Additionally, he was charged with questioning many more important prisoners who were funnelled through the interrogation center, such as senior officers and famous flying aces.
In 1948, Scharff was invited by the United States Air Force to lecture on his interrogation techniques and first-hand experiences.
During his schooling there, he was first trained in various forms of art,[3] which eventually served as a basis for his profession after World War II.
Scharff then traveled to work in the Adlerwerke Foreign Office in Johannesburg, South Africa, to gain experience in sales (specifically of the Adler automobiles produced in Frankfurt, Germany) for one year.
However, he was so successful at his job that, instead of returning to Germany, he was promoted to Director of the Overseas Division and continued to make Johannesburg his home for the next ten years leading up to the outbreak of World War II.
However, when Margaret Scharff learned of her husband's destination, she intervened, angry at the thought of a fluent English-speaking German soldier's life being wasted at the Eastern Front.
Unfamiliar with Kompanie XII, the Military Police at the train station directed Scharff to report to another panzergrenadier battalion destined for the Eastern Front.
Frustrated and concerned over his new battalion's unwillingness to transfer him to his correct unit, Scharff recalled his father's letter to each of his boys shortly before he died.
In the letter, his father told him that, should he ever need help or guidance, he should contact one or both of his dearest friends in his regiment, Majors Ledebur and Postel.
Scharff contacted then-Lieutenant Colonel Postel, who agreed to take his situation up with the commanding general, whom he knew personally.
[8] Upon arrival, Scharff began in the Camp Office – Reception and was eventually promoted by the Chief of the Fighter Interrogation Section, Hauptmann Horst H. "Big Chief" Barth, to assistant interrogation officer of the American Fighters section responsible for the 8th and 9th Air Forces.
While Scharff was on leave in late 1943, Weyland and Schröder went up in a Fieseler Storch aircraft with a Luftwaffe fighter pilot from the Kampfgeschwader 27 unit at Eschborn Airbase.
Learning on the job, he instead relied upon the Luftwaffe's approved list of techniques, mostly making the interrogator seem like his prisoner's greatest advocate while in captivity.
[citation needed] Scharff described various experiences with new POWs (prisoners of war), outlining the procedure most of his fellow interrogators were instructed to use.
[citation needed] After a prisoner's fear had been allayed, Scharff acted as a good friend, including sharing jokes, homemade food items, and occasionally alcoholic beverages.
In addition, he could empathize with the captured Allied aviators, drawing on the fact that he was not only married to an Englishwoman but also a son-in-law of a World War I British flying ace (Claud Stokes, as noted above).
Scharff was best known for taking his prisoners on strolls through the nearby woods, first having them swear an oath of honor that they would not attempt to escape during their walk.
He chose not to use these nature walks as a time to ask his prisoners obvious military-related questions directly but instead relied on the POWs' desire to speak to anyone outside of isolated captivity about informal, generalized topics.
[citation needed] The Luftwaffe kept a vast collection of personal information about any pilot or commander in an enemy air wing in individual files.
Scharff expressed his delight at finally meeting Gabreski, who had crashed his P-47 while strafing a German airfield, as he stated he had been expecting his arrival for some time.
He was also asked to interrogate Lt. Martin J. Monti, who later pleaded guilty to treason against the United States for his activities during the war.
Many of those contacted wrote letters to Toliver in return, which he then published in the book chronologically alongside what Scharff had written.