Return to the Reich
Page 24
Eastern Front Collapsing: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“Do You Know?”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 71.
“His little paper”:“Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
$10 or $20 per: Ibid.
two men soon: Ibid.
“Three trains of paratroops”: OSS cable, April 2, 1945, OSS Records.
“the Krauts had devised”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 60.
the man’s body language: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
asked the yardmaster:The Real Inglorious Bastards, DVD.
“These twenty-six trains”: Ibid.
“loaded with ammo”: OSS cable, April 2, 1945, OSS Records. Punctuation in the cable has been edited for clarity.
heavy-bomber operation: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 67.
“destroyed virtually”: Ibid., 68. The bombing mission appears to have taken place April 4, 1945.
the wreckage: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
They bombed the hell: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“destroy completely”: OSS memo from Col. Howard Chapin recommending award, September 17, 1945, OSS Records.
he had made: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
Freddy took off: The formal OSS review of the mission stated that Freddy switched his cover story from Nazi officer to French laborer “around the first of April,” but other OSS records suggest the switch occurred at least four days after that.
An ally of Alois’s: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
Freddy had run through: Ibid.
As a boy growing up: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
about as much rehearsal: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“Born 19 February, 1920”: Heinz Weibel-Altmeyer and Joachim Murat, “Unternehmen Alpen-Festung” (Operation Alpine Fortress), Neue Illustrierte magazine, January 1961 (Germany; defunct). Translated from German.
He couldn’t get over: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
liked to drink: Ibid.
“trustworthy worker”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 65.
the first jet-propelled: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a Schwalbe (Swallow), https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/messerschmitt-me-262-1a-schwalbe-swallow.
The Luftwaffe had managed: Ibid.
doubled the number: Daniel Uziel, Arming the Luftwaffe (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011), 130.
“I blew more fuses”: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“one hour building”: Ibid.
acts of sabotage: Eric Lichtblau, The Nazis Next Door (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014), 164.
Freddy never saw: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“I got whipped cream”: Mayer interview, Persico Papers.
“tech corporal”: Under the army rankings in place at the time, Freddy was a “Technician fifth grade/T-5,” the equivalent of a corporal.
he was still in Italy: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“Definite answerexpected”: OSS cable, Incoming Message report from “Gadsen” cable #346, OSS Records.
“Hold your horses”: OSS cable, Incoming Message report for “Gadsen” cables “#5 to #17,” OSS Records.
“he is alive”: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 95. The letter spelled his first name as “Freddie.”
10. “TAKE INNSBRUCK”
“grandiose ideas”: Wynberg interview, Schwab Papers.
“good enough”: Ibid.
on the way: Ibid.
“play war”: Franz Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
he had been one of them: Ibid.
“just sitting there”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“If desired can take”: OSS cables, Incoming Message report from “Gadsen,” cable #346, OSS Records.
“the highest proportion”: Peter Pirker, “‘Ich verstehe nicht, warum ich Menschen erschiessen gehen soll . . .’ Die Deserteursgruppe im Tiroler Vomperloch und die Zerstörung von Erinnerung,” in Da machen wir nicht mehr mit . . . : Österreichische Soldaten und Zivilisten vor Gerichten der Wehrmacht, eds. Thomas Geldmacher et al. (Vienna, Austria: Mandelbaum Verlag, 2010), 155–66. Article translated from German.
Wehrmacht deserters began: Ibid., 156.
scattered pockets: One of the leading resisters, Karl Gruber, went on to become both governor of Tyrol and Austrian foreign minister after the war. At times after the war, he and Freddy would vie for credit over their roles in the resistance.
one loosely formed: Harding, The Last Battle, 74.
motivated mainly: Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
holed up somewhere: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
Freddy dismissed him: Ibid.
using the alias: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
destroyed the internal: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
seemed genuine: Ibid.
“an intelligence mission”: Casey, The Secret War Against Hitler, 210.
“nothing he could do”: Cable #293 of April 15, 1945, OSS Records.
didn’t seem well thought out: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 67.
“Otherwise continue”: OSS cable, Incoming Message report for “Gadsen” cables “#5 to #17,” OSS Records.
Stick to your first: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“one thousand partisans”: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 100.
slammed repeatedly: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers. Ulmer did not name the agent who was killed, but he said the episode “really created a morale problem” within OSS in the war’s final stage.
He considered many: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“He was magnificent”: Ibid.
“keep aloof”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 68.
