Captain Neufeld

Captain Neufeld is one of the primary antagonists in the novel Ford 10 from Navarone.

Biography
Neufeld was a captain in the Wehrmacht who served under General Zimmermann in Yugoslavia. In particular, he had overall command of the Cetnik forces led by Captain Droshny. When Keith Mallory and his men arrived claiming to be deserters from the British Army, Neufeld didn't believe them, and thought they were commandos sent to rescue three captured British officers. He was partially correct. They were commandos, and rescuing the imprisoned officers was part of their mission, however it was a distraction. In reality, they wanted to blow up an important dam upriver from a bridge Zimmermann intended to cross to attack stranded Partisan forces on the opposite side.

Neufeld was captured by the commandos and forced to take them to where the British officers were being held. After they freed the prisoners, it appeared as though they'd left on a plane. Neufeld, who'd been locked up where the British officers had been, was freed by his subordinate Sergeant Baer. He quickly reported to Zimmermann that Mallory and his team had fled. Zimmermann then decided now was the time to launch his attack, and sent Neufeld back to the Cetnik camp.

Eventually, Neufeld realized he'd been tricked - the British officers had left on the plane, but Mallory and his team hadn't. Realizing what they intended to do, he took Droshny and a combined force of German and Cetnik troops and raced to stop them. He failed. Droshny and most of their men were killed fighting the commandos, and Dusty Miller's bombs destroyed the dam. The resulting tidal wave hit the bridge just as Zimmermann's armored column was crossing it, wiping almost all of them out, including Zimmermann.

Neufeld himself was swept away downriver by the water, but he survived, suffering a severe head wound. After being rescued by some of his men, he was asked what they should do. With the bulk of Zimmermann's army destroyed, Neufeld took command of what remained of the ragtag German forces and ordered a retreat.

Comments

 * In the movie adaptation, he is named Major Schroder and doesn't survive.