THE OSS REVOLT THAT FAILED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300300026-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 30, 2000
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: April 1, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

SAGA'
Approved For Release 2000/05/05 : CIA-RDP75-00001
April 1965
FOIAb3b
Deep behind German lines, a betrayed band of Yanks
fled to glory despite the worst single defeat suffered
'by U.S. spies in World War II. Here's the whole story.
It was time to run again. And the Americans ran-as they had.
been running for nearly, a month. They ran from' known danger
into an unseen one while a monstrous November blizzard congealed
their spirit as well as their exhausted bodies. The cutting edge of
the north wind slashed at them. as they gasped for breath in the
icy, thin air of the White Carpathian Mountains bordering the
Czechoslovakian provinces of Slovakia and Moravia. Wet snow
hardened into ice on dirt-encrusted eyebrows and lice-ridden beards. `j
This' was November, 1944. Allied armies ' had breached Hitler's
Fortress Europe and even then were breaking down his 1000-year.;
.Third Reich. But in Central Europe, this encircled handful of Ameri 1
%;n110 was nwu vu Lue ueienslve, neeing ior Gear ine.
Their desperate flight ended in 'disaster. One moment there was
silence broken only by the sounds of the storm; then there was the
rattle of machine guns and the flat crack of rifles as the Germans
amb
h
~ 41....... 11
toppled 1_
-r_____ 1 1 _ _ . .?
us
e
a
th
arms loaded with rations instead of weapons.
Thus ended the ill-fated Dawes,Mission, a World War II Office of
Strategic Services operation in Czechoslovakia. It was the greatest''
loss suffered by the OSS in World War.II. The names of the men
who died as a result of it are still a secret, but the story came to light
.last September when four Americans in their early 40s returned to
the scene of the operation 'to .'accept personally from President''
lvovotny of Uzechoslovakia a citation and medal commemorating the'
-20th anniversary of the Slovak uprising of 1944. These Americans
had played. a small but intriguing role 'in that uprising; they were
four of the five survivors of the Dawes Mission.
'If the uprising had been successful, it would have materially short2
ened the war, probably changed the character of postwar Eastern":,,
Europe, and certainly would, have been headlined throughout the.
woria ay Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton, who
accompanied the OSS agents behind enemy lines. Joe Morton wrote
his story 'but it never got to press;, he was captured and later
executed at the Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen. This then
is the story of the 'OSS Revolt That Failed how it failed and why.
By the summer of 1944, after. U.S. and British armies' had broken'
out 'of, Normandy, the first rumblings of revolt were heard in the
Carpathians. Allied strategists decided it was time to disrupt the
Germans by fomenting insurrections behind the lines wherever pos
sioie. isritian agents parachuted into Central Europe and the United
States asked Russia, who even then considered all Central Europe to
be in.her own sphere, of influence,'-for permission to send American
agents into Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Rumania. Finally,
the Russians reluctantly agreed to permit.an American "military'
Approved For Release 2 Q/01O~IA[71J09At~2~1m-alaa_;to, evacuate
downed U.S. fliers. This was the "official"
 Approved For Release 2000/05/05: CIA-RDP75 00Q0iRO00
_00 00626 4
p~l~ 0~~ ~~d~@t ~Ippff~-~#
gingerly lowered himself through the forward
crew hatch of one of the bombers and dropped
lightly to the ground, a small group of ragged
Americans surged from the crowd of Czechs who
applauded this first man to step out of the planes.
The Americans were flyers whose aircraft had
been shot down in the aria, 'and the bombers'..;
represented their way back to Italy and safety.
They stopped short when they identified Green's
uniform.
"What the hell's the Navy doing here?" one of
the airmen asked. They watched curiously as an-
OSS cover story. The actuality was different.
Once Russian permission was received, Wash-
ington organized a top-secret mission to Czechoslo-
vakia. Its original code name was Houseboat.