“Fifty fighter planes”: OSS cable, April 14, 1945, OSS Records.
“67 four-ton trucks”: “Artillery: Innsbruck Area,” April 14, 1945, OSS Records.
“one hundred duds”: OSS cable, April 15, 1945, Schwab Papers.
the names of many: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers; Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 66.
Bari was scrambling to arrange: Ibid.
“plus special stuff”: OSS cable, April 16, 1945, OSS Records.
to bribe a diabetic: Ibid.
He knew his mother: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 68.
They drove out: “Gadsen Team,” OSS cable, March 9, 1945, OSS Records.
two-and-a-half-ton German truck: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
about using flares: Ibid.
a special “Eureka”: Ibid.
to jettison all eight: Ibid.
“A great screw-up”: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 105.
scattered somewhere high: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“The whole area”: Ibid.
All hell has broken loose: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
cold and hungry: Ibid.
Weren’t the Brits: The British plane and the flares shooting from it remained a mystery. OSS theorized that the UK special forces were running a spy mission nearby that night, perhaps even parachuting their own agents down into Tyrol.
The idea: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
A stove was burning: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 69.
“What newspaper”: OSS cable, April 20, 1945, Persico Papers.
the late-night callers: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
What can they do: Ibid.
hard labor: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers; Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
threw the Gestapo papers: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 69.
grabbed his gun: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers. An OSS report, based partly on the statements of Nazi interrogator Walter Güttner, later said that the Nazis seized the money belt and the cash from Freddy wh
en he was arrested. Freddy said that was untrue and that “I’m upset that they took Güttner’s word.” He said he later retrieved the money belt from under the sofa and returned the gold coins to OSS.
he stood no chance: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“Oui,” he answered: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 69.
“You’re under arrest”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
11. THE WATER TREATMENT
“little rat”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
almost fatherly: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
Austrian resisters: Walter Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” June 7, 1945, OSS Records. (Mayer’s last name was misspelled.)
the interpreter translated: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
home long ago: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
“extreme, severe”: Ibid.
“mass of raw flesh”: Larson, In the Garden of Beasts, 4. The physician, Joseph Schachno, was beaten June 21, 1933, when Nazi officers suspected him of engaging in subversive activity.
Knives, sticks, whips: Nikolaus Wachsmann, KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016), 105, 429.
Down the hall: Interview report, “Busch, Friedrich, German National, Assistant Gestapo Chief of Innsbruck, SS Hauptsurmfuehrer,” 307th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment, Headquarters Seventh Army, APO 758, September 15, 1945, Internet Archive.
“Are you a spy?”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
one of the SS men: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
information they could extract: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
becoming woozy: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
the suicide pill: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“Ach Quatsch”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
They underestimated me: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
stripping off his clothes: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
he could take down: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“my arms were sore”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
The prisoner’s strength: Ibid. Güttner said in the interrogation that “since MAIER was very strong and evaded further beatings, handcuffs were put on him.” (Again, Mayer’s last name was misspelled.)
“wherever he could”: Testimony of Erna Schmid, Gestapo employee, in 1955 in court proceedings in Innsbruck against Güttner over the beating (Schwab Papers). Freddy himself said that he “was struck, with a bull whip, by his own count, at least 180 times.” Memo from Judge Advocate General’s office, “Investigation of Alleged War Crime,” September 10, 1945, OSS Records.
“We don’t do it that easy”: Mayer interview, Persico Papers.
gold threads: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
come to rely heavily: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records. Some alternate accounts have identified the prisoner who “squealed” on Freddy as “Leo,” a second black-market operator who helped him in Innsbruck. The debriefing report from OSS and Freddy’s own accounts, however, have said that it was Fritz Moser. Peter Pirker, the Vienna researcher and author, suggested that Fritz Moser and “Leo” could have been the same person.
“Tell them the truth”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
Fritz had talked: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers. “I got into trouble when someone squealed—Fritz Moser,” Freddy said.
never have been captured: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers. “If he hadn’t opened his stupid mouth, I don’t think we ever would have gotten captured,” Freddy said.
the urge to spit: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 70.
“I don’t even know”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
able to be whatever: Lichtblau, “Frederick Mayer, Jew Who Spied on Nazis After Fleeing Germany, Dies at 94.”
the Swabian accent: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records. “I noticed that he had a Schwaebisch dialect,” Güttner said. “I told him that I did not believe that he was an American, but that because of his dialect, I took him for a German.”
