THE SECRET HISTORY OF A SURRENDER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00058R000100010106-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 17, 1998
• Sequence Number: 106
• Publication Date: September 22, 1945
• Content Type: NSPR

"September 22, 19115
proved For Release:
058R000100010106-2
i- -a
tgning Liw document which, almost unnoticed by the world, delivered a million men to the fillies and spared iortTiern taffy albath
f t,lnnd. T man seated is a representative . f` Obergruppenfiihrer Karl Wolff, an incredible figure in the cloak-and-dagger drama
.The Secret History of a. Surrender
CP
HE precise details of how the war in Italy
guttered out at noonday on May second, last,
with the orderly surrender of what Mr.
hurchill exuberantly computed at "a million
ay. The fall of Northern Italy was overshadowed
egradation of the mortal remains of TI Duce iii a
anese square, and the crumbling of the utterly
After D day in Normandy the war in Italy had
otten front," Mark Clark's' men' termed' it with
me bitterness-- and no American back home de-
rves censure for being hazy about the signing of
he Northern Italy capitulation on April t.wenty-
th at Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander's
FHQ at Caserta. AFHQ was domiciled, in case
You've forgotten, in the summer palace of the
ancient kingsof Naples, a minor Versailles with some
of the finest gardens in Europe.
r-i
the mass surrender of the
German armies in Northern
Italy didn't just. happen. Be-
hind that event is an amazing
story with all the trimmings
of an oppenheim novel.
Present for the enemy, at. the signing, were Lt.
ol. Viktor von Schweinitz-a towheaded, wispy-
mustached Junker who happens to be descended
hrough an American grandmother from John Jay,
our first chief justice-and Maj. Max Wenner,
short., dark and definitely non-Nordic. You will
come across Schweinitz and Wenner again in this
narrative when certain of their superiors will vainly
attempt to dishonor their signatures at the eleventh
hour and tight on back into (lie Alps.
The Caserta ceremony, signalizing the first of the
historic Nazi surrenders of 1945, took only twenty
minutes. For so brief a function it accomplished
Sanitize I - Approved For Release
much, putting an end, for one thing, to American
casualties in that theater and sending home many,
a G. I. who otherwise would have been buried in
Italian soil. Forestalling fanatical Nazi hopes of a
last stand in an Alpine redoubt, the surrender like-
wise checkmated a plot for organizing remnants of
the defeated armies into a corps of Werewolves.
Contributing to the subsequent surrenders in Ger-
many-in Bavaria, Von Kesselring finally sued for
peace through Caserta-the April twenty-ninth
event definitely shortened the war in Europe. Cer-
tain authorities believe that, by breaking the spine
of German resistance, the surrender of Northern
Italy provided an early, clean-cut termination to a
war which might otherwise have dragged on for
days, or even a week or two, longer.
So much is known. What could not be made pub-
lic until now was the background of the capitula-
tion, which, by no means an impromptu act, had
been preceded by eight weeks of conversations
between American intelligence authorities and de-
featist. Germans; negotiations-although the Amer-
icans, bent on unconditional surrender, disliked the
word-that were conducted principally in neutral,
spy-infested Switzerland by Maj. Gen. William J.
Donovan's Office of Strategic Services. The O. S. S.
 The German-American Gero S. Gac-
vernitz, one of the shadow figures.
Some of the le?tdinIg actors in the international melodrama. The
NIcsterN -elan at our endi.as k.\!.Ihil-
hooted Nazi is Viclinghotl', the one at the extreme right is Nii111'. Ies. of the Otliee of Strategic sur%ii-c'.
throughout its career has indignantly denied that peace. The ports of Genoa and Trieste were, more-
its far-flung activities go forward in a cloak-and- over, preserved intact. for Allied use, expediting the
dagger atmosphere. In the case of the Italian sur- conquest of Austria-400 charges placed in Genoa
harbor being defused by the Nazis themselves.
render, General Donovan's men have preferred to
say that it was, while skillfully handled, the work of It is this story, the secret. history of Northern
earnest amateurs. Actually, however, the proceed- Italy's deliverance, which can now be told because
ings at times had all the trimmings of an E. Phillips the Office of Strategic Services believes that. the epic
dful of Americans can now
h
f
t
i
h
an
s o
a
men
s
Oppenheim novel, at other moments providing accompl
tongue-in-cheek melodramatics reminiscent of Al- be spread before the people through the Post. The
fred Hitchcock's movie thrillers. Little Wally, the records of the operation, known by the undescriptive
Czech operator of clandestine radio stations inside title of Sunrise Crossword, are replete with the nec-
the enemy lines, provided most of the Hitchcock essary subterfuges common to such fascinating
moments. archives, down to code names and agents' numbers.