On September 17, 1944, three B-17s escorted
by fighters took off from an airfield outside of
Bari, Italy, headquarters of the 2677th OSS Regi-
ment (also known as the Strategic Balkan Serv-
ices). North of Foggia, the three Flying
Fortresses joined a regularly scheduled 15th Air
Force bombing mission against German positions
in Czechoslovakia. As the formation flew above
northwestern Slovakia, the three B-17s peeled
away, from the other planes, glided over the other pair of legs wriggled out of the plane and
mountains one by one and touched down on a dirt
airstrip at Tri Duby, seven miles south of Banska
Bystrica.
. Unknown to the Americans, the Russians had
been active in the area. Soviet agents had helped
the Czech partisans organize, and two brigades
dropped beside the naval officer. They belonged
to a sailor wearing Army ODs, a green Navy
jacket with the letters U.S.N. stenciled on its a
back and a white sailor's cap.
As the downed pilots crowded around this odd
duo, a slim, sandy-haired "first lieutenant" low
of Slovak troops, trained and equipped - by the" ered himself from another bomber. PFC John
Soviets,-were flown in to support their efforts. But '' Schwartz, alias Lieutenant John Krizan, U.S.
Army, stood for the first time in five years on the
soil of his native land. Schwartz, born in Czecho-
slovakia, had served with the anti-Nazi under-
ground in that country in 1939. With the Gestapo ..]
on his trail, he escaped to France, where he joined
the Foreign Legion. After France fell, he found 1,
wondered how long, it would take for the Gestapo
the Germans proved too powerful. By the time the
first American agents arrived, the enemy : was al-
ready closing in on Banska Bystrica to smash the
uprising. As the B-17s landed, the crewmen could
hear the sound of artillery fire in the distance.
The three Forts carried radios, supplies and
arms for the partisans, along with a ' strange
looking group of Americans.. As Lieutenant Holt
 Approved For Release 2000/05/05 :' C1A-RDP75-0000i;R00030c1300C126-4'-
From left: Lain, Schwartz, interpreter, McGregor,
Czech official, Catlos at '64 medal award ceremony.
to uncover his history. He escaped from the POW
camp 'and finally made it to the United States,
"for the duration and six months" made him an
Schwartz. had been selected to go to Banska
Bystrica accompanied by a radio-operator; their
orders were to begin gathering information imme-
diately. Hopefully, the other members of the
Dawes Mission would be airlifted home in due
course, but not Krizan-Schwartz. He was there to
be a spy for the United States, with orders to...
remain in Slovakia no matter what happened to
the rest of the mission.
As quickly as possible, the B-17s were unloaded
and then reloaded with as many of the downed
fliers as they could take aboard. Then they set out
on their return journey to Bari. In the excitement
of the arrival and take-off of the bombers, Krizan-
Schwartz slipped away. An hour later, disguised
as a Czechoslovakian civilian, he was already at.;
work collecting valuable information to be sent
back by radio to OSS headquarters in Bari.
The first coded messages received by Bari ad
vised that the revolt was doomed because the Red
Army was not advancing fast enough from the
east, and the two brigades of Russian-trained
Slovaks were unable to halt superior Nazi forces
that had by then encircled Banska Bystrica. The
thunder of artillery fire on the other side of the
Approved For Release.2600/05/05: CIA=RDP75,0000I, R000-30030902
mountains grew louder and Luftwaffe Stukas and.
Me-109 fighters began bombing and strafing the
small city in which the OSS team was holed up.
OSS planners in Bari quickly agreed to strength-
en the operation and also send in additional teams
to penetrate Hungary, Austria and reinforce the
teams in Czechoslovakia. Sergeant Steve Catlos,
an American of Hungarian descent, had been
preparing to parachute into Hungary with an-
other intelligence team, when his group was
alerted for a flight to Slovakia. From there he,
and his team would penetrate into Hungary.
Three weeks later, however, Lieutenant Holt
Green radioed Bari that more downed fliers had
been picked up and had to be evacuted. "DO NOT
-REPEAT-NOT SEND ANY MORE MEN. 1."4
?IN," his coded message said, "EXCEPT AN-
OTHER RADIO OPERATOR AND MORE SUP-.
PLIES. ENEMY CLOSING IN."
