The Pittsburgh Press (May 29, 1941)
MAX SCHMELING REPORTED KILLED BY BRITISH IN CRETE
Alexandria, Egypt, May 29 (UP) –
Max Schmeling, the greatest German prize fighter of all time, and former world heavyweight champion, has been killed in Crete while fighting as a Nazi parachute soldier, reliable New Zealand military sources said today.
Informants said Schmeling had been made a prisoner and was killed when he seized the riflr of a wounded man and tried to escape.
The report was not official, and hence could not be confirmed, but it was told circumstantially by field ambulance men who said his body had been identified positively. They said Schmeling was wounded slightly and captured during the first days of the fighting in Crete.
It was known that Schmeling had been among the first parachute troops landed in Crete. Though 35, far over the maximum age for parachutists, he had volunteered for parachute work and had been promoted from private to corporal.
Schmeling was taken to a field dressing station and showed papers bearing his name, it was said. At the same time, informants asserted, he said in English, with an American accent, that he was a boxer.
Officers at the scene were satisfied beyond doubt of Schmeling’s identity, it was said.
Informants asserted that Schmeling became truculent and threatening when he was sent from the dressing station to a prison camp with other prisoners, tried to escape and was killed.
Nazi informants at Berlin said today they had heard nothing of Max Schmeling having been killed in Crete.
