Did this incident really happen?

Hi All,

Another history query from an old article i have read in an old magazine called “Illustrated Weekly of India”. Its from a 1989 Issue commemorating the 50th Anniv of WW2. The Magazine is now defunct, but in its time it was one of the oldest and quite well known mags in India.

The article had accounts of veterans. One of which is by a Flt Lt Dhun Mehta aged 84 years in 1989.

“Actually, I served for just four years or so—1942 to 1946, and was forced to give up work for the War Commission only because of my eyesight which was failing rather badly. Before I get on with those experiences, though, you must hear a little about the very inter- esting people I’ve known. Merle Oberon, for a start, was in class with me at the Loretto School. General Claude Auchinlech, one of the greatest generals of our times, wrote me a most kind letter in response to a Times of India cutting about himself which I’d sent him. It came from Morocco where he lived until his death five years ago. That little piece of communication matters so much to me, and, it being rare, I was once actually offered $5000 to part with it. Turned it down flatly, I did. Other prized memories include lunching with Erwin Rommel—what a man! I’d the good fortune of meeting him at El Alamein in North Africa. It all happened so strangely. It was in December 1943 and I was posted there, flying fighter planes along with six other Indian pilots. We were 29 officers together. There were, of course, Britishers, Americans and Canadians as well. The fighting had been really fierce. Rommel’s forces all around and an exhausting time we had for it. Then, on December 24, we suddenly saw a white flag party approach. Most of us thought it was a German trick but in the end we discovered that it was only a group with an invita- tion to Christmas lunch from Rommel. Our commanding officer was Sir Claude then and he asked whether we would go. Ex- cept for four who thought they smelt a trap, the rest were eager to accept Finally, all of us went. A Christmas Day truce had been de- clared. It was eerily quiet as we drove across for lunch to the enemy’s lines in our jeeps. We were so glad we did so—what a peculiar thing “war” is. Lunch was a slap-up affair, with turkey and all the trimmings, and the general remarkably endearing — though, imagine, history didn’t describe him that way, for sure.”

Questions from my side

1. Lunch with Rommel, Sounds too good to be true! did anyone actually read about any such incident?
2. What were Indian pilots doing in the North Africa? never heard of them before!

If anyone wants to look at the original scan of the article its at

http://64.239.61.66/Upload/Dhun.jpg