This curious photograph, which you are now seeing, shows the moment of the capture of Jakob Nacken, the tallest Wehrmacht soldier at 2 meters 21 centimeters, by Canadian Corporal Bob Roberts, who was 1 meter 60 centimeters tall. The situation looked quite funny: a huge, bewildered Wehrmacht Ober-Efreier and a small Canadian corporal searching him.

Jakob Nacken was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 15 February 1906.

All members of his family were tall. His parents were 1 meter 80 centimeters. each, his sister Josephine was 1 meter 88 centimeters tall, his brother Wilhelm, who was two years younger, reached a height of 1 meter 93 centimeters, his other brother, who was eight years older than Jakob, was 2 meters 1 centimeter tall. With a height of 2 meters 21 centimeters, Jakob became the crowning glory of the family.

Jakob Nacken's youth came at a difficult time for Germany. Defeated in World War I, the country was plunged into political and economic instability. Hyperinflation, unemployment, and political strikes reigned in the Weimar Republic.

With a height of 221 centimeters, Jakob found it difficult to find work in inflation-ridden Germany and yet, thanks to his uniqueness, he managed to join a touring circus. The circus entrepreneurs were always looking for people with unusual looks to spice up their acts and thus attract an audience.

Jacob began his circus career under the stage name Uranus. The circus successfully toured all over Europe, the fame of the young artist grew and soon the owners of the circus dubbed him the Rhine Giant. In order to attract audiences, they spread the rumor that Jacob was the tallest man in the world, which was certainly an exaggeration, but this strategy succeeded.

Jacob appeared in his rooms dressed either as an American cowboy or as a British gentleman, often in the company of a child dressed as an adult, which further emphasized his extraordinary stature.

On 10 August 1927 in Brussels, Jacob Naken registered his marriage to a native Austrian woman. The bride's name was Maria and she was 1 meter 73 centimeters tall.

The giant was satisfied with his work in the circus, and his personal life was going well. In 1939, at the invitation of the American side, he visited the World's Fair in New York, the opening of which took place on 30 April. Here he met the news of the outbreak of World War II.

Whether Nacken returned to Germany voluntarily, out of a sense of patriotism, or he was politely asked by the American authorities, as a citizen of the state that unleashed the war in Europe, there is no reliable information.

Jakob Nacken was soon mobilized. He was 34 years old at the time. Thus, he became the highest soldier in the history of the Wehrmacht and had to face difficulties again. Tell me, in what warehouses of any army in the world can you find a uniform for a man who is 2 meters 21 centimeters tall, or find size 51 boots? And what kind of bed should be placed in the barracks to accommodate a man of that height?

As Naken himself said in one of his interviews, the only ready-made clothes he can buy in a shop are scarves and shawls. Therefore, army uniforms and shoes for the giant were custom-made.

The Montreal Gazette in its 11 April 1956 issue states that in the Wehrmacht, Oberrefrutor Nacken was a machine gunner, participated in the Polish and French Companies, and was lightly wounded in the Calais area during his capture.

Although, something tells me that if there is any truth in this note, it is that Naken could have been a machine gunner, and got to France in 1940.

More credible is the claim that for four years Jacob Nacken took no part in the fighting and served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht, was mainly involved in repair and construction work, but in 1944, when Germany began to suffer defeat, he was assigned to a gun crew and served in one of the fortifications intended for the defense of the port city of Calais, located on the coast of the Pas de Calais. There the Germans were expecting an Allied landing and had established a strong defense line.

Hitler was wrong, on 6 June 1944 the Allies landed a landing in Normandy, which was a complete surprise for the Germans.

After the end of the Battle of Normandy, it was the turn of Calais. In early September, the area was blockaded from the land, and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was assigned the assault. The operation began on 25 September. Many German garrisons, with poor training and low morale, began surrendering without a fight.

On 26 September, a German garrison of 250 men surrendered to the assault unit of Corporal Bob Roberts.

It was here that Roberts encountered Jacob Nacken, who approached the corporal himself. The contrast between Roberts and Nacken was so great that both the captured Germans and the Canadian soldiers laughed. Indeed, a man who is 2 meters 21 centimeters tall surrendering to a fighter who is one meter 60 centimeters tall. Unwittingly, this situation reminded me of the biblical story of David and Goliath.

Bob Roberts, recalling that meeting, said he knew only his military rank and that the prisoner spoke English very well, and when asked where he learnt it, he explained that he used to perform circus acts in America.’

It was not until 2010 that Bob Roberts learnt the name of his captor, and it was no surprise that Naken, because of his height, had a successful career in post-war America.

The capture of the Wehrmacht's tallest soldier immediately hit the news headlines in the United States and Britain. It was from the newspapers that his sister Josephine, who had been living in the USA for 18 years and had last seen her brother in 1932 when she came to Germany for Christmas, learnt about it. This was reported by the Morning call newspaper on 14 October 1944.

Jacob Nacken stayed in a prisoner-of-war camp until the end of the war and returned to Germany after his release. In 1950, together with his wife Maria, he moved to the United States, where, with the help of his sister, he bought a flat in Paterson, New Jersey. It should be noted that in October 1944, American newspapers, which published pictures of the capture of the highest soldier of the Wehrmacht, made Nakenu a kind of advertising and in the United States, he had no problems with work. At first he acted as the world's tallest Father Christmas, entertaining children in schools and hospitals.

In 1955, Naken was granted American citizenship. His last performance was in 1959 at Ripley's Odditorium Theatre in Manhattan.

At the end of his career, the giant returned to Germany, where he passed away in 1987, at the age of eighty-one.

Corporal Bob Roberts, who captured him, lived to the age of ninety-seven and passed away in 2020.