Return to the Reich
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small town in Tyrol: Ibid.
“He was very anti-Nazi”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“an obsession”: Rodney Minott, The Fortress That Never Was: The Myth of Hitler’s Bavarian Stronghold (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), xv.
an enormous network: Harry Vosser, “Hitler’s Hideaway,” New York Times, November 12, 1944.
“a German resistance army”: Dunlop, Donovan: America’s Master Spy, 365.
they didn’t even seem: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
They would have to go: Ibid.
resigned to reading about: Wynberg emails, from Hans Wynberg to Marjorie Bingham, June 7, 2009.
as silly: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“the only thing”: Ibid.
They played in craps: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“missing in action”: Ibid.
Freddy wasn’t sure: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
They readied themselves: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“an absolute ass”: Ibid.
“I’ve had enough”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
to Hans and three other: The other three Jewish refugees at OSS who went with Freddy and Hans to demand assignments were George Gerbner, Alfred Rosenthal, and Bernie Steinitz. Gerbner and Rosenthal, in a separate OSS mission code-named Dania in early 1945, were supposed to land in southeastern Austria but were dropped off course in Yugoslavia instead. They barely escaped capture by the Gestapo and survived the war. In a third mission, Dillon III, Steinitz was captured and sentenced to death by the Nazis—but was rescued by American soldiers at the end of the war and also survived.
Hans realized as he followed: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
he was imprisoned: Persico, Piercing the Reich, 145. The orthodontist was named Jack Taylor. He survived Mauthausen.
The leader of another: Persico, Piercing the Reich, 145.
“Our talents and time”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“This has now gone on”: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“I’m very familiar”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“special reconnaissance”: [Roosevelt,] War Report of the OSS, 225.
“brown offs”: Lt. Alfred C. Ulmer Jr., “The Gulliver Mission,” Blue Book Magazine 82, no. 6 (April 1946), 65.
Breaking the rules: Ibid., 58.
the only thing they lacked: Mayer and Wynberg interviews, Schwab Papers.
“a bunch of idiots”: Lowenstein audio interview, Persico Papers.
“going to start”: Ibid.
a few months earlier: Breitman and Lichtman, FDR and the Jews, 283–84.
One member of Roosevelt’s: Ibid., 285.
Dyno didn’t know: Lowenstein audio interview, Persico Papers.
“Why don’t you jump”: Ibid.; and Persico, Piercing the Reich, 219.
“spectacular” mission: Walter Haass audio interview, Persico Papers.
“Honest guys versus”: Henry Fleischer audio interview, Persico Papers.
He hitched a ride: Ibid.
one bleak topic: Author interview with Luke Wijnberg.
Luke mentioned them: Ibid.
“mostly Austria”: Lowenstein audio interview, Persico Papers.
The Brenner line: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 60.
“Completely loyal”: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 62.
“DVs,” he called them: Haass audio interview, Persico Papers.
practically anything short: Lowenstein audio interview, Persico Papers. “At the time we had sort of papers signed by General Eisenhower that said we could do anything short of, I don’t know, killing our own troops or something.”
“hyphenated American”: Alfred Ulmer Jr. audio interview, Persico Papers.
“You know what”: Haass audio interview, Persico Papers. Haass accompanied Dyno Lowenstein on a number of the recruiting trips seeking Nazi deserters.
“What do you think”: Lowenstein audio interview, Persico Papers.
>“Who are these people?”: Radio interview with Franz Weber, “Desertion aus der Wehrmacht,” (“Desertion from the Wehrmacht”); ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), April 12, 1984.
“It was a terrible scene”: Franz Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
“typical, clean-cut”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“a circus”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
One team of commandos: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 64.
“a fiasco”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“We had no transportation”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“A good anti-Nazi”: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
A Nazi victory: Franz Weber audio interview, Persico Papers.
“you go with us”: Lowenstein audio interview, Persico Papers.
“the Nazi redoubt”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
">“has expert local”: Alfred Ulmer Jr., Teletype conference, January 26, 1945, OSS Records; and Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 55.
“Why are you sending”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 60.
package of condoms: OSS memo, “List of Supplies to Brindisi for Packaging,” January 27, 1945, OSS Records.
Hans packed up: Henry Fleischer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“I’m going to have to lie low”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 61.
“Tell Elly”: Ibid.
“superhuman courage”: Ibid., 59.
“and damn few”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“Tyrol would have to be”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 56.
gruesome story: Ibid., 59.
“You fellows are Jewish”: Persico, Piercing the Reich, 219.
“This is our war”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
5. THE DROP
In the pilot’s chair: Author interviews with John Billings, Woodstock, Virginia, April 19, 2017; September 24, 2017; November 13, 2018.
