Modern/Post-War Photos

Bert Trautmann, RIP.

Manchester City Football Club

Bernhard Karl "Bert" Trautmann, former sergeant in the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjager, who played over 500 matches for Manchester City Football Club in the English League. After an adventurous military career (captured, but escaped, from the Soviets, the Americans and the French Resistance), Bert was definitively captured by the British. After a period of internment in England, he declined an offer of repatriation to Germany, opting to stay in England and develop a career in Association Football (soccer), for which he had shown a talent as a defender and goalkeeper. He contracted as a goalkeeper with Manchester City (a club for whom I have some affection) in 1949. Trautmann overcame supporter resistance to a German ex-serviceman playing in an English professional club to become a club hero. The "highlight" of his career came in the 1956 Football Association Cup Final. Trautmann suffered an injury - that turned out to be a broken neck - in the 75th minute of the Final, but played on, helping to assure City of a 3-1 victory. Bert Trautmann died today, 19 July, 2013, aged 89. A brave man in peace and war. Ar dheis Dé a Anam. JR.