Nazis vs. The Boy Scouts

2015-01-06T02:46:01-05:00

From Medium.com comes a war story unlike almost any you have ever heard before.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/nazis-versus-the-boy-scout-on-roller-skates-15d73e26d4b2

Nazis Versus the Boy Scout on Roller Skates

In 1940, Ted Jefferies was a 13-year-old British lad who wanted to do his bit for king and country in World War II.

As a Boy Scout, Jefferies could have contented himself with an ordinary role such as collecting scrap metal or growing extra food in a garden.

Instead, he became a secret messenger for the British guerrilla fighters who would have harassed German occupiers, killed collaborators and offered a last-ditch defense if the Third Reich had invaded England as Adolf Hitler had originally planned.

Armed only with a Fairbairn-Sykes commando dagger and shod in roller skates for speed, he actually delivered classified messages for the training center that prepared the volunteer units for the fateful day … should it come.

And in doing all this, Jefferies put to good use traditional Scouting skills, skills taught in a movement founded by a British war hero and former spy who transferred military methods and tactics for crack reconnaissance patrols to a boys’ organization that emphasized patriotism and preparedness.

[EDITORIAL COMMENT:- If Hitler had been prepared to risk the German Navy, the outcome of WWII could well have been very different. No OPERATION TORCH, no OPERATION HUSKY, no OPERATION OVERLORD, but the outcome on the Eastern Front probably wouldn't have changed - except that the Red Army would probably have been stopped by the English Channel. (Remember, in the German occupied countries the strongest branches of "the Resistance" were usually the ones run by the local communists so the Russians would have had ready made "friendly" governments to install in the "liberated" countries)]

Nazis Versus the Boy Scout on Roller Skates — War Is Boring

Ted Jefferies was 13 years old—and part of Winston Churchill’s secret army

Response by LTC Stephen F. made May 31 at 2015 7:33 PM

2015-05-31T19:33:36-04:00

COL Ted Mc, the question intrigued me since my British parents were teenagers during WWII and I have studied WWII on and off for 40 years or so. At first I thought it might referring to downed Luftwaffe planes and pilots who parachuted to the ground including Rudolf Hess who crash landed his glider into Scotland. The article you posted a link to was interesting and in confirmed my suspicion that the boy scouts never actually came into contact with Nazis but were trained, ready and able to conduct their missions.