Bear Grylls reveals grandfather's secret WWII mission to hunt out high-ranking Nazi scientists and 'hide them in the West'

T-Force was preparing for the new threat from the Soviets, Grylls told audience at Hay Festival

Bear Grylls: 'My grandfather was a Nazi hunter' (Getty)

TV adventurer Bear Grylls may have a significant military background himself, but it wasn’t until he began rummaging through a set of old family documents that he discovered the remarkable role his grandfather had in his career as a Brigadier in the Second World War.

Speaking at Hay Festival, Grylls revealed that his grandfather, Brigadier Ted Grylls, had been the commanding officer of Churchill’s most clandestine army unit called T-Force, which was tasked in the last days of the war with hunting out high-ranking Nazi scientists that had been involved in weaponry and technology development, and hiding them away in the West, The Telegraph reports.

“They were to hide [the scientists] within the West to protect us from a newer enemy than the Nazis: the Soviet threat,” he said.

Grylls had discovered the documents in his grandfather’s old military trunk when helping his mother move some years ago, but had paid little attention to them and stored the trunk at home.

It wasn’t until Grylls began researching his current book Ghost Flight that he returned to the trunk and showed its contents to the Imperial War Museum, who discovered their significance.

The role of T-Force had been a “morally dubious line to walk, because for the greater god you have to protect those who should not be protected,” he said.

Grylls said his grandfather had been amazing but always very quiet, and believes his role within T-Force was “something he obviously lived with for a long time”.

He said this story has been the driving force for the dark presence that lingers throughout his book.

Grylls added that the main character in his book, Will, is an ex-SAS man, but that is where the similarities between himself and the character end, especially as “he ends up being kidnapped and taken to the jungle!” WalesOnline reports.