The battle had been long and bloody, and the street was littered with bodies, but the enemy was not beaten yet. As a 21-year-old British officer leapt from his Sherman tank, he was confronted by a young German soldier.
Pale and bespectacled, the officer drew his pistol and waited to discover whether the German, still desperately clutching his weapon, was prepared to stake everything on one last stand. But the man was dying, and no shots were exchanged.
Murray Walker would never forget that intense moment in what he called a bloody time , as he joined the Allied spearhead into Germany in 1945.