145-594: Luxembourg The Netherlands Belgium France Britain 1941–1943 1944–1945 Germany Strategic campaigns Operation Jericho (Ramrod 564) took place on 18 February 1944 during the Second World War . Allied aircraft bombed Amiens Prison in German-occupied France at very low altitude to blow holes in the prison walls, kill German guards and use shock waves to spring open cell doors. The French Resistance
290-430: A 16mm Kodak camera in the shape of a matchbox, tasteless poison tablets ("K" and "L" pills), and cigarettes laced with tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (an extract of Indian hemp) to induce uncontrollable chattiness. The OSS also developed innovative communication equipment such as wiretap gadgets, electronic beacons for locating agents, and the "Joan-Eleanor" portable radio system that made it possible for operatives on
435-463: A breakout attempt. The Resistance estimated that around 700 inmates were in the prison but got the number of "politicals" wrong; such prisoners were usually accommodated in the German section of the prison, where about 100 men and women were being held. Normal prisoners were held in the criminal sections, in such overcrowded conditions that in some cells, eight prisoners at a time lay down to sleep and
580-427: A brief stop, her party crossed the border at 07:45. Meanwhile, Hereditary Grand Duke Jean and two of his sisters, accompanied by an aide-de-camp , Guillaume Konsbruck , were to wait at the border for confirmation of occupation. Around 08:00 the prime minister and his entourage passed over the border before making contact with French troops at Longlaville . Last minute telephone calls with Luxembourg City revealed
725-471: A captured Kϋbelwagon ; to report by radio. But the Kϋbelwagon was put out of action while in the glider; three tires and the long-range radio were shot up (German gunners were told to attack the gliders not the tow planes). The OSS espionage and sabotage operations produced a steady demand for highly specialized equipment. General Donovan invited experts, organized workshops, and funded labs that later formed
870-655: A central radio receiver in Captain Stein's official office near the volunteers' Saint-Esprit Barracks in the capital. On 4 January 1940, the Cabinet convened under Grand Duchess Charlotte and outlined steps to be taken in the event of a German invasion. Charlotte decided that if possible she and the government would flee abroad in the event of an attack to advocate for the country's sovereignty. During World War I , her elder sister and then-Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde had elected to stay during Germany's occupation of
1015-598: A crossroads manned by German units, and was forced to detour through the countryside to avoid capture. French Ambassador Jean Tripier followed the government party but was stopped by the Germans and forced to return to the capital. Belgian Ambassador Kervyn de Meerendré was also stopped by German soldiers at the border and ordered to turn back, as was the Luxembourgish Minister of Education, Nicolas Margue, who had attempted to escape by taxi. Bodson later fled
1160-602: A delicate situation. On one hand, the population's sympathies lay with the UK and France; on the other hand, due to the country's policy of neutrality since the Treaty of London in 1867, the government adopted a careful non-belligerent stance towards its neighbours. In accordance with the treaty's restrictions, the only military force Luxembourg maintained was its small Volunteer Corps under Captain Aloyse Jacoby , reinforced by
1305-557: A direct phone call to his superiors at Longwy. Also that day a German national working in Luxembourg as a gardener and a member of the German fifth column warned his Luxembourgish employer, Carlo Tuck, that an invasion was impending. Tuck passed the warning on to government officials. Late that evening, the Grand Ducal government came into possession of a document from a German divisional command. Dated 23 April 1940, it detailed
1450-423: A flight of Fairey Battle bombers from the 226 Squadron to attack German tank columns. They went unescorted and encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire. Most were damaged by flak but managed to escape. One received a direct hit and crashed near Bettendorf . German soldiers pulled the three injured crew from the burning wreckage, one of whom later died in a local hospital. The Grand Ducal Gendarmerie resisted
1595-559: A lot of information, its reliability was increasingly questioned by British intelligence. By May 1944, through collaboration between the OSS, British intelligence, Cairo, and Washington, the entire Dogwood-chain was found to be unreliable and dangerous. Planting phony information into the OSS was intended to misdirect the resources of the Allies. Schwarz's Dogwood-chain, which was the largest American intelligence gathering tool in occupied territory,
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#17327905167721740-445: A permit to deliver parcels to the prison, to draw sketches of the interior layout of the prison and to study the rhythms and routines of guards, to go with the blueprints stolen from the town archives. Another member of the resistance studied the outer walls while seemingly kissing his girlfriend but the resistance failed to discover the true thickness of the outer wall or that its stone blocks were not mortared. The information revealed by
1885-589: A personal assistant named Walter Arndt and established himself as an employee of the Istanbul Western Electrik Kompani. Through Schwarz and Arndt the OSS was able to infiltrate anti-fascist groups in Austria, Hungary, and Germany. Schwarz was able to convince Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Swiss diplomatic couriers to smuggle American intelligence information into these territories and establish contact with elements antagonistic to
2030-692: A picture of a master key , made a copy and arranged with a guard to try it out, covered in candle black for minor adjustments, then duplicated. As a precaution, the prisoner was also asked to break into the administration offices before escaping to destroy the prisoners' records. Operation Jericho ( Ramrod 564), was allocated to 140 Wing , RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force . Eighteen de Havilland Mosquito FB Mk VIs , six from No. 487 Squadron RNZAF (Wing Commander Irving "Black" Smith ), six of No. 464 Squadron RAAF (Wing Commander Bob Iredale ), both being Article XV squadrons . Six Mosquitos of 21 Squadron (Wing Commander Ivor G. E. "Daddy" Dale) were to follow up in case
2175-413: A profitable sideline as a Gestapo informer since 1941 and by 1943 had a network of informers which penetrated many of the resistance ( La Résistance ) networks in northern France. The Gestapo and Abwehr were able to expose many French, British and US espionage and sabotage networks in northern and north-west France. In late October 1943, the capture of the résistant Roland Farjon,
2320-782: A remote farm near the Moselle . At 11:45 on 9 May he radioed Longwy: "Reports of important German troop movements on the German-Luxembourg frontier." Throughout the night his messages became more and more frantic. Two Luxembourgish customs officials at Wormeldange heard horses and soldiers across the Moselle, but were unable to make out the Germans' activities due to heavy fog. At around midnight, Captain Stein, Minister of Justice Victor Bodson , and Police Commissioner Joseph Michel Weis held an emergency meeting. Bodson requested that
2465-474: A result, plans and production facilities for V-2 rockets , Tiger tanks and aircraft ( Messerschmitt Bf 109 , Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , etc.) were passed on to Allied general staffs in order to enable Allied bombers to get accurate air strikes. The Maier group informed very early about the mass murder of Jews through its contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz. The group was gradually dismantled by
2610-405: A road junction. Building B in the photographs appeared to be a small estate of semi-detached two-storey houses with gabled roofs, thought to be private dwellings; building C was marked as Hospice St Victor. The attackers would have to breach the prison walls and hit each end of the main building to blow open the gable ends . The shock of the explosions should spring open cell doors without destroying
2755-514: A rush at 10:55 and began their take-offs at 11:10 without long-range tanks. At RAF Manston, the weather was so bad that the ADGB station commander refused to allow take-offs. Several 198 Squadron Typhoons were sent instead but did not reach Amiens until all but the FPU Mosquito had left for home. The Mosquitos took off in turn, disappearing into mist and driving snow, Smith leading the way with
2900-513: A senior figure in Organisation civile et militaire (OCM), began a period of mass arrests of résistants from OCM, which claimed a membership of 100,000 men and women, including about 12,000 in A region (Amiens), Alliance , Sosies and other groups ready for an expected Allied invasion. Prisoners of the Gestapo winter offensive of 1943–1944, taken around Amiens were imprisoned at
3045-587: A variety of sites, primary among these was Station S in Northern Virginia near where Dulles International Airport now stands. Recent research from remaining records from the OSS Station S program describes how those characteristics (independent thought, effective intelligence, interpersonal skills) were found among OSS candidates One such agent was Ivy League polyglot and Jewish American baseball catcher Moe Berg , who played 15 seasons in
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#17327905167723190-558: The Allied invasion of France took place on 6 June. A plaque at the prison is dedicated to those who died in the attack and a general airfield memorial is at Hunsdon Airfield, the Mosquito base. On the 60th anniversary in 2004, a Spitfire performed a flypast, as none of the surviving Mosquitos were airworthy. German invasion of Luxembourg The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of Case Yellow ( German : Fall Gelb ),
3335-720: The Axis powers during World War II , including Mao Zedong 's Red Army in China (known as the Dixie Mission ) and the Viet Minh in French Indochina . OSS officer Archimedes Patti played a central role in OSS operations in French Indochina and met frequently with Ho Chi Minh in 1945. One of the greatest accomplishments of the OSS during World War II was its penetration of Nazi Germany by OSS operatives. The OSS
3480-616: The Grand Ducal Gendarmerie under Captain Maurice Stein . Together they formed the Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires under Major-Commandant Émile Speller . At noon on 1 September Radio Luxembourg announced that in order for the country to remain unambiguously neutral it would cease broadcasting. Exceptions were a daily 20 minute-long message at midday and in the evening reserved for government announcements. For
3625-593: The Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) feared the Germans might uncover his identity and extract information from him; the damage to Allied plans would be incalculable. News also arrived that two American spies and a British agent were in Amiens prison, two of them apparently recent arrivals in France. A request for a rescue attempt was made by William J. Donovan , the head of OSS to Stewart Menzies ,
3770-625: The United States Armed Forces . Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion , and post-war planning. The OSS was dissolved a month after the end of the war. Intelligence tasks were shortly later resumed and carried over by its successors, the Department of State 's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the intermediary precursor to
3915-495: The "Spy School" and also sent for parachute, weapons, and commando training, and Morse code and encryption lessons at STS 102. After completion of their spy training, these agents were sent back on missions to the Balkans and Italy where their accents would not pose a problem for their assimilation. The names of all 13,000 OSS personnel and documents of their OSS service, previously a closely guarded secret, were released by
4060-454: The 832 prisoners at the gaol, 255 men escaped, including half of those due to be shot; many escapees were shot by guards as they ran from the prison and 182 were recaptured soon afterwards. Resistance prisoners who made good their escapes were later able to expose over sixty Gestapo agents and informers, severely affecting the German counter-intelligence effort. Ordinary prisoners, not recaptured or giving themselves up, were informally amnestied by
4205-511: The Allies advanced, a school was established in southern Italy. In the Far East, OSS training facilities were established in India, Ceylon, and then China. The London branch of the OSS, its first overseas facility, was at 70 Grosvenor Street, W1. In addition to training local agents, the overseas OSS schools also provided advanced training and field exercises for graduates of the training camps in
4350-574: The Axis and Allied powers had spy networks. The railroads connecting central Asia with Europe, as well as Turkey's close proximity to the Balkan states, placed it at a crossroads of intelligence gathering. The goal of the OSS Istanbul operation called Project Net-1 was to infiltrate and extenuate subversive action in the old Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires . The head of operations at OSS Istanbul
4495-471: The Channel coast. Two miles out from the coast the weather was beautifully clear and it was only a matter of minutes before we were over France. The weather over RAF Westhampnett was slightly better than at Manston and eight Typhoons of 174 Squadron took off, followed by eight from 245 Squadron. The rendezvous at Littlehampton failed in the severe weather but over the Channel, 174 Squadron met four Mosquitos of
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4640-748: The Far East and provided equipment for agents until American production was established. Writes Fink: William Casey , who headed up OSS's Europe-based human-intelligence operations, the Secret Intelligence Branch, and went on to become director of the CIA, wrote in his autobiography, The Secret War Against Hitler , that Ellis was not only writing blueprints but involved in on-the-ground, logistical programs: "Dick Ellis, [an] experienced British pro, helped establish training centres, mostly around Washington." United States Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle commented: "The really active head of
4785-624: The French 3rd Light Cavalry Division under General Petiet, supported by the 1st Spahi Brigade under Colonel Jouffault and the 2nd company of the 5th Armoured Battalion, crossed the southern border to conduct a probe of German forces; these units later retreated behind the Maginot Line . Five Spahis were killed. British Air Marshal Arthur Barratt , impatient with the reluctance of the French Air Force to conduct air strikes , ordered
4930-441: The French police and left alone. Pickard and Broadley were reported missing and everyone at RAF Hunsdon was told to keep quiet in case they had survived "but it was not long before we heard news that he [Pickard] was dead" (Flight Lieutenant Les Bulmer, 21 Squadron). It was not until September 1944 that it was announced formally that Pickard and Broadley had been killed in action . In March 1944, Ponchardier signalled, I thank you in
5075-701: The German authorities because of a double agent who worked for both the OSS and the Gestapo. This uncovered a transfer of money from the Americans to Vienna via Istanbul and Budapest, and most of the members were executed after a People's Court hearing. In 1943, the Office of Strategic Services set up operations in Istanbul. Turkey, as a neutral country during the Second World War, was a place where both
5220-491: The German border, 18 roadblocks on the German border, and five roadblocks on the French border. Since the Corps des Gendarmes et Volontaires had no pioneer unit, construction fell to the responsibility of civilian engineers, while technical advice was sought from the French, who took great interest in the line's establishment. A series of nine radio outposts were established along the German border, each manned by gendarmes, with
5365-458: The German guards' quarters on the short sides of the cruciform, drawn in a sketch received from the Resistance. The guards' mess was in the quarters at one end and the guard room in the other. The guards had lunch at noon and many of the prisoners had their midday meal at the same time in the central hall of the prison. Beyond the grounds and 80 yd (73 m) to the north was a trench near
5510-698: The German invasion of the Low Countries — Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands —and France during World War II . The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just one day. Facing only light resistance, German troops quickly occupied Luxembourg. The Luxembourgish government, and Grand Duchess Charlotte , managed to escape the country and a government-in-exile was created in London . On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland , initiating World War II . This put Luxembourg's Grand Ducal government in
5655-555: The German section were due to be shot by firing squad on the orders of the Amiens Tribunal. At noon for the week before the raid, the Resistance had about 100 confederates outside the prison and about 16 prisoners in the know, ready for an escape attempt; twelve look-outs were placed in houses near the prison and several fluent German speakers were dressed in SS uniforms with markings recognisable to Resistance personnel. Leading up to
5800-516: The German troops, but to little avail; the capital city was occupied before noon. The Gendarmerie chain of command in the south was thrown into disarray by the influx of refugees and the arrival of German and French troops. Most gendarmes escorted refugees over the border, while some abandoned their posts and fled to France. Total Luxembourgish casualties amounted to six gendarmes and one soldier wounded, while 22 soldiers (six officers and 16 non-commissioned officers ) and 54 gendarmes were captured. By
5945-467: The Luxembourgish government and Grand Ducal court of the invasion. Foreign Minister Joseph Bech , in the presence of Prime Minister Pierre Dupong , attempted to contact the German ambassador at the legation and at his private residence, but they were informed that he was present at neither. At 06:30 the majority of the government, including Dupong and Bech, evacuated the capital by motorcade to
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6090-597: The Mosquitos were lined up in their take-off order; few of the crews had flown before in such weather. Pickard, in "F-Freddie", was to bring up the rear of the second wave to assess the damage and to call on 21 Squadron if need be. If Pickard was unable to send the signal ("Red, Daddy, Red Daddy") the crew of "O-Orange", the FPU Mosquito, would broadcast it instead. Rendezvous with the Typhoons was at Littlehampton . The two Typhoon squadrons at RAF Westhampnett were briefed in
6235-708: The National Park Service to add the Headquarters complex to the National Register of Historic Places. At Camp X , near Whitby, Ontario , an "assassination and elimination" training program was operated by the British Special Operations Executive , assigning exceptional masters in the art of knife-wielding combat, such as William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes , to instruct trainees. Many members of
6380-527: The Nazis and their collaborators. Couriers and agents memorized information and produced analytical reports; when they were not able to memorize effectively they recorded information on microfilm and hid it in their shoes or hollowed pencils. Through this process information about the Nazi regime made its way to Macfarland and the OSS in Istanbul and eventually to Washington. While the OSS "Dogwood-chain" produced
6525-514: The OSS between the Army and the Navy. While explaining the purpose and mission of his department and introducing various gadgets and tools, he reportedly casually dropped into a waste basket a Hedy, a panic-inducing explosive device in the shape of a firecracker, which shortly produced a loud shrieking sound followed by a deafening boom. The presentation was interrupted and did not resume since everyone in
6670-579: The OSS during World War II . Julia Child , who later authored cookbooks, worked directly under Donovan. René Joyeuse M.D. , MS , FACS was a Swiss, French and American soldier, physician and researcher, who distinguished himself as an agent of Allied intelligence in German-occupied France during World War II. He received the US Army Distinguished Service Cross for his actions with the OSS, after
6815-514: The OSS employed almost 24,000 people. From 1943 to 1945, the OSS played a major role in training Kuomintang troops in China and Burma , and recruited Kachin and other indigenous irregular forces for sabotage as well as guides for Allied forces in Burma fighting the Japanese Army. Among other activities, the OSS helped arm, train, and supply resistance movements in areas occupied by
6960-521: The OSS, after the expansion out of and away from COI, eventually found itself headquartered at a complex near 23rd Street and E Street in Washington, D.C. This complex was unassuming, appearing to be a mix of normal government offices and apartment buildings to nearby residents and office workers. It is known as the "Navy Hill Complex," "Potomac Hill Complex," and the " E Street Complex ." The OSS Society and State Department have engaged in efforts with
7105-788: The Office of Strategic Services also were trained there. It was dubbed "the school of mayhem and murder" by George Hunter White who trained at the facility in the 1940's. Beginning in January 1941, Colonel Millard Preston Goodfellow , creator and Director of the Special Operations Branch (at this time still known as SA/G within the COI), negotiated with the National Park Service to obtain three tracts of land to be dedicated as training camps for both SA/G and SA/B. In March, he assigned Garland H. Williams to be
7250-515: The RAF for the raid. When the head of the SOE French section, Maurice Buckmaster , was confronted with the letter, signed by "C", he stated that he had never seen it and that he had not requested the raid and did not know who had. A 2011 BBC television documentary on Operation Jericho speculated the raid may have been intended to divert the attention of German military intelligence from Normandy, where
7395-407: The Resistance to arm escapers. Male and female clothing was collected and an interpreter purloined blank ID cards, passes and official stamps. The Resistance fabricated false identities for escapers; safe houses were prepared in Amiens and far beyond in towns like Arras and Abbeville. A French prison warder sympathetic to the Resistance agreed to sound out other warders and a criminal prisoner had drawn
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#17327905167727540-526: The Rockefeller Center". According to Thomas F. Troy, paraphrasing Stephenson, Ellis 'was the tradecraft expert, the organization man, the one who furnished Bill Donovan with charts and memoranda on running an intelligence organization". Donovan had responsibilities but no actual powers and the existing US agencies were skeptical if not hostile to the British. Until some months after Pearl Harbor,
7685-566: The Schuster Line's tank traps. Fire was exchanged, but the Germans did not encounter any significant resistance except for some bridges destroyed and some land mines since the majority of the Luxembourgish Volunteer Corps stayed in their barracks. The border was defended only by soldiers who had volunteered for guard duty and gendarmes . A handful of Germans secured the Moselle bridge at Wormeldange and captured
7830-529: The State Department, the MI-8 , run by Herbert Yardley , had been shut down in 1929 by Secretary of State Henry Stimson , deeming it an inappropriate function for the diplomatic arm, because "gentlemen don't read each other's mail." ) The FBI was responsible for domestic security and anti-espionage operations. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was concerned about American intelligence deficiencies. On
7975-597: The Training Director of these facilities. Commander N.G.A Woolley was loaned to COI by the British Navy and helped Donovan and Goodfellow to organize underwater training and craft landing. From these incipient beginnings, the Office of Strategic Services opened camps in the United States, and finally abroad. Prince William Forest Park (then known as Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area)