“At this time of year”: H. F. Brown, “Proposed Operation,” January 16, 1945, OSS Records.
he had wanted to be a pilot: Author interviews with John Billings.
He was just glad: Ibid.
OSS was so worried: Ibid.
“could see nothing”: Haass, “Greenup Drop,” February 28, 1945, OSS Records.
Billings wrote later: Author interviews with John Billings; and John Billings, personal master logbook: 1943–57, privately held.
The Allies had set up: Monro MacCloskey, Secret Air Missions: Counterinsurgency Operations in Southern Europe (New York: Richards Rosen, 1966), 125.
Billings and his flight crew: Author interviews with John Billings.
“Joe,” he said: Ibid.
“He’s the German”: Ibid.
they planned to ski down: Ibid.
Pure foolishness: Wynberg interview, Een Leven Lang.
Billings gathered: Author interviews with John Billings.
“We’ll go down”: Ibid.
“This is just a ‘scare’ pistol”: Ibid.
He told Billings: Ibid.
“Last night’s flight”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 62.
“Love Freddy”: Ibid.
“We got your pictures”: Ibid.
circled for Freddy: Ibid.
Freddy relayed word: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“Bad weather”: Author interviews with John Billings; and John Billings, personal master logbook: 1943–57.
Freddy and the whole crew: Haass, “Greenup Drop,” OSS Records.
“Do you want to fly”: Author interviews with John Billings.
Freddy grabbed the control-wheel: Ibid.
The plane’s belly: Ibid.
This kid really is: Ibid.
he wished he could crank: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
The two OSS men: Haass, “Greenup Drop,” OSS Records.
An apologetic Billings: Author inte
rviews with John Billings.
“We’re going to do it”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
as the plane dipped: Author interviews with John Billings.
One thousand feet down: Ibid.
Slammed downward: Billings’s flight records and his own account in interviews put the near-crash on February 25, just prior to the actual drop. Some accounts have placed it several days earlier. Billings’s account appears to be the most credible.
“Turn, turn!”: Author interviews with John Billings.
Billings could finally manage: Ibid.
“I’ll give you three hundred”: Ibid.
“The slightest hesitation”: Haass audio interview, Persico Papers.
“Here we go!”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 63.
He was two hundred miles: Ibid.
With no hint: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
As cold as the snow felt: Ibid.
One second passed: Haass, “Greenup Drop,” OSS Records.
this wasn’t the place: Wynberg interview, Een Leven Lang.
“skis are hard”: Haass, “Greenup Drop,” OSS Records.
“We never dropped”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 63.
6. THE GLACIER
“dropped almost on top”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 63.
Just as well: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
They couldn’t fit everything: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
The thin air: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
Freddy slapped him: “Absprung nach Tirol—Von den Finstertaler Seen auf den Lachhof,” Das Fenster 46 (Autumn 1989). Based on 1960 interview with Fred Mayer. Translated from German.
“fairy tale”: Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
“light, compact”: Spy Radio in World War II: “Strategic Service Transmitter-Receiver Number 1” SSTR-1 OSS. OSS instructional film, circa 1943.
He tried again: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” unsigned, summer 1945, OSS Records; and Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 63.
he began taking: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 67.
He went to swap: Ibid.
went unanswered: Ibid., 63; and “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
The canned tomatoes: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
“Ja, Herr Oberleutnant”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 64.
he would be treated: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
Franz was struck: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
Franz thanked the farmer: Ibid.
The huge sled: O’Donnell, They Dared Return, 72.
the most hair-raising: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
More than three hours: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
That was the extent: Weber audio interview, Persico Papers.
Waiting for their train: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 70.
a few passengers: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“These two are foreigners”: Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
“This can happen”: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
Freddy gripped: Ibid.
Hans struggled to maintain: Ibid.
the Gestapo officer: Ibid.
Hans played with: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records; Mayer interview, Persico Papers; Mayer audio interview, Schwab Papers.
“Is that you?”: Author interview with Dr. Josef Weber, Oberperfuss, Austria, July 31, 2018. At the time of the OSS mission, Dr. Weber (no relation to Franz) was a boy of four and a half years old growing up in Oberperfuss next door to Franz’s family home. He has studied the OSS operation extensively over the years since then.
7. “FRANZ WEBER SENT ME”
Fathers and sons: Horst Schreiber, 1938—Der Anschluss in den Bezirken Tirols (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2018). Translated from German.
She knew Franz: Author interview with Dr. Josef Weber.
“Imagine who we met”: Ibid.
forcing him to transfer: Schreiber, 1938—Der Anschluss in den Bezirken Tirols, 83.
“You keep quiet”: Author interview with Dr. Josef Weber. (KZ is an abbreviation in German for Konzentrationslager.)