Men risked their lives carrying the word across Therein, for example, Kesselring may appear as
the Swiss-Italian and Swiss-Austrian borders-some Emperor, one SS officer as Critic, another as Grad-
crossing "white," that is, in a routine way with uate. A nova de ruse is chosen, it should hastily be
papers, others stealing over "black," by remote explained, at complete random.
mountain passes. Among them were the Italian The first move in Sunrise the shortened title
Baron Luigi Parrilli, who, before the war, sold which the O. S. S. gave this endeavor-came, a bit
American motor cars in Europe; Schutzstaffel officers improbably, from a young SS first, lieutenant. named
surreptitiously selling out the Fuhrer, and an Amer- Guido Zimmer. His motives were equally improb-
Icar operative functioning as a Scarlet Pimpernel able. A good Catholic who, loving his wife, resented
in reverse. It was his job to rescue the most notori- Himmler's order enjoining illicit. procreativeness on
_,.~.. xv~u..w3-..: ?.~_ .1, ?t ...~,_ _i'.:.: _,. i..,...,,.,., 1;1.-01~~ vmirw Rq offirors_ Zimmer unucestlonably set
dhts assistance moeIran the partisans the ball rolling. This was back in January of this
d
n
e
ee
peace
needed his blood. year. The Nazis in Italy, although dreading Alex-
Looming at. all times over the conspirators was ander's promised spring offensive, still were riding
the black-hearted shadow of Heinrich Himmler- high, wide and handsome along the Po. The SS
evil genius of the surrender-engaged in coun- officers were doing themselves especially well. Hav-
terespionage, dealing in 'agents provocateurs and ing enriched themselves by extorting bribes from
holding the family of an SS general as
hostages for his loyalty. Through the
parleys came glimpses of a demoralized
Fuhrer, stewing in one air-raid shelter
or another, alternately planning im-
possible counteroffensives, threatening
the use of frightful last-resort weapons
and issuing secret orders calculated to
drive a wedge between Russia and the
western powers. At the other end of the
Axis, Mussolini supplied a kind of com-
edy relief; at one moment meditating
death in battle at the head of a black-
shirt brigade, at the next induced by
the curvesome Petacci sisters to ar-
range a refuge in Spain.
Apart from their military conse-
quences, the negotiations, frequently
discouraging and once abandoned by
the Allies for four days at their very
crisis, had wide political and economic
results. Through these negotiations,
Northern Italy was spared physical
destruction and a vengeful massacre
ordered by Hitler. The great cities,
power plants and factories of the rich
I- I ed for the
va
l
rich Jewish hostages and muscling into Italian in-
dustries with Nazi war orders, the elite guardsmen
occupied the villas of the nobility and the high
bourgeoisie and monopolized the best cafes in Milan,
Genoa and Coino.
Among the wealthiest and most exquisite of I he
SS plunderers was Gen. Karl Wolff, supreme com-
mander of the Wajf,n, or fighting, and police
chief of Nazi-held Italy. An explosive, hard, blond
Aryan, General Wolff had been a personal adjutant
to Himmler. Coming to Italy from a high post at
Fuhrer headquarters, he was rightly regarded as a
favorite of the Nazi upper crust, deriving great
prestige from that assumption. A former: idvertising
man in Berlin, Wolfl' fancied himself as an intel-
lectual, a mystic of the Rudolf Hess school and a
connoisseur of art. Subsequently Wolff' was to lay
unction to his soul because he claimed to have pre-
served the picture collect ions of the Uffizi and Pit ti
galleries as well as King Victor Emmanuel's coin
collection. Outwardly resolute, Wolff was in Janu-
ary privately reading the handwriting on the wall.
Soon, as we shall note, lie would be as deep in the
plot. to betray the Fuhrer and deliver Northern Italy
as was his solemn young aide, Zimmer himself.
In January, with Wolff spreading defeatist doubts
in the mind of his friend, Field Marshal Albert
Kesselring, the Oberl'onunandunt in Northern Italy,
Zimmer was hearing the Hitler score tied -cart h policy
discussed in inner SS circles. Already disgruntled, as
we have seen, Zimmer professed him-
self sickened at the prospect of seeing
all Northern Italy blown to bits as the
g
Wort r were sa
industria
stricken Italian economy because the Striping hard to avoid attention. the conspirators rattle seliaralely
1141sort lake in 'tscona and staked behind locked doors.
