Derek Knee

Captain Derek Knee (22 October 1922 – 18 March 2014) was an intelligence officer of the British Army during World War II. He was the interpreter and translator for Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group, at the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath in Germany on 3 May 1945. He then read Modern Languages at Christ's College, Cambridge for a year until he was commissioned as an officer in the Dorset Regiment. His language skills led to postings to a course on the interrogation of prisoners of war and to a censorship unit in London. After D-Day he served at Second Army Headquarters under General Miles Dempsey, identifying German units and estimating their strengths.

German surrender On 2 May 1945, Knee was told to report to Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group Tactical Headquarters on Lüneburg Heath the next day, where a German delegation arrived with a letter from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel which he translated for Montgomery. The delegation said they did not have authority to agree to the unconditional surrender terms stipulated by Montgomery; they were provided with a lunch with wine and brandy. The next day they returned with another delegate and signed the surrender document in a carpeted tent, witnessed by war correspondents. Knee was later directed to travel to Flensburg to take into custody Karl Dönitz – at that time Germany's head of state – and transport him to the airport. Upon his return to Lüneburg, he saw the body of Heinrich Himmler who had committed suicide in British custody.

Later life Upon his return to his studies at Cambridge University, Knee switched to an Economics course. He later became assistant general secretary at the International Association of Department Stores, in Paris and Geneva. Upon his retirement he moved to Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. He was married with two sons.