5ft 3in Bob Roberts reached
great heights in the war, cheating death on numerous occasions and taking the
surrender of a 7ft 6in Nazi soldier, as captured in a striking photograph by
one of his comrades.
Bob Roberts is one of
Britain’s smallest soldiers has been awarded France’s highest honour for his
bravery in the Second World War.
He is one of the 3,000
surviving Allied servicemen to be given the prestigious Legion d’honneur by the
French government for their role in liberating the country from the Nazis.
The 92-year-old
great-grandfather served as a Corporal in the war, fighting in France and
evading death at every turn.
Robert came close to losing
his life more than once, surviving a blast that killed the man next to him,
being grazed on the temple by a sniper’s bullet and witnessing an enemy spy be
shot dead moments before she killed him.
Tragically, his younger
brother Ernie was less lucky and died only the day after he took up the same
position Mr Roberts had just left when his company was relieved.
The David and Goliath
moment was caught on camera by one of Mr Roberts’ comrades.
Mr Roberts’ most memorable
moment came when he took the surrender of Germany’s tallest soldier. Standing
at 7ft 6ins, Jakob Nacken was more than two feet taller than his British
counterpart.
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