2,11 lei tl-,- P44 -f U-1111111-11 a i ize - Approved or a ease :
CIA-RDP70-00058R000100010106-2
Nazis fell back on the Alps. Resolving
to act, he turned to Baron Parrilli, who,
as all Milan knew, had acquaintances
in the Allied camp.
There are two stories about Parrilli.
Certain partisans hold it against him
that he had friendly relations with cer-
tain SS men. In his defense it is said
that he dealt. with the SS only for the
purpose of extricating Jews from the
Nazi clutches, having been instru-
mental in saving many. However that
may be, Parrilli made thirteen trips
across the bu-der as a courier, daring
Allied bombings on the roads, Hiniin-
ler, the neo-Fascist secret police and
the hostile partisans.
To Parrilli young Zimmer reported
that, high SS officers---for instance,
Standurtenfbhrer Eugen Dollmatin, a
hard case, and even the potent Karl
Wolff himself-were talking among
themselves about how one might get in
t.ouch with the Allies with a view to
ending a hopeless war, thus saving
one's neck and Northern Italy at the
 CPYRGHT
Sanitized - Approved For Release :
CIA-RDP70-0006aR00o6084b'PDfiL'2y'1'
same time Others Zimmer mentioned as disheart-
ened were even more exalted. Kesselring, for ex-
ample, and Dr. Rudolf Rahn, Hitler's ambassador
to Mussolini's sawdust. republic. Even Heinrich
Himmler's personal lackey in Northern Italy, a
G uppenl idirer named IIarster, was reliably reported
to be casting about for a way to leave the sinking
ship with adv:uitage to him.;elf. Although Kessel-
ring---who later was transferred to succeed Von
Rundstedt in the Westwas at this stage highly
sympallu t-ic with Wolff"s sentiments, lie became,
a; we shall see, a principal thorn in t lie side of Sun-
rise.
The Zimmer disclosures convinced Parrilli of two
things: first, that. behind its harsh facade, Nazi
morale in Northern Italy was cracking wide open;
and, secondly, that. the weakest sector was the out-
right Nazis. Parrilli, quickly discovering that he
had no direct access to Allied authorities, bethought
himself of his old schoolmaster in Switzerland. Dr.
Max Husmann, the master of a famous boys' school
on the Zugerberg, near Zurich, was, as Parrilli
knew, a dedicated busybody and a noble soul who
circulated everywhere in Switzerland. No un-
likelier actor ever took part. in a drama of inter-
national intrigue than the unworldly, intense Hus-
mann.
Through his friend Max Waibel, both a doctor of
philosophy and an intelligence major on the Swiss
army's general staff, Doctor Husmann was able to
complete the ring. Waibel took Ilusmann and his
information to the one man in Switzerland able 0
deal with it effectively, Allen W. Dulles, the chief
representative of the O. S, S. in Switzerland. As
such, Mr. Dulles---who is the grandson of one Sec-
retary of State, Gen. John W. Foster, the nephew of
another, Robert Lansing, and the brother and peace-
time law partner of John Foster Dulles-managed
Ow=
"Little Wally," Czech operator
of underground radio station
'Tile scene of the action. The battle-weary Nazis -anted to smrender an army and shorten the acar and save thousands of
de and, above all, they inistrusted .\doli' littler.
lives. But they n-istru d oiw aiio h /dpproyld the a,Rele8se1ii,nun
Gaevernitz, a German-born American who became
Dulles' chief coadjutor with Sunrise. A year younger
than Karl Wolf', Gaevernitz belonged to the same
disillusioned German generation, but where the SS
dignitary had taken the easy path of Nazi affiliation,
Gaevernitz had migrated to the United States. He
did so at the prompting of his liberal father, Dr.
Gerhart von Schulze-Gaevernitz. In New York,
young Gaevernitz had learned the banking busi-
ness. Pearl Harbor day found him in Germany. A
friend in the Foreign Office warned him that Hitler
planned an early declaration of war. Gaevernitz
reached Switzerland only six hours before Hitler
acted.
The attempt. to use the captured German generals
had come to nothing, although it. had the whole-
hearted support of Gen. Omar Bradley and the able
collaboration of his G-2, Maj. Gen. Edward L.
