born.

“I’m trying trace all the men, or relatives of the men, of the 196 Battery.

“One of them is Gunner J Murison, service number 2884328, whose address at the time was 16 Seaton Drive, Aberdeen.

“So, what did Murison have to do with it all?

“I have the main documents telling me who, where, when, but as a man of the 196 he may have had dealings with Himmler, even driven the truck with Himmler in the back, who knows.” died

The SS leader was one of the leading figures in the Nazi regime and was responsible for the network of camps where millions died in the Holocaust.

His Einsatzgruppen death squads slaughtered civilians across the continent – in some cases entire villages and towns.

Shortly after his capture, Himmler took his own life by cyanide pill before he could be brought before a war crimes trial.

Anyone with any information should email Mr Mannion at antitank73@hotmail.com.