Unfortunately, the decision was made to By in .
six more B-17s loaded with supplies, arms and
additional OSS agents and to fly out 60 more
American fliers, including some who had escaped
from German POW camps. The one-man Austrian.
penetration operation-an agent wearing the uni-
form of a U.S. Army's second lieutenant-and the
Hungarian penetration team--Catlos, a lieutenant
and two civilians recruited in Rome (one of them
a Hungarian priest, the other a radio technician)
 Approved For Release 2000/05/05 : q -RDP75-00001 R000300300026-4
"I 0! lanes landed the Hungarian penetra- trails and airstrips every day.
n
o
u
g
p
me
flight. But there was a mon
in the plan: neither of the teams as- tion team tried to communicate by radio. Green was furious when he learned
signed to Hungary and Austria were. with its contact in Hungary. They re- several weeks later that the 15th Air
given any briefing on the situation in ' ceived no answering signal so the priest Force had bombed Bratislava 200 miles
0 Czechoslovakia; they were simply. told and the radio technician took off through from where the Americans were holed ;
to penetrate to their original targets enemy lines in an effort to infiltrate into up. "They could have picked up these
after their landed, their homeland. Catlos and his lieuten- men," he said. His anger increased when
Two infantry otlicers also went nlong: ant remained with the larger OSS group. Red Air Force C-47s began flying in and
Captain Bill McGregor and Lieutenant A week later the long retreat began.' out of Tri Duby, evacuating Russian of- r
Ken Lain, both on special assignment , The commander of the Czechoslovak ficers attached to the two brigades and
to OSS to train resistance fighters in the Forces of the Interior (CFI) warned that. other important Communist underground
use of American weapons. Another un- - his decimated brigades couldn't hold out leaders. Green contacted the Russian
in consisted of AP much longer; he urged the Americans commander and asked about the possi-
fl
l t
own
usua
eam
correspondent Joe Morton and a young and some British agents from "A' Force bility of. evacuating some of his men to
Navy photographer sent along to film the 399 to evacuate. , Soviet territory. The Russian refused.
experiences of the Americans. Morton, Just before pulling out of Banska By- :Krizan, who was keeping an eye on
had ? wrangled this choice assignment strica, a ragtag group of 19 American air- the Soviet officers, noted that the Rus-
Life Magazine correspondent John . men led by two British secret agents sians were willing to fly reporter Joe
after
Philips had gone into Yugoslavia with ;. .'marched into the city with strange stories , Morton out, although they refused to
an OSS team assigned to Tito's partisans'. to relate. Some of the Americans had take out any of the American military
and scored a newsbeat as the first cor- been shot down the previous month people. Morton declined the offer; he
respondent ever to cover the resistance ' .. around Bratislava and, unbelievably, had chose to stay with his team.
from behind enemy lines. been interned as POWs by the Com- Finally, on October 26, when it ap
On October 7, the betrayal of the munist-led Slovak Army of Liberation. peared certain that no help would come
from Bari
Green ordered all OSS
er
,
p
Dawes Mission began when the six Forts. Lieutenant Andy Schafer, a 15th Air
landed at Tri Duby and were greeted by` Force fighter pilot, had been shot down sonnel to pack their gear for a trek
more than 200 people, including many!, on Friday, October 13. One of the Brit-'.' Into the mountains. Krizan wanted to
with cameras, who photographed every ish agents, wearing civilian clothing, had remain behind and continue his espio-
one of the supposedly "secret" agents. been mistakenly parachuted from his nage mission, but Green, believing that
Undoubtedly, Nazi spies were among the- drop plane 120 miles from his pinpoint 'language American who spoke the Czech
welcomers and it wasn't too long before. target-Vienna. The other agent, sen- .' language would be an asset to the group,
the Gestapo received word that an tenced to death by the Gestapo, had es ordered him to come along. Krizan put
American military mission had landed caped from prison. on his uniform. The Americans felt that
in German-occupied territory. Meanwhile, the Nazi noose around if they were captured in uniform the
As Catlos stepped out of the B-17, he Banska Bystrica tightened. "REQUEST >I Germans could only imprison them as
heard the rumble of artillery and ma- .AERIAL RESUPPLY AND EVACUA- POWs-not execute them as spies. How-
chine-gun fire. Two enemy divisions,. TION OF 19 AIRMEN AND TWO BRIT-'.! ever, each man carried a poison capsule
sivwiy Clwcavya..g ?am i OR
brigades. The OSS teams sett,Wt in the OR THREE MORE DAYS AT MOST. On, October 28, the Americans reached
Narodny Dom Hotel in Banska Bystrica URGENT." The enemy tried to jam the Donevaly, a resort town about 17 miles
Green sent what
strica
fr
Ban
ka B
'
.
