Chivalry

[Letum]

There where two high ranking commanders on opposing sides that where fighting over a sector of north Africa for several months of the war.
Despite the fighting, both commanders where in regular radio contact and arranged to make the war a little more civil. Every day at half past eleven the fighting always stopped for a half hour so both sides could take tea and prisoners where often exchanged for food rations.
It so happened that in one German advance a member of the British commanders staff was taken prisoner. The German commander was so happy with his newly acquired captive that at first he refused to exchange him for any amount of food rations. Instead he invited the prisoner to stay with him at his command HQ. However, the Germans learnt that the English has just received a supply of one million cigarettes. Upon being told of this, the German commander contacted the British commander and offered to swap the prisoner for the full supply of one million cigarettes. The British commander refused and said that he would only swap for half a million cigarettes. The German commander accepted, but the prisoner, who had been listening to the conversation, refused to go back to the British lines complaining that he was worth far more than just half a million cigarettes! He reminded captive until the end of the war.