Sibert.
While the captured German generals agreed
with Gaevernitz that further resistance was useless,
their overtures to their comrades across the lines
broke against the Gestapo agents who surrounded
each Reichswehr field commander. Still shaken by
the purge following the July twentieth attempt on
Hitler's life, fearful of the reproaches of history, the
West-front commanders fell back on the personal
oaths they had sworn to Hitler. The O. S. S. had not
yet learned that Hitler's elite corps, the SS, had less
compunction about deserting him.
While Professor Husmann's seed fell at first on
barren soil, other reports reaching Dulles from
Northern Italy soon inclined him to listen more at-
tentively. A Reichswehr staff officer, in Zurich ex-
changing free marks for Swiss francs, indiscreetly
gossiped about the defeatism prevalent at head-
quarters. Dulles learned that the German consul at
Lugano, a son of the (Continued on. Page 107)
LUCERN
Meeting of Duties, Lemnitzer
and Airey with Wolff
LOCARNO
_ Dulles' O. S. S. associate confers
with Dollmann at first meeting
Lemnitzer and Airey smuggled into
Switzerland as U. S. Army sergeants
Dr. Husmann meets Wolff, Zimmer
and Doilmann on way to Zurich
CIA-RDP70-
varied and important activities for the United
States in the common meeting ground of every hostile
interest in Europe. With the war ended, it can be no
secret. that. his jurisdiction included the enemy
countries as well as those occupied, together with
the underground forces therein.
A man of resource, Mr. Dulles had slipped into
Switzerland in the fill of 19.12 a few hours after (he
Nazis had clo,;ed the French border upon taking
over unoccupied France. He crossed the frontier
with the friendly connivance of the French guards,
who outwitted the newly arrived Nazi agents out of
admiration for Mr. Dulles' eloquent. invocation of
the memories of Lafayette and Pershing. A judgmat-
ical man of genuine charm, Mr. Du1le-, conducted the
secret. affairs of the United States, including Sunrise,
with discretion, skill and perseverance. For Sunrise
alone he deserves a medal.
THE intelligence brought by Doctor Husmann
left Dulles fairly cold. At, the moment., Himmler,
inspired by Hitler, was waging a peace offensive,
primarily through Vienna, aimed at splitting the
anti-Axis front. Himmler had sent word that the
Nazis were willing to quit, to the Western Allies
alone, excluding the Soviet Union. This was natu-
rally unacceptable. Su.,pecting that the word from
Milan was another saliwat of i:i:nmler's offensive,
Dulles was also skeptical of inducing the surrender
of the German military on other grounds.
Although the Western Allies never attempted to
duplicate the Russian experiment with captured
German officers, the O. S. S. had interviewed a num-
ber of imprisoned general officers late in 1944 with a
view to using them as a lever on their colleagues still
in the field. To this job was assigned Gero von S.
At H. Q., Wolff, Kesselring and
other high Nazis talk of surrender
 THE SECRET HISTORY
OF A SURRENDER
Sanitized - Approved For Release :
CaYi 70-OO Ft? ff6lb- V 8T
though Dollmann, described as "a
vivid personality, temperamental and
egotistical," came with the prestige of
a liaison officer among Kesselring,
Wolff and Mussolini's generalissimo,
odolfo Graziani, Dulles did not re-
stantin von Neurath, had been sent by c ive him personally. Instead he sent
Kesselring to Von Rundstedt's head- associate to confer with him in a
quarters to talk about peace. It seemed ivate room in the Restaurant Bian-
his superiors at AFHQ, London and The associate confined himself to
Washington -that the situation in a acting, as a test of good faith, the
Northern Italy might be ripening to- livery to the Swiss frontier of two
ward capit ulat ion. i portant Italian partisan leaders held
mann's first soundings of Dulles and Iciief of the military resistance in
That delay was due to Swiss skepticism a officer who had been collaborating
Not until late in February did the d ngeon at Verona, Usmiani in Milan's
Swis authorities accept the thesis that n torious San Vittori prison. The door
der of Northern Italy, preserving the ann departed, promising to send back
moreover, did not want hordes of ref- Wolff arrived, with Dollmann and
ugees and t lie wash of a defeated army Z miner, on March eighth. Still in this
finally requiring a 10,000-franc bond ri ing with them to Zurich. Recur-
from the professor, which he supplied. r ntly, he asked Wolff if the most
Seeing Parrilli late in February, Dulles t gic chapter in Germany's history
agreed to receive a duly authenticated was to end without one German per-
Nazi emissary, stipulating, however, f ming a great and humane act. Once
that the terms must be unconditional Wolff, traveling in a sealed compart-
urrender to all t lie Allies. n nt, asked the schoolmaster to leave
The Nazi conspirators selected Stan- h n, but he did succeed in persuading
artenfuhrer Dollmann to make the ctor Husmann that he had a better
irst cast. By then Professor Husmann, si e to him and that he, with Kessel-
ommitted heart and soul to the cause ri g, had prevented the destruction of
f peace, thought it his duty to travel me, contrary to Hitler's orders. On
of negotiate terms, would spurn him Declining to receive Wolff until he
f be came from Himmler, and under h d assured himself of the condition
o circumstances would discuss accept- the two patriots, Dulles visited Parri
that interest in peacetime, going Ill
Which craft would you use
2. to transport. coal?
3. to ride the canals of Venice?
4. for logging?
5. to go sailing on the Mediter a
7. to go hunting with the Eski i
8. for fishing'?
9. for trading in the Indian Oc a
10. to transport. refuse?
From a Wanigan?
vatic occupations and the ships
it.. Match up seven or more of
em with the right craft in the op-
a. felluca
b. caique
c. junk
d. baggala
wring waters?
e. kayak
f. collier
g. smack
h. wanigan
i. scow
j. gondola
-ALAN A. BROWN.
!f-i !j-F,, `q-I :s.arosuV
CPYRGHT
in Zurich, where they were under ex-
amination. Neither had been tortured.
Dulles and Parri were warm friends.
At that moment-with the Italian re-
calling his fear when brought from his
cell that he was about to be shot-
neither could have foreseen that within
four months Parri, a member of the
non-monarchist, non-Marxist Action
party, would be prime minister of
Italy.
Dulles met the SS general in his
Zurich apartment. Also present were
the German-American Gaevernitz and
Schoolmaster Husmann. The Americans
knew that Wolff had a long record as a
dyed-in-the-wool Nazi, that be had
served with the notorious Von Epp at
Munich as well as with Himmler. Be-
fore the meeting, Wolff had submitted
numerous credentials, including a full-
page photograph of himself in a Ger-
man weekly publication and a list of
references headed by Rudolf Hess.
While Dulles listened impassively,
Wolff, a rapid-fire talker, explained
that both he and Kesselring knew the
war to be lost and wished to quit, with-
out reference to Hitler or Himmler, in
order to avoid further bloodshed and
the razing of Northern Italy. Profess-
ing himself a friend of England and
America, he expressed the hope that
something he might do might palliate
the aversion in which he knew Ger-
many to be held in those countries.
Unlike Dollmann, he did not speak of
his personal fate beyond saying that,
not being a war criminal, he had no
fears of Allied justice. Promising to
hand Northern Italy to Dulles on a
silver platter, he agreed in further
token of good faith, to deliver into
Switzerland several hundred interned
Jews, to stand personally responsible
for the welfare of 350 American and
British prisoners of war at Mantua,
and to free another important resist-
ance leader, Sogno Franci.
Accustomed to the blatant tirades
of the party comrades, Wolff confessed
himself enormously taken with Dulles'
these Americans are from what we
have been told," he exclaimed to Hus-
mann. To the Swiss he confided a curi-
ously mystical belief that he was being
spared for some great purpose. A year
ing the other passengers. Twice during
the Sunrise conversations, that faith
was confirmed. When he was returning
from the March-eighth interview with
Dulles, Allied fighter bombers raked
his motor car as it proceeded from
Milan to his headquarters at Fasano
on Lake Garda, wounding his chauffeur
and a staff officer. A machine-gun bul-
let punctured the tail of his blouse, and
on Parrilli's next trip Wolff sent the
scorched shred of the garment to
Dulles, asking that the Allied air forces
work over the Milan-Fasano road
lightly in future. Again, while he was
riding to an inspection with Mussolini,
the road was attacked, killing a lieu-
tenant and wounding the chauffeur of
Wolff's car, but leaving him skin-
whole.
So confident had been Wolff, so
closely did his assurances jibe with
other information, that Dulles felt jus-
tified in asking AFHQ for assistance in
buttoning up the surrender. Alexander
accordingly sent two senior officers:
Maj. Gen. Lyman L. Lein nit,zer, U. S. A.,
assistant chief of staff at Caserta, and
the British Maj. Gen. Terence S. Airey,
AFHQ intelligence chief. The story of
bow O. S. S. smuggled the generals
into Switzerland under the dog-tag
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anitized - Approved For Release :
 CPYRGHT
Sanitized - Approved For Release :
CIA-RDP70-00058ROOO1QQG1'Ot1O r2i:v-I:'1't. POST
NorE ro You /o,n
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is that you can use every dish so many ways.
baker for chicken pie, scalloped vegetables;
rover alone makes pie plate or shallow baker.
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JUST REMEMBER to look for the familiar orange
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identities of two U. S. Army sergeants, Being a resort, Ascona had su icient
Nicholson and McNeely, and how they visitors coming and going even at this
lived for weeks behind drawn blinds in season, so ttent. a dozen mare or less
Dulles' house at Bern-venturing out wvould not be likely to excite comment.
only to buy dog biscuit for the dachs- However, in order to avoid contact
hund Fritzel acquired by Airey-is with the villagers, the conferees sub-
already familiar to some Post readers. sisted for the most part on Army ra-
Before the generals reached Bern, tions brought in for the purpose. Dulles
the negotiations struck the first of sev- had two villas at his disposal, one for
oral infuriating snags attributable to the Germans, the second for the Ames-
Hitler or IIimmler. Upon reaching icans. In the second villa a clandestine
Fasano on March tenth, Wolll' learned radio transmitter was installed for com-
that, the day before, Hitler's personal munication with Caserta.
airplane had come for Kesselring, tak- Wolff reported --what our people cl-
ing him to Fihrer headquarters, the ready knew-that Kesselring, trans-
supposition being that the field mar- (erred to Rundstedt's command, had
steal was being relieved of the Italian never returned to Maly. Hence, he had
command. Blow No. 2 was delivered not been able to convey his desire for
by Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, chief of surrender to his successor, Col. Gen.
the Gestapo under Himmler, who, hav- Heinrich von Vietinghoff. In as much
ing got wind of Sunrise, ordered Wolff as Vietinghotl', a nonpolitical general.
to break off whatever contacts lie had greatly respected Kesu'lring, it was
with the Allies. Gru/pp>cnfdhrcr Har- Wolff's opinion that a recommendation
ster, as it transpired, had turned in- from Kesselring would be enormously
former. helpful in winning over the new Ober-
The news of Kesselring's transfer- - kommandant. This entailed a journey
verified when Baron Parrilli hurried to Kesselring's headquarters, which,
across the border from Wolff'-struck having to be made by motor because
Dulles between wind and water. What the Allies had command of the air,
had made the Italian situation hopeful would take live, possibly seven, days.
was the identity of interest between To this the Americans regretfully
Wolff', the SS chief, and the Wehrmacht agreed, it seeming an unavoidable de-
authorities. Receiving Parrilli after lay.
midnight in his Zurich apartment, 'I'o the generals, who were not iden-
Dulles bade him ask Wolff how he tilled to him, Wolff explained why he
would proceed with a new Oberkorn- Germans had held Northern Italy A.-
mandant not committed to surrender. stead of retiring to the natural bast_I,m
He strongly urged the S.S general to of the Alps. Back in Septentlwr wl.tr
returtn at once to Switzerland to discuss Hitler had ordered six crack divus.(I,.'
the technical details of the capitulation from Italy to the Western front, pre-
with Dulles' military advisers-his de- paratory to such a retirement, Kessel-
scription of Generals Lemnitzer and ring and Wolff had objected, pointing
Airey. to the value of Northern Italy as a
On March nineteenth Wolff was source of food and industrial supply.
back with Major Wenner and young Whereupon Hitler yielded, giving as
Zimmer, the Swiss secret service facili- his reason a fear that it withdrawal
tating their trip by motor from Chiasso. psychosis might spread through the
The talks were held at Ascona on Lake Reichsu'ehr, especially after the sweep-
Maggiore near Locarno, every precau- ing advance of the Allies in France.
tion being taken to keep them from This governed his decision to stay in
prying eyes. The Americans came on Norway also.
two trains, dividing up to avoid notice. (l:uneirloed (t?I Page 111)
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CIA-RDP70-00058R000100010106-2
"1 (lipped that one too high!'
 Sanitized - Approved For Release :
CPYRGHT CIA-RDP70-000~v~ WW6f66b1b4'd6 2POST 1II
Ilk' i genera s and Wolff did
agree on a surrender procedure. Wolff
Was to deliver two parli,,rnentarians,
armed wit Ii full pwers, to the U. S. S.
in Switzerland when the time came for
a flight to headquarters at Caserta,
where the deal finally would be but-
tolled up. hullos engaged to get them
across Switzerland to the French fron-
tier and back to their own litres.
When \ oltf reached Kesselri ng's
headquarters lie found the field mar-
shal only fifteen kilometers ahead of
the hard-driving Gen. George S. Pat-
ton's Third Army. Nevertheless, Kes-
seiring, according to Wolff, took time
out to authorize Wolff to recommend
surrender to Vietinghoff in his nn me.
He explained that lie could not himself
trove because lie mistrusted his asso-
ciates. "Our situation," lie told VN'oltl',
is desperate, hut nohody dares tell
the truth to the Fuhrer, who is sur-
rounded by advisers who still believe
in a last, specific secret weapon, which
t hey call t he I't-rzu'ei/ln ngsuvall'c."Trans-
fated, that Ineanns last-resort
wealx,n. Ile professed not to
know the weapon's exact na-
t ure.
Although encouraged, Wollf
was subjected to further de-
lay.
Himmler summoned him
to Berlin, upbraided hirn for
yielding the Italian partisans,
Parr, and Usinia ii, and asked
for a full report on his visits
to Switzerland. Wolff' dissem-
bled. Ordered to remain in
Berlin temporarily, lie fled
back to Italy when 11immler
was unexpectedly called to
Hungary. All this promptly
was reported to Dulles by the
German lieutenant, Zimmer,
who crossed the border twice
in four days.
Back in Italy, Wolff en-
countered two new obstacles.
Although the new theater
commander, Vietinghoff, and
his chief of staff, Roettiger,
were impressed by Kessel-
ring's endorsement of Sunrise,
Vi?ptinghotf declined to move
until the situation north of the
Alps was clearly seen to be
hopeless. He argued with souse
reason that he had no wish to
inspire another stab-in-the-
he would be of no further service "as a
corpse," even though he were a corpse
at a state funeral."
Previously he had promised to be in
Ascona on April second with authority
to surrender. He sent Parrilli instead,
insisting, however, that he was not yet
licked. Because of the twin setbacks,
Generals Lemnitzer and Airey returned
to headquarters at Caserta. Sternly
Dulles admonished Wolff, through Par-
rilli, that Allied successes were shorten-
ing the time for surrender. Warning
him that he and Vietinghoff would be
held personally responsible if Hitler's
scorched-earth policy was executed, he
reminded Wolff of his detailed promises
to safeguard hostages, prisoners and
partisans against the Fiihrer's murder-
ous intentions. Since Dulles never put
himself in the position of bargaining
with the Nazis, all his communications
to Wolff had been oral. This time
I'arrilli had to memorize long passages.
The power drive launched by Alex-
ander and Clark in the first week of
FINALE
back legend for the postwar consola-
tion of the'German people. Hitler was
at the moment assuring his people that
victory would turn on the battle of
Berlin. It seemed plain that Vieting-
huff, believing a majority of his officers
and men still under the Fiihrer's spell,
feared disorder if he acted prematurely
and in defiance of Hitler's reiterated
orders to hold Italy at all cost.
Viet ingltotT'sobstruct ionism was grave
enough, but graver troubles were piling
up for Wolfson the personal side. Back
in Berlin, Himmler telephoned, order-
ing Wolff not to leave his post again
under any circumstances. Employing
a characteristic instrument- of Nazi
terrorism, Hinunler broadly hinted
that Wolff's family were now being
held as hostages for his obedience.
Wolff had removed his wife, formerly a
Frail von Bernstorlf, who once lived in
New York, and tire children to a refuge
in his command near the Brenner Pass.
Hininder had returned them to Wolff's
estate at St. Wolfgang in I he Tyrol for,
as he put it, ".their safety." Wolff
could riot know what orders file Ge-
stapo had direct from I liminler,aml this
new turn gave him cause for fear. To
Dulles, via Baron 1'arrilli, he explained
April hampered, threatening to dis-
rupt, the line of communications be-
tween Dulles and Wolff. More than
ever the highways of Northern Italy
were unsafe to travel. To Dulles it
seemed the time had come to avail him-
self of Wolff's offer to shelter an Allied
radio station within the enemy lines.
Chosen for the unprecedented and haz-
ardous mission was a young Czech
known as Little Wally, who had been
trained as an operator by O. S. S. for a
job where a knowledge of German was
required. Wally had been studying
medicine at, the University of Prague
when called into the army before the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Going underground thereafter, he had
been caught, imprisoned at Dachau,
had escaped, becoming a parachute
saboteur with the British, been caught
again and had for the second time es-
caped, this time to Switzerland. In-
terned, he again got away and in
France volunteered for duty with the
U.S. S.
Lieutenant. Zimmer took Little Wally
with his transmitter, cipher books and
secret instructions which, however,
divulged nothing of the Sunrise opera-
Teary of it.. -ca-on, the golden butterfly re-t- on
gold leaf'
.%ud flc.c- utter, twice. thrice it, wing- and thee,
i- till.
Fur hull[ the-c frail and lusely thing- the hour i-
brief:
Both leaf and butterll. are mindful of
encroaching chill.
.tud %scary of it- own hours, the bronze sundial
`stand- pa--ive and unmoved beneath a
thinning ?ull;
. loco-t churr- once only in the bleaching
yellowed grass.
%nd in the after silence is a summer thus
undone.
And hire the heart, like butterfly and leaf,
Or heavy with its time, cries riot against the
fro-t,
Full knowing though it does that on this night
The sung, the hour and the leaf will all be lost.
*ho 4 orator in lais Gala
had been thought easier to conceal him
in Milan than at Wolff's headquarters.
Besides providing direct communica-
tions from Wolff to Caserta and Bern,
Wally engaged in extracurricular activ-
ity, pointing the Allied Air Forces to
likely targets. In one case, where the
target was Mussolini's current hide-out
quite near the Zimmer apartment,
Wally's directions were understand-
ably precise.
When a tip came from Little Wally
to touch up General Vietinghoff's
headquarters, which were separate
from Wolff's, the Americans marveled
at this peculiarly Germanic method of
applying pressure. Wolff had inspired
the tip.
By mid-April, with the British Eighth
and the American Fifth armies ad-
vancing steadily toward the Po, the
prospects for a useful surrender ap-
peared dim indeed. Meanwhile, two
agents protocateurs showed up to add
zest to the flagging Sunrise. One, a
German consul in Italy known to be a
Kaltenhrunner roan, sought an
intervieww,thDuflesinV oL'f's
name, ex_ b.ting too much
xnowiedge o the cfinspirac
for .-1 '.--sou iri-Bn sia
o?cer ..::ate .o gii_ audie ice
....__ `. .f-? ~G~~.. o :foam.. it
D'1F. a`..
after strongest reuresenta-
t or:r fro:-r. WW oltf, A:r. oass dor
Rahn and Roettiger. did Viet-
inghoff tear up the letter.
Arriving in Switzerland on
April sixteenth, Lieutenant
Zimmer brought a letter from
Wolff containing condolences
on the death of President
Roosevelt together with as-
surances that the army com-
manders underVietinghoff had
been enlisted for Sunrise and
that capitulation was immi-
nent, with or without the
Oberkommandant. Zimmer re-
ported Gauleiter Franz Hofer,
of the Tyrol, just back from
Hitler's headquarters with
word that the Fuhrer was
"crazily" planning vast new
counteroffensives.
Despite Wolff's optimism, his letter
contained a disquieting note, sharp-
ened the next day when Parrilli ap-
peared with fresh advices. Himmler
had ordered Wolff to Berlin. At first he
took evasive action, refusing to answer
the telephone, but Parrilli reported
that Wolff, after drawing up a new
will, finally had taken off for Berlin via
Prague. At the American end of Sun-
rise it seemed that little hope remained
of ending the Italian war rationally,
sparing the Allied forces and the Ital-
ian people the final draught of blood.
Knowing Himmler, Dulles supposed
that Wolff's persistent treachery to the
Fuhrer was about to meet its due re-
ward.
This was on April seventeenth. The
pay-oft came four days later in a dis-
patch from Washington, quickly con-
firmed by AFHQ, ordering Dulles to
terminate all surrender conversations
with the Germans forthwith. The or-
der, hearing the imprint of the High
Command, carried no explanation. To
Dulles it appeared that all hope had
fled; that the war in Italy must now
go on to its bitter and appointed end.
a
lions with him to Milan, instalhn F crest Davis. The second will appear next week.
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