8120-549: The Typhoon escorts. When about 4 mi (6.4 km) north of Amiens, Flying Officer J. E. Renaud, at low altitude in his 174 Squadron Typhoon, heard a loud bang; the engine stopped and he crash-landed at Poulainville and was taken prisoner. Renaud thought that he had been hit by German anti-aircraft guns ( FlaK ) but Leutnant Waldemar Radener , the pilot of an Fw 190, had managed to get behind Renaud and shoot him down, his twelfth victory. Squadron Leader A. I. McRitchie,
8265-425: The US National Archives on August 14, 2008. Among the 24,000 names were those of Sterling Hayden , Milton Wolff , Carl C. Cable , Julia Child , Ralph Bunche , Arthur Goldberg , Saul K. Padover , Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. , Bruce Sundlun , William Colby , René Joyeuse , and John Ford . The 750,000 pages in the 35,000 personnel files include applications of people who were not recruited or hired, as well as
8410-498: The United States and for Americans who enlisted in the OSS in the war zones. The most famous of the latter was Virginia Hall in France. The OSS's Mediterranean training center in Cairo, Egypt, known to many as the Spy School , was a lavish palace belonging to King Farouk's brother-in-law, called Ras el Kanayas . It was modeled after the SOE's training facility STS 102 in Haifa, Palestine. Americans whose heritage stemmed from Italy , Yugoslavia , and Greece were trained at
8555-475: The afternoon; apart from a risk of icing, these suggested that the weather over France might have improved by the next day. On 18 February, the nineteen picked crews awoke to find RAF Hunsdon still covered with snow under low cloud and blizzards but it was impossible to wait any longer. A more favourable weather forecast led to a decision to risk the operation and the 18 Mosquito bombers and the PR Mosquito "O-Orange" were prepared. The aircrews were woken at 06:00 to
8700-486: The agents were to be used to seize key bridges over the Sauer , Moselle and Our rivers. Luxembourg authorities also took notice, and Captain Stein worked to stop the Germans' activities. On 3 March, the French Third Army was ordered to occupy Luxembourg in the event of a German attack. On the evening of 8 May, the Grand Ducal Government ordered for the first time that all doors of the Schuster Line be closed at 11:00 and remain so regardless of circumstance until 06:00
8845-706: The base at the Gjefsjøen mountain farm, the group conducted successful railroad sabotages, with the intention of preventing the withdrawal of German forces from northern Norway. Operasjon Rype was the only U.S. operation on German-occupied Norwegian soil during WW2. The group consisted mainly of Norwegian Americans recruited from the 99th Infantry Battalion . Operasjon Rype was led by William Colby . The OSS sent four teams of two under Captain Stephen Vinciguerra (codename Algonquin , teams Alsace, Poissy, S&S and Student), with Operation Varsity in March 1945 to infiltrate and report from behind enemy lines, but none succeeded. Team S&S had two agents in Wehrmacht uniforms and
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#17327905167728990-498: The blueprint. Said Ellis: I was soon requested to draft a blueprint for an American intelligence agency, the equivalent of BSC [British Security Co-ordination] and based on these British wartime improvisations... detailed tables of organisation were disclosed to Washington... among these were the organisational tables that led to the birth of General William Donovan's OSS. After submitting his (and Ellis's) work, "Memorandum of Establishment of Service of Strategic Information", Donovan
9135-403: The border town of Esch . Bodson stayed behind at the Saint-Esprit Barracks to monitor the situation. In Esch a group of 125 German special operations troops had landed by Fieseler Storch , with orders to hold the area until the main invasion force arrived. A gendarme confronted the soldiers and asked that they leave, but he was taken prisoner. The government motorcade encountered a roadblock at
9280-451: The building and massacring the prisoners. A rescue attempt of some nature was considered essential to reassure the resistance prisoners that they had not been abandoned, to reinforce the survivors of the recent round-ups with escapees and to recruit ordinary criminal prisoners. The mother of two resistance prisoners got herself arrested and was able to pass on instructions for prisoners to lie down if aircraft appeared overhead and be ready for
9425-416: The bulk of OSS intelligence came from the UK. British Security Co-ordination (BSC), under the direction of Ellis, trained the first OSS agents in Canada, until training stations were set up in the US with guidance from BSC instructors, who also provided information on how the SOE was arranged and managed. The British immediately made available their short-wave broadcasting capabilities to Europe, Africa, and
9570-459: The camp was sealed. Security operatives were based in the camp and others mingled with the public in pubs and cafés, eavesdropped on telephone calls and censored the post. A navigator, somewhat unwisely, called his girlfriend and mentioned "special circumstances", which led to all the aircrew being berated by Pickard for complacency. Thick cloud and blizzards persisted on 17 February and forced a postponement; revised weather forecasts usually arrived in
9715-426: The capital and, having learned many of the secondary roads by memory, was able to avoid German roadblocks and navigate his way to France. Following consultation with her ministers, Grand Duchess Charlotte decided to abandon the palace. Accompanied by her husband, Prince Felix , her mother, Dowager Grand Duchess Marie Anne , and members of the Grand-Ducal suite, she departed for the border village of Redange . After
9860-448: The capital be reinforced by gendarmes from the south, and told Weis to forward this information to the capital's district commissioner to give the necessary orders. Weis later tried to contact the district commissioner by phone, but failed to reach him; reinforcements never came. A short time later the gendarmes at Diekirch were ordered to patrol the local railway bridge and be wary of unfamiliar persons. Luxembourgish authorities received
10005-460: The capital to be completely surrounded. Charlotte's party was able to link up with the government motorcade at Longwy. Meanwhile, Jean's party's car was strafed by a German aircraft while stopped at a cafe. Near Esch, the group was delayed by a German roadblock, and they escaped when their chauffeur drove straight through the soldiers. The party ultimately joined Charlotte and the Grand Ducal government at Sainte-Menehould . At 08:00, elements of
10150-668: The core of the Research & Development Branch. Boston chemist Stanley P. Lovell became its first head, and Donovan humorously called him his " Professor Moriarty ". Throughout the war years, the OSS Research & Development successfully adapted Allied weapons and espionage equipment, and produced its own line of novel spy tools and gadgets, including silenced pistols, lightweight sub-machine guns, " Beano " grenades that exploded upon impact, explosives disguised as lumps of coal ("Black Joe") or bags of Chinese flour ("Aunt Jemima"), acetone time delay fuses for limpet mines , compasses hidden in uniform buttons, playing cards that concealed maps,
10295-496: The country , bringing the monarchy into disrepute; Charlotte wanted to avoid such problems. The government moved some of the country's gold reserves to Belgium, and began stockpiling funds in its Brussels and Paris legations in the event it was forced to flee due to German attack. The Paris legation was also given a sealed envelope detailing a formal request of military assistance from the French government in case communications were cut-off in an invasion. After several false alarms in
10440-525: The country. Since an invasion had not yet occurred they still enjoyed diplomatic privilege and the police were forced to release them. One group of fifth columnists was arrested while attempting to reach the legation. Meanwhile, Captain Archen had received his subordinate's report, but by that point, he had been told by informants in the Gendarmerie that shots had been exchanged with German operatives at
10585-522: The division's chief of staff's orders to various units to occupy strategic points within Luxembourg. The Grand Ducal government put all border posts and Grand Ducal Gendarmerie stations on full alert. In Luxembourg City , gendarmes mobilised to defend public buildings and dispatched vehicle patrols to arrest fifth columnists. The economic councillor and the chancellor of the German legation were detained for questioning regarding allegations that they had used legation cars to organise subversive activities within
10730-419: The documents on him and shot; the Gestapo reinforced the guards at Amiens prison with 80 troops and set up a permanently manned machine-gun post in the courtyard, which made a ground attack suicidal. Reconnaissance photographs of the prison showed that Building A, the main prison building, was cruciform and 425 ft (130 m) long along the north side, 410 ft (120 m) on the south side, parallel to
10875-539: The duration of World War II , the Office of Strategic Services was conducting multiple activities and missions, including collecting intelligence by spying, performing acts of sabotage , waging propaganda war, organizing and coordinating anti-Nazi resistance groups in Europe, and providing military training for anti-Japanese guerrilla movements in Asia, among other things. At the height of its influence during World War II,
11020-454: The eastern and northern walls of the prison. The 464 Squadron Mosquitos were too close behind and had to circle while the first bombs detonated in the outer walls. The eastern wall appeared un-breached at 12:06, when two aircraft from 464 Squadron attacked it from an altitude of 50 ft (15 m) with eight 500 lb (230 kg) bombs, but observers did not see any damage to the prison. Simultaneously, two Mosquitos from 464 Squadron bombed
11165-436: The eastern wall at 12:00 at low altitude, using the main road as a guide onto the target, the second three to make a north–south attack on the northern wall once the first bombs had exploded. The first section of 464 Squadron RAAF would attack the south–eastern end of the main building three minutes later and the second section would attack the north–western end. The two sections of 21 Squadron, in reserve, were ordered to attack
11310-509: The espionage was recorded and the papers were cut in two. One set of halves was retained by a senior member of the Sosie group and the other set was given to "Serge" to deliver onwards. An armed raid was feasible, as had been attempted at St Quentin prison recently, although this had been bloodily repulsed and security increased in other prisons. "Serge" was arrested by the Milice with his half of
11455-450: The evening of 10 May 1940, most of the country, with the exception of the south, was occupied by German forces. More than 90,000 civilians fled from the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette as a consequence of the advance. 47,000 evacuated to France, 45,000 poured into the central and northern part of Luxembourg. On 11 May the Grand Ducal government reached Paris and installed itself in the Luxembourg legation. Fearing German aerial attack and finding
11600-538: The first reports of exchanged fire at around 02:00 on 10 May when two gendarmes were ambushed near the German border by plainclothes agents. The Germans retreated to the Fels mill near Grevenmacher and around 20 soldiers who volunteered were dispatched to arrest them. The government then ordered all steel doors along the border locked. At 02:15 soldiers stationed in Bous were attacked by Germans in civilian clothes. One soldier
11745-507: The following morning. Throughout the day Luxembourgish authorities witnessed much less activity on the far side of the border and made no reports of tank or machine gun movements. On the afternoon of 9 May, a French intelligence officer stationed in Clervaux witnessed German troops preparing pontoon bridges in the Sauer . He attempted in vain to contact Captain Archen, and resorted to making
11890-521: The forefathers of today's commandos was Navy Lieutenant Jack Taylor . He was sequestered by the OSS early in the war and had a long career behind enemy lines. Taro and Mitsu Yashima , both Japanese political dissidents who were imprisoned in Japan for protesting its militarist regime, worked for the OSS in psychological warfare against the Japanese Empire. Nisei linguists In late 1943,
12035-435: The formation for some time but eventually dropped back and restarted the faulty engine to catch up. The engine caught fire again and Hanafin had to jettison his bombs and turn back about 10 nmi (12 mi; 19 km) short of the prison. EG-Q was hit twice by FlaK wounding Hanafin in the neck and paralysing his right side; he was in such pain that the navigator gave him a morphine injection . Hanafin flew back through
12180-466: The ground to establish secure contact with a plane that was preparing to land or drop cargo. The OSS Research & Development also printed fake German and Japanese-issued identification cards, and various passes, ration cards, and counterfeit money. On August 28, 1943, Stanley Lovell was asked to make a presentation in front of a hostile Joint Chiefs of Staff , who were skeptical of OSS plans beyond collecting military intelligence and were ready to split
12325-599: The head of MI6, which was passed on to the War Cabinet . The Gaullist Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action (BCRA) in London was asked for all its information on Amiens prison and the escape and evasion specialists of MI9 and MISX, the US equivalent, began collecting information for a breakout attempt. At all costs, London and Washington wanted Raymond Vivant freed or killed in the attempt. Maurice Holville obtained
12470-627: The independent Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). On December 14, 2016, the organization was collectively honored with a Congressional Gold Medal . Prior to the formation of the OSS, the various departments of the executive branch, including the State , Treasury , Navy , and War Departments, conducted American intelligence activities on an ad hoc basis, with no overall direction, coordination, or control. The US Army and US Navy had separate code-breaking departments: Signal Intelligence Service and OP-20-G . (A previous code-breaking operation of
12615-543: The intelligence section in [William] Donovan's [OSS] group is [Ellis] ... in other words, [Stephenson's] assistant in the British intelligence [sic] is running Donovan's intelligence service." The Office of Strategic Services was established by a Presidential military order issued by President Roosevelt on June 13, 1942, to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations not assigned to other agencies. During
12760-425: The internal prisoner count on 18 February was 832, including 180 held in the German section. Three British, an American and a Belgian agent were held in solitary, with three Americans captured in civilian clothes, who had claimed to be shot-down aircrew and been imprisoned as suspected agents, rather than prisoners of war . On 19 February, 26 men and three women imprisoned with the criminals and several inmates from
12905-402: The invasion, but his reports never reached the 3rd Army at Metz . General Charles Condé, the army's commander, was unclear about the situation and at 05:30 dispatched aerial reconnaissance units to investigate. At 06:00 the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division was ordered to intervene. Telephone and radio messages from the border posts to the Gendarmerie and Volunteer Corps headquarters informed
13050-466: The last post to fall, in Wasserbillig , transmitted until the Germans breached the operating room. The steel doors of the Schuster Line were ordered closed on 10 May 1940 at 03:15, following reports of movement of German troops on the east side of the border rivers Our , Sauer, and Moselle. At 03:30 Luxembourgish authorities released interned French pilots and German deserters. The Royal Family
13195-525: The local prison where, in December 1943, twelve résistants were shot. On 14 February 1944, Raymond Vivant, the sous-préfet of Abbeville and the last OCM leader to remain at liberty was arrested. Earlier in the war, Vivant had established an information-gathering system in which people gleaned information on the defences of the Channel coast and passed it to village mayors, who delivered it to Vivant for onward transmission to London by wireless. With
13340-454: The loss of so many resistance leaders, Vivant had come to know far too much about the invasion and how the resistance was expected to support it, which included a plan to reorganise the resistance and to expand it tenfold. The loss of Vivant brought OCM and other networks to the brink of collapse. News that Raymond Vivant had been captured was smuggled out of Amiens prison and transmitted to England. The US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and
13485-470: The main building from 100 feet (30 m), also with eight 500 lb (230 kg) bombs. A hit on the guardhouse killed or disabled the occupants and a number of prisoners were killed or wounded, while many were able to escape. Pickard, circling at 500 ft (150 m), saw prisoners escape and signaled the 21 Squadron Mosquitos to return to base. As the Mosquitos turned for home, Fw 190s of 7./ Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) attacked them and were engaged by
13630-441: The main road, 325 ft (99 m) on the east side and 315 ft (96 m) long on the west side. The building was 49 ft (15 m) high at the eaves and the ridge of the roof was 62 ft (19 m) up; no machine-gun posts could be seen near the prison. The grounds of the prison were enclosed by a wall 11 ft (3.4 m) high with fenced courtyards to segregate prisoners while exercising. Intelligence reports put
13775-410: The major leagues. As a Secret Intelligence agent, he was dispatched to seek information on German physicist Werner Heisenberg and his knowledge on the atomic bomb . One of the most highly decorated and flamboyant OSS soldiers was US Marine Colonel Peter Ortiz . Enlisting early in the war, as a French Foreign Legionnaire , he went on to join the OSS and to be the most highly decorated US Marine in
13920-401: The midday deadline, ten gazogene lorries and several cars happened to be in the area, some parked and others passing through; bicycles and velocycles were stashed in houses and shops. The Resistance had several teams hidden nearby armed with Sten submachine-guns, pistols and hand grenades, ready to rush through the prison walls as inmates ran out. Arms and ammunition had been parachuted to
14065-440: The name of our comrades for the bombardment of the gaol. We were not able to save all. Thanks to the admirable precision of the attack the first bomb blew in nearly all the doors and 150 prisoners escaped with the help of the civilian population. Of these, twelve were to have been shot on 19 February. In addition, 37 prisoners were killed; some of them by German machine-guns. Fifty Germans were also killed. The circumstances involving
14210-648: The operations in Switzerland run by Allen Dulles that provided extensive information on German strength, air defenses , submarine production, and the V-1 and V-2 weapons. It revealed some of the secret German efforts in chemical and biological warfare . Switzerland's station also supported resistance fighters in France , Austria and Italy , and helped with the surrender of German forces in Italy in 1945. For
14355-652: The papers before returning them the following January, but there is no record of Arlington Hall receiving them, and CIA and NSA archives have no surviving copies. This codebook was in fact used as part of the Venona decryption effort, which helped uncover large-scale Soviet espionage in North America. RYPE was the codename of the airborne unit who was dropped in the Norwegian mountains of Snåsa on March 24, 1945 to carry out sabotage actions behind enemy lines. From
14500-464: The pilot of Mosquito SB-T, was hit by FlaK near Albert and crash-landed; McRitchie was injured in the crash and found that the navigator, Flight Lieutenant R. W. Sampson, was dead. Close to Amiens, Mosquito EG-T of 487 Squadron was hit by FlaK wounding the pilot, Flying Officer M. N. Sparks, and damaging the port engine; Sparks feathered the propeller and managed to reach England, landing on one engine at RAF Ford . Pickard lingered too long over
14645-403: The portfolios for Interior, Transportation, and Public Works; Joseph Carmes managed Finance, Labour, and Public Health; Louis Simmer oversaw Education, and Mathias Pütz directed Agriculture, Viticulture, Commerce, and Industry. In the days after the invasion Luxembourgish officers walked about the capital freely, though the regular soldiers were mostly confined to their barracks. Colonel Speller
14790-478: The prison as it would look at a distance of 4 mi (6.4 km) at a height of 1,500 ft (460 m); attacking at such low altitude needed careful timing to avoid collisions. Bomb load for the Mosquitos was two 500 lb (230 kg) Semi-armour piercing (SAP) bombs for the outer walls and two 500 lb (230 kg) Medium Capacity (MC) for the inner walls, all fuzed for 11 seconds' delay. The first section of three aircraft from 487 Squadron were to attack
14935-541: The prison before turning for England, the two 174 Squadron Typhoon escorts kept watch. On the return journey, Flying Officer "Junior" Markby, in Typhoon XP-A, on the starboard side of the Mosquito, came in for a close-up. Markby said afterwards that he was relieved that the Mosquito was better equipped to navigate through the bad weather as the two Typhoons were running low on fuel. On 21 February, four Typhoons of 247 Squadron covered two PR Mosquitos sent to photograph
15080-461: The prison ten minutes later, one from the east and one from the north, if the attack had failed to bomb the prison and kill the occupants; if not needed, Pickard would transmit "Red, Daddy, Red" for the 21 Squadron Mosquitos to bring their bombs home. The weather worsened after 10 February, with low cloud and snow across Europe; Hunsdon was covered by deep snow, under thick cloud and blizzards. On 16 February stringent security precautions were imposed and
15225-422: The prison. The aircraft were met by intense FlaK as they crossed the coast, the worst yet encountered by 247 Squadron. Flight Lieutenant C. E. Brayshaw, the commander of A flight was hit and turned back with a damaged engine but parts of the empennage (tail) detached and the Typhoon dived from 700 ft (210 m) into the sea off Cabourg , killing him; two Typhoons were damaged and one pilot wounded. Of
15370-592: The program and build up the dive element for the organization. His responsibilities included training and developing methods of combining self-contained diving and swimmer delivery including the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit for the OSS "Operational Swimmer Group". Growing involvement of the OSS with coastal infiltration and water-based sabotage eventually led to creation of the OSS Maritime Unit . The bulk of
15515-510: The raid failed and bomb the prison, killing the prisoners. A photographic reconnaissance (PR) Mosquito was laid on for the Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (FPU), to film the raid. The raid was provisionally set for 17 February; the Mosquitos were to arrive over the prison at noon sharp, to catch the guards at lunch for the second wave to bomb them. The plan was divulged to the Resistance for them to tip off
15660-588: The region. The Germans wanted to keep preparations for the Allied invasion and the V-1 flying bomb reprisal offensive as secret as possible. Oberst Hermann Giskes was head of Abwehr (German military intelligence) in the Low Countries, Belgium and Northern France and controller of the Englandspiel (1942–1944) counter-intelligence operation. Lucien Pieri , a shopkeeper in Amiens, had run
15805-623: The request and the true purpose of the mission are still secret. While it has been purported that the request came from the French Resistance , which had members in the prison scheduled to be executed, a post-war investigation by the RAF revealed that Resistance leaders were not aware of the raid until the RAF requested a description of the prison. The bombing enabled 258 prisoners to escape; several German guards were killed along with 102 prisoners, and many escapees were later recaptured. A (Most Secret) letter of March 1944 for Menzies, thanked
15950-453: The resolution of the war. On 14 September the volunteer corps was bolstered by the addition of a 125-strong auxiliary unit. German military manoeuvres and river traffic made the population increasingly nervous, so in the spring of 1940 fortifications were erected along the borders with Germany and France. The so-called Schuster Line , named after its chief constructor, consisted of 41 sets of concrete blocks and iron gates; 18 bridgeblocks on
16095-448: The rest of the month, the government supplied full transcripts of its broadcasts to the foreign legations in the country. Later that day several German stations posed as Radio Luxembourg by broadcasting in the Luxembourgish wavelength, making, in the opinion of United States Chargé d'Affaires George Platt Waller , "grossly unneutral announcements". On the evening of 21 September, the Grand Ducal government suspended all broadcasts pending
16240-470: The rest stood until it was their turn. The Germans put some of the "politicals" in with the normal criminals because of the lack of room and some criminals were really "politicals" arrested for criminal offences who had remained incognito. The Gestapo and the Milice habitually detained people in the prison for weeks before informing the French judicial authorities, which also created misleading statistics;
16385-508: The room fled. In reality, the Hedy, jokingly named after Hollywood movie star Hedy Lamarr for her ability to distract men, later saved the lives of some trapped OSS operatives. Not all projects worked. Some ideas were odd, such as a failed attempt to use insects to spread anthrax in Spain. Stanley Lovell was later quoted saying, "It was my policy to consider any method whatever that might aid
16530-487: The second wave, which were joined by another four half way across the Channel. The Typhoons of 245 Squadron found another three Mosquitos, the last of the third wave, two Mosquitoes each from 464 and 21 squadrons having flown into snow clouds and returned to base. Flight Lieutenant Hanafin in EG-Q suffered an engine fire on the way to the target and feathered the propeller which put the fire out. Hanafin managed to keep up with
16675-522: The service records of those who served. OSS soldiers were primarily inducted from the United States Armed Forces . Other members included foreign nationals including displaced individuals from the former czarist Russia, an example being Prince Serge Obolensky . Donovan sought independent thinkers, and in order to bring together those many intelligent, quick-witted individuals who could think out-of-the box, he chose them from all walks of life, backgrounds, without distinction to culture or religion. Donovan
16820-461: The six 487 Squadron Mosquitos. The 18 aircraft took off quickly, one after another, at about 11 in the morning - we were going to hit the gaol when the guards were at lunch. By the time I got to 100 feet I could not see a thing except that grey soupy mist and snow and rain beating against the Perspex window. There was no hope of either getting into formation or staying in it and I headed straight for
16965-592: The small facilities unsuitable, the government moved further south, first to Fontainebleau , and then Poitiers . It later moved to Portugal and the United Kingdom, before finally settling in Canada for the duration of the war. In exile, Charlotte became an important symbol of national unity. Her eldest son and heir, Jean, volunteered for the British Army in 1942. The only official representative left behind
17110-530: The snowstorm and managed to land EG-Q at an airfield in Sussex . The remaining Mosquitos flew on and saw Fw 190s taxiing at Glisy airfield, not far from Amiens. Those Typhoons that found Mosquitos continued to the target and flew in a defensive circle beneath the clouds at about 1,000 ft (300 m). Fw 190s hid in the cloud, dived on the attackers and zoomed back into the cloud. I shall never forget that road – long and straight, and covered with snow. It
17255-544: The sound of Merlin engines being tested; briefing was at 08:00 and each man was subjected to an identity check as he entered the briefing room. A large box on a table contained a model of the target. Pickard, Embry and the wing navigation officer, Edward (Ted) Sismore entered the room. Pickard spoke first, explaining the unusual nature of Ramrod 564. We heard the details of this mission with considerable emotion....After four years of war just doing everything possible to destroy life, here we were going to use our skill to save it. It
17400-668: The spring of 1940, the probability of a military conflict between Germany and France grew. Germany stopped the export of coke for the Luxembourgish steel industry . Abwehr agents under Oskar Reile infiltrated the country, posing as tourists. This was observed by Captain Fernand Archen, an undercover senior French intelligence officer in Luxembourg City , posing as a wine merchant. He reported his findings to his superiors at Longwy on 7 May, understanding that
17545-699: The suggestion of William Stephenson , the senior British intelligence officer in the western hemisphere, Roosevelt requested that William J. Donovan draft a plan for an intelligence service based on the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and Special Operations Executive (SOE). Donovan envisioned a single agency responsible for foreign intelligence and special operations involving commandos , disinformation , partisan and guerrilla activities. Donovan worked closely with Australian-born British intelligence officer Charles Howard 'Dick' Ellis , who has been credited with writing
17690-479: The target and as he turned for home his Mosquito was attacked by the Fw 190 of Feldwebel Wilhelm Mayer , who shot the tail off the Mosquito; Pickard and his navigator, Flight Lieutenant John Broadley were killed in the crash at St Gratien , 8 mi (13 km) north of Amiens. About ten minutes later, Mayer damaged a 487 Squadron Mosquito, claiming a probable . As the FPU Mosquito made three photographic runs over
17835-566: The two customs officers there, who had demanded that they halt but refrained from opening fire. The partly demolished bridge over the Sauer at Echternach was quickly repaired by engineers of the Großdeutschland regiment , allowing the passage of the 10th Panzer Division. Planes flew overhead, heading for Belgium and France, though some stopped and landed troops within the country. Captain Archen repeatedly alerted his superiors at Longwy of
17980-574: The underground in the prison and to arrange for accomplices to be waiting outside. Air Vice-Marshal Basil Embry , the officer commanding 2 Group , intended to lead the raid but was overruled and forced to stand down because he was involved in the planning of the Invasion of Normandy . Group Captain Charles Pickard , the CO of No. 140 Wing assumed command of the mission. Each Mosquito squadron
18125-581: The war he became a Physician, Researcher and was a co-founder of The American Trauma Society. "Jumping Joe" Savoldi (code name Sampson) was recruited by the OSS in 1942 because of his hand-to-hand combat and language skills as well as his deep knowledge of the Italian geography and Benito Mussolini's compound. He was assigned to the Special Operations Branch and took part in missions in North Africa, Italy, and France during 1943–1945. One of
18270-610: The war, however unorthodox or untried". In 1939, a young physician named Christian J. Lambertsen developed an oxygen rebreather set (the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit ) and demonstrated it to the OSS—after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy—in a pool at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C., in 1942. The OSS not only bought into the concept, they hired Lambertsen to lead
18415-510: The war, the OSS supplied policymakers with facts and estimates, but the OSS never had jurisdiction over all foreign intelligence activities. The FBI was left responsible for intelligence work in Latin America, and the Army and Navy continued to develop and rely on their own sources of intelligence. OSS proved especially useful in providing a worldwide overview of the German war effort, its strengths and weaknesses. In direct operations it
18560-492: Was Albert Wehrer [ de ] , head of the Ministry of State Affairs, as well as the 41 deputies. By the end of May Wehrer and several high ranking functionaries established a provisional "Administrative Commission" to govern Luxembourg in lieu of the Grand Ducal family and the other ministers. Wehrer retained the Ministry of State Affairs and assumed responsibility for Foreign Relations and Justice; Jean Metzdorf held
18705-628: Was a banker from Chicago named Lanning "Packy" Macfarland, who maintained a cover story as a banker for the American lend-lease program . Macfarland hired Alfred Schwarz, an Austrian businessman (* 25. April 1904 in Prostějov , Austria-Hungary ; † 13. August 1988 in Lucerne , Switzerland ) who came to be known as "Dogwood" and ended up establishing the Dogwood information chain. Dogwood in turn hired
18850-408: Was a grand feeling and every pilot left the briefing room prepared to fly into the walls rather than fail to breach them. There was nothing particularly unusual in it as an operational sortie but because of this life-saving aspect it was to be one of the great moments in our lives. The crews took their time to study the route and the model of the prison; by mid-morning the preparations were complete and
18995-564: Was appointed "Coordinator of Information" on July 11, 1941, heading the new organization known as the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI). Ellis, described as Donovan's "right-hand man", "effectively ran the organization". Writes Fink: Ellis was sent from New York by William Stephenson "to Washington to open a sub-station to facilitate daily liaison with Donovan, who reciprocated by sending [future Director of Central Intelligence, DCI] Allen Welsh Dulles to liaise with BSC in
19140-406: Was badly injured, as was one German who was detained. Shortly thereafter a gendarmerie lieutenant and his chauffeur were ambushed and exchanged fire with German-speaking cyclists; no one was hurt. Fifth columnists successfully severed the telephone wires between the capital and the border posts, forcing the gendarmes to communicate via shortwave radio. German agents gradually seized the radio stations;
19285-515: Was briefly incarcerated by the Gestapo , though he was later released under close supervision. Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services ( OSS ) was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II . The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of
19430-597: Was evacuated from its residence in Colmar-Berg to the Grand Ducal palace in Luxembourg City. Around 30 minutes later, at dawn, German planes were spotted flying over Luxembourg City towards Belgium. The German invasion began at 04:35 when the 1st , 2nd , and 10th Panzer Divisions crossed the border at Wallendorf-Pont , Vianden , and Echternach respectively. Wooden ramps were used to cross over
19575-412: Was lined with tall poplars, and we were flying so low that I had to keep my aircraft tilted at an angle to avoid hitting the tops of the trees with my wing .... The poplars suddenly petered out, and there, a mile ahead, was the goal. It looked just like the model, and within a few seconds we were almost on top of it .... At 12:01 the Mosquitos reached the target, three of the 487 Squadron aircraft aiming at
19720-683: Was lost at sea. The raid is notable for the precision and daring of the attack, which was filmed by a camera on one of the Mosquitos. There is debate as to who requested the attack and whether it was necessary. During 1943 Allied and German interest in the Pas de Calais increased; the Allies wanted information about the Atlantic Wall defences against an invasion, to keep as much of the Westheer as possible away from Normandy and operations Bodyline and Crossbow against V-weapons sites appearing in
19865-777: Was modeled after Great Britain's Special Operations Executive , which included parachute, sabotage, self-defense, weapons, and leadership training to support guerrilla or partisan resistance. Considered most mysterious of all was the "cloak and dagger" Secret Intelligence, or SI branch. Secret Intelligence employed "country estates as schools for introducing recruits into the murky world of espionage. Thus, it established Training Areas E and RTU-11 ("the Farm") in spacious manor houses with surrounding horse farms." Morale Operations training included psychological warfare and propaganda. The Congressional Country Club (Area F) in Bethesda, Maryland ,
20010-482: Was quoted as saying, "I'd rather have a young lieutenant with enough guts to disobey a direct order than a colonel too regimented to think for himself." In a matter of a few short months, he formed an organization which equalled and then rivalled Great Britain's Secret Intelligence Service and its Special Operations Executive . Donovan, inspired by Britain's SOE, assembled an outstanding group of clinical psychologists to carry out evaluations of potential OSS candidates at
20155-509: Was responsible for training German and Austrian individuals for missions inside Germany. Some of these agents included exiled communists and Socialist party members, labor activists, anti-Nazi prisoners-of-war, and German and Jewish refugees. The OSS also recruited and ran one of the war's most important spies, the German diplomat Fritz Kolbe . From 1943 the OSS was in contact with the Austrian resistance group around Kaplan Heinrich Maier . As
20300-466: Was shortly thereafter shut down. The OSS purchased Soviet code and cipher material (or Finnish information on them) from émigré Finnish army officers in late 1944. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, Jr. , protested that this violated an agreement President Roosevelt made with the Soviet Union not to interfere with Soviet cipher traffic from the United States. General Donovan might have copied
20445-495: Was successful in supporting Operation Torch in French North Africa in 1942, where it identified pro-Allied potential supporters and located landing sites. OSS operations in neutral countries, especially Stockholm , Sweden , provided in-depth information on German advanced technology. The Madrid station set up agent networks in France that supported the Allied invasion of southern France in 1944. Most famous were
20590-614: Was the primary OSS training facility. The Facilities of the Catalina Island Marine Institute at Toyon Bay on Santa Catalina Island , Calif. , are composed (in part) of a former OSS survival training camp. The National Park Service commissioned a study of OSS National Park training facilities by Professor John Chambers of Rutgers University. The main OSS training camps abroad were located initially in Great Britain, French Algeria, and Egypt; later as
20735-550: Was the site of an OSS training camp that operated from 1942 to 1945. Area "C", consisting of approximately 6,000 acres (24 km ), was used extensively for communications training, whereas Area "A" was used for training some of the OGs (Operational Groups). Catoctin Mountain Park , now the location of Camp David , was the site of OSS training Area "B" where the first Special Operations, or SO, were trained. Special Operations
20880-428: Was to have an escort of one Hawker Typhoon squadron, 174 Squadron and 245 Squadron from RAF Westhampnett and a squadron provided by Air Defence of Great Britain (the part of Fighter command not transferred to the 2nd Tactical Air Force) from RAF Manston . A plaster of paris model of the prison was built, based on photographs and other details sent from France, a common practice in RAF planning. The model showed
21025-440: Was waiting on the outside to rescue prisoners and spirit them away. Mosquito fighter-bombers breached the walls, prison buildings and destroyed the guards' barracks. Of the 832 prisoners, 102 were killed by the bombing, 74 were wounded and 258 escaped, including 79 Resistance members and political prisoners; two-thirds of the escapees were recaptured. Two Mosquitos and a Typhoon fighter escort were shot down and another Typhoon
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