He managed to escape, but later was caught again by the allied troops and believing he was about to be executed. he was surprised instead to be greeted by his British captors with the words, "Hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?"
Instead of the ultimate punishment, he was sent to a PoW camp at Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan, where Trautmann excelled during football matches played during the fitness sessions.
Fate was set to play a huge part in his future when, despite his obvious ability as an outfield player, he was forced to keep goal after picking up an injury and swapped positions for the remainder of the game. Trautmann immediately looked at home – a natural, even.
He would later claim his training as a paratrooper made it easy for him to perform acrobatic dives because he knew how to fall to the ground without injuring himself – that, plus his fearless nature made him an outstanding prospect, if not a little rough around the edges.
After the War ended, Trautmann felt so at home in England he declined the offer of repatriation upon his release to instead begin a new life in the country he had until recently been fighting against. He married a local girl not long after and was not perturbed about being a German in a sleepy English town so soon after the conflict.
He began working on a farm and later worked with a bomb disposal unit in Liverpool, putting his knowledge and expertise to great use.
It was Trautmann’s ability as a goalkeeper, however, that was about to open doors that would likely otherwise have been firmly shut in his face. He began playing for St Helens Town where huge crowds – by St Helens standards – were regularly drawn to watch him in action and as many as 9,000 turned out to watch one game in particular as his reputation grew.
So much so, that City offered to play the non-League minnows in a friendly in order to take a closer look at a man who could possibly be a potential replacement for the great Frank Swift.
The 25-year-old Trautmann hardly did a thing wrong during the 2-0 win for City and after further monitoring his progress, the Club decided to sign him up six months later and, if necessary, take the flak from the players, supporters and the rest of the country.