y
om
s
and in a villa that was once Gestapo radio messages and, at the same time,
Q headquarters and immediately began their direction finders began pinpointing turned out to be the last message to Bari
collecting intelligence information. How-' . the transmitter. The OSS messages, transmitted by his own radio equipment.
ever, it was apparent that Lieutenant more than 1000 in six days, also carried "MOVING INTO % THE MOUNTAINS.
Green had been surprised by the arrival ? vital intelligence information for analy ENEMY PURSUING. THIRTY-SEVEN
of the additional OSS teams. He was an- sis in Bari. AMERICANS, INCLUDING AIR'
gry because the larger group had been- For several days and nights the second FORCE PERSONNEL, SPLITTING UP
sent out without the full consent or ad- group of OSS agents and the 21. airmen INTO FOUR GROUPS." He named him-
vice of the first group of agents already and British spies waited at the Tri Duby self as leader of one group, another of-
?'`- -s,a airstrip fnr planes to land and nick them fiver-the one who was to have gene-
on
_
___ _-
It was o
o
_ _ _ _ _ _
f
d
f
th
__
_
; -. ?~ ______- _____ ___
g
p. as Y?
group o
e secon
few days a
ter
_ and group, and Lain and McGregor each
On November 1, rain and sleet began
to fall steadily, whittling away at the
health of the airmen, who were not used
to the rugged life for which the OSS
agents had been trained. On November'
7, Krizan and a group of airmen, led by
two resistance fighters, went on a patrol.
The two partisans, walking about 500
feet ahead of the Americans, passed into
the woods. Unknown to them, a Ger-
man patrol was hiding in the timber.
When the. Americans came abreast of
the enemy patrol, the Germans ordered '?
them to halt. Krizan thought fast. His
wallet held 500 in greenbacks and a
tiny slip of paper with a number of vital,
coded radio recognition signals. Unob-
trusively, he pulled his wallet from his
pocket and tossed It into the underbrush.
One of the German soldiers spotted the
wallet and just as unobtrusively picked';
'it up, glanced at the money and shoved
1it into his pocket: Krizan exhaled with
relief. The soldier, he mistakenly rea- '
soned, would keep the money and throw
the wallet away.
A. the
were marched to the nearest
Q
y
APR 965 l.headquarters, Krizan whispered to the .
',Air Force pilot in the group that he
h
'
'
t explain his reasons, but could
couldn
e. claim that he was a member of the crew.
"Just make sure you give me a job on
sour crew to fit my rank." mumbled the
Approved For Release 2000/05/05 CI,4-RhPT5-(}flOf) R0003(~03~d a bombardier," ? the. Pilot `'.
ii.
 Apa uc dtnF~ fs~@)?dg00/05/004 4Mu~M '-0?0131 R@ t1S 0 0,.02fi'?ithe enemy's fire. By the time the'
asked. tant y, the pi of no ed. into April and he still clung to his story. Americans reached the summit, they
"Stifle!" 'one of the German soldiers They suspected that he could speak Slo- were blanketed by a severe blizzard.
shouted, prodding Krizan with the muz- vak. They even spoke German to him, Exhausted, all of the Air Force person-
zle of his rifle. a language he also understood. But he nel agreed to head back down and try'
"Don't you have a job where I don't said nothing but his name, rank and to hide out in a village. Otherwise they
have to know too much?" