Although this article is based on canonical information, the actual name of this subject is pure conjecture.
Please see the reasons for this title in the "Behind the scenes" section below, and/or the relevant discussion on the talk page.
A Nazi soldier was present at the Tanis digsite for the Ark of the Covenant outside Cairo, Egypt in 1936, under the orders of Colonel Dietrich and a Sergeant, and after the Ark was found he was among five other soldiers who, with the Sergeant, loaded onto a cargo truck which contained the ancient relic in order to defend it from American archaeologist Indiana Jones and his comrades. During a chase which ensued as a result of the arrival of Jones, this soldier and his fellow men all ended up falling out of the truck after it was hijacked by the American.
Biography[]
Tanis, Egypt[]
The soldiers preparing the Mercedes-Benz LG3000 cargo truck.
In 1936, this German soldier was among the men who made up the Nazi party who attempted to unearth the Ark of the Covenant from the Well of the Souls at Tanis outside Cairo, Egypt under the orders of Colonel Herman Dietrich, Major Gobler, French archaeologist René Emile Belloq and Gestapo agent Major Arnold Ernst Toht. The Ark was secretly dug up overnight by American archaeologist Indiana Jones and his associates, including Arab excavator Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, but Dietrich and Belloq confronted them, took the Ark, arrested Sallah and his men and sealed Jones and Marion Ravenwood inside the cave. However, the two soon managed to escape, and ended up blowing up the Flying Wing, the jet plane meant to transport the Ark to Berlin, Germany.[1]
The soldiers sitting around the Ark of the Covenant.
Following the Flying Wing's destruction, Colonel Dietrich decided that the Ark would instead be transported from Tanis to Cairo by truck. With Jones' location unknown, four of the truck's passengers carried the Ark into the back of a Mercedes-Benz LG3000 cargo truck, before getting inside themselves to protect the relic along with this soldier, another guard and a Sergeant, with another two soldiers driving the truck. The vehicle was protected by a Mercedes-Benz G5 troop car driven by Major Gobler and two officers and a motorcycle and sidecar helmed by a driver and his passenger.[1]
The Desert Chase[]
The desert convoy on the move.
Soon, the truck, jeep and sidecar began moving, following a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 320 carrying Colonel Dietrich, Major Toht, Belloq and their driver. All seemed to be going well as the convoy's journey through the desert began, but Indiana Jones promptly appeared behind the truck riding an Arabian stallion. Gobler's gunner began peppering Jones with gunfire, but both he and his horse made it to the truck and the American leapt onto the vehicle.[1]
The soldier falling.
Opening the door at the front of the truck, he hurled its front passenger out into the desert, before hopping inside and wrestling the driver. Their brawl caused one soldier to fall out from the back of the truck into the troop carrier's windshield, smashing it. This soldier struggled to remain inside the truck as it rocked back and forth from the fight, and eventually fell right out, screaming, onto the troop carrier's windshield[1] due to the crated Ark pressing on his feet and making him lose his balance,[2] smashing the windshield. Seconds later, as the chase continued, the soldier was no longer on the troop carrier.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
The screaming soldier was portrayed uncredited by actor Chris Parsons in Raiders of the Lost Ark.[1]
In the film's Read-Along Adventure adaptation, the soldiers get shaken off the back of the truck by Indiana Jones after he kicks out the driver.[3]
In Ryder Windham's junior novelization, Indiana Jones speculates that Marion Ravenwood's bandaged escort was either injured by Marion herself or was one of the soldiers he knocked off from the truck previously.[2] Whether this is an indication he was the screaming soldier canonically or not is unknown.