They stopped: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
Without help: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“flourishing new life”: Adolf Hitler, “Proclamation for the Anschluss of Austria to the Great German Reich,” radio broadcast speech, March 12, 1938.
“simple and modest”: Franz Weber audio interview, Persico Papers.
“all sorts of grandiose”: Ibid.
Almost overnight: Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
Nearly 120,000 people: Yad Vashem, “Mauthausen,” yadvashem.org.
“Do that again”: Author interview with Dr. Josef Weber.
a three-year-old-boy: Ibid. Weber’s wife was a cousin of the boy.
For thirty reichsmarks: Ibid.
“playing with life”: Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
he escaped capture: “Debriefing Report of Operation Dania,” 1945, OSS Records.
a bitter topic: Author interview with Alois Abenthung (grandson of Alois Abenthung), in Oberperfuss, Austria, July 31, 2018; and by email, January 18, 2019.
a political opposition: Schreiber, 1938—Der Anschluss in den Bezirken Tirols, 82.
“prohibiting the formation”: Judgement Against Alois Abenthung, Regional Court of Innsbruck, Docket No. 8034, File KL 15/44 (April 12, 1944). Court document provided to author by Matthias Breit, researcher and historian in Tyrol.
“never heard”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“Oh, my God”: Ibid.
“Go back”: Ibid.
Alois went upstairs: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
“all possible assistance”: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“my first and most reliable”: Fred Mayer to Alois Abenthung, letter for medical clearance, May 5, 1945. Provided to author by Aben-thung’s grandson of the same name.
“He came with two”: Annie Weber audio interview, Persico Papers.
“Where are you going?”: Ibid.
He had done: The Real Inglorious Bastards, DVD.
The Gestapo would hang: Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
“This is not a good idea”: Persico files, Annie Weber audio interview.
He imagined: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“You’ve had no message”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 64.
“Not necessarily, sir”: Ibid., 65.
“Within four days”: Ibid.
all well: OSS cable, March 8, 1945, OSS Records.
an expensive bottle: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 65.
8. THE FÜHRER’S BUNKER
he told himself: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“I need temporary”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
The only explanation: Ibid.
A handful of combat: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
He was drinking: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 67.
must have felt: O’Donnell, They Dared Return, 87.
Freddy sat frozen: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“Are you all right?”: Author interview with Dr. Josef Weber.
the stranger slipped: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“the first link”: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“I no longer believe”: Annie Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
let Freddy use: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“a perfect fit”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers; Mayer and others credited Alouisa, a nurse, with getting the uniform for him at the hospital. The Greenup Debriefing Report noted that Annie Weber’s brother, an orderly at the hospital, was partly involved in getting the uniform.
“I lost everything”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“genuine anti-Nazi”: Franz We
ber interview, Schwab Papers.
Her father had agreed: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
They soon decided: Author interview with Dr. Josef Weber.
“an absolutely wonderful”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
once again rigged: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 68.
She taught him: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“air warning tower”: “Locomotives in Innsbruck,” March 27, 1945, OSS Records.
“a ten-strike”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 67.
The other branches: Ibid.
9. THE BIRTH OF A FRENCHMAN
“my biggest coup”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
He even heard: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records. “Diane” was an actual American agent, Virginia Hall, who did important espionage work for OSS in Europe during the war, although Freddy did not know of her existence. She did have a wooden leg.
“Each individual contacted”: “Report on Mission to Innsbruck,” unsigned, May 26, 1945, OSS Records.
“alive and working”: Mitchell’s real name was Paul Kroeck. He was a Nazi deserter from Austria who became an OSS agent; he was the third member of the error-plagued Dania mission, along with George Gerbner and Alfred Rosenthal. Kroeck, too, managed to survive the war.
Three French allies: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 71, and OSS cable of March 30, 1945, which specifically mentioned French resister Édouard Daladier, imprisoned by the Nazis at a castle known as Schloss Itter east of Innsbruck. Fred also relayed information on the Nazis’ imprisonment at the castle of Marie-Agnès Cailliau, the eldest sister of de Gaulle; and François de La Rocque, accused at various times of helping both the Allies and the Nazis. Stephen Harding, The Last Battle (Boston: Da Capo, 2014), 164–68.
purportedly in hiding: It is not clear whether Mussolini was at the Austrian hotel at the time; weeks later, Italian opponents captured and executed him after he was discovered in a Nazi caravan in northern Italy.
“usually reliable”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 67.
force at his back: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“the realities of a world war”: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
What real courage: Ibid.; and Wynberg emails, from Hans Wynberg to Marjorie Bingham. Hans downplayed the risk he faced in his “passive” role as radio man in the attic, telling Schwab: “You have to remember I never shot at anybody. I was not front-line troop like my twin brother. I had never been involved in any action.”