And he would do what he could to install members of his squad in positions away from the fronts. When passes back from the front became available only to those decorated in service, the national team manager would falsify documents in order to get his players. Throughout the conflict Herberger, who had been in sole charge of the national side since 1936, would do his best to keep his charges out of harm’s way. The continuing league system was held up by the Nazi regime as “proof of morale”. Three years later Sepp Herberger’s Breslau Elf – monikered after the side who defeated Denmark 8-0 in Breslau – went 11 games undefeated (winning 10) but by 1938 the Anschluss had created a “united” German side that was anything but and the World Cup campaign that year ended at the first hurdle with defeat to the Swiss. In 1934 the Mannschaft had finished third at the World Cup, beating the Austrian Wunderteam in the third-place play-off. In the inter-war period, German football had been among the strongest in Europe.
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