“I refuse to answer”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“the sticks”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records. In some accounts, Mayer said that the Gestapo thrust a long rifle beneath his legs and used that to hoist him toward the ceiling. In his beaten state, he may not have known whether it was a stick or a rifle.
dunked his head: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records; and Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
tried to force himself: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 70.
a gruesome six hours: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“Better stop”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
Hofer would need to know: Weibel-Altmeyer and Murat, “Unterneh-men Alpen Festung.”
wanted to find: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
“If you are captured”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 60.
“weren’t smart enough”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
didn’t need any warnings: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 70.
“A Mississippi steamboat”: Ulmer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“I know you bastards”: Persico, Piercing the Reich, 285.
to see a girlfriend: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
smoking American cigarettes: Ibid.
updates on his “mission”: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 132.
“already declared himself”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
talk to Max earlier: Ibid.
“big catch”: Ibid.
part of his sandwich: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 70.
a handkerchief: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
His whole face: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 70.
“Lieutenant Fred”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
“a happy and friendly face”: Ibid.
the grassy quarters: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
Freddy remained quiet: Güttner stated in his interrogation by OSS after the war that Freddy admitted working for OSS in Italy, but this claim, along with other admissions that Güttner claimed Freddy made, is contradicted by a wealth of other documents and accounts.
“We also have our agents”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
“another man”: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
the air-raid sirens: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
gone to the Nazis: Interview report, “Busch, Friedrich, German National, Assistant Gestapo Chief of Innsbruck, SS Hauptsurmfuehrer.”
a self-proclaimed “resister”: Ibid.
he badly injured: Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
“animal-like manner”: Pirker, Codename Brooklyn, 233. A plaque in memory of Robert Moser is now displayed outside the Innsbruck building that housed the Gestapo headquarters and jail during the war.
five thirty in the morning: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
thought confounded him: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers. “I was amazed at how they knew we had to go to Oberperfuss of all places.”
Güttner was cunning: It was never clear how the Gestapo traced Freddy to Oberperfuss. The OSS debriefing report said that a Kripo police officer arrested with Kuen “broke under pressure” and told the Gestapo that Hans, the radio man, was in Oberperfuss. But Freddy and others disputed that account, saying that none of the Kripo officers had that information.
a Sunday morning: Annie Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
hiding in the attic: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records. The report refers to the Kirchebners’ farm by their local name of Klaxner.
out by the stables: Author interv
iew with Dr. Josef Weber.
Güttner slapped him: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 136.
fled the night before: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
The two of them packed: Franz Weber interview, Schwab Papers; and author interview with Dr. Josef Weber.
“We have to do something”: Franz Weber interview, Schwab Papers.
church bells rang: Schreiber, 1938—Der Anschluss in den Bezirken Tirols, 84.
12. A WHITE FLAG
“This is Kreisleiter”: Schwab, OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland, 138.
found it astonishing: “Greenup Debriefing Report,” OSS Records.
“a fine boy”: Güttner, “Treatment of Fred Maier,” OSS Records.
husky build: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 71.
“100% pro-Hitler”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
“remembered by all”: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum photo archives, “Portrait of Gauleiter Franz Hofer,” 1939.
“first Jew-free region”: “Ainzeige Gegen Ex-Gauleiter Hofer,” Die Tat (Switzerland), February 11, 1961.
ordering the roundups: Criminal filing in war-crimes proceedings by Upper Prosecutor Düsseldorf, Germany, Against Hofer; August 10, 1965.
“the German victory”: Franz Hofer, “Bereit zu jedem Einsatz!” (“Ready for Any Assignment!”), Voralberger Tagblatt, December 30, 1944; reprinted in German Propaganda Archive at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
beautiful home: Mayer interview, Shoah Foundation.
“what do you think”: Ulmer, “The Gulliver Mission,” 71.
“It will be over”: Mayer audio interview, Persico Papers.
a four-course meal: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
had not been poisoned: Ibid.; and Mayer interview, Schwab Papers.
a carrot-and-stick strategy: “Absprung nach Tirol,” Das Fenster.
join forces with the Germans: Ibid.
What made anyone think: Ibid.
Eisenhower and his top generals: Minott, The Fortress That Never Was, 88.
“the Redoubt will hold”: Persico, Piercing the Reich, 289.
Operations in Berlin”: Minott, The Fortress That Never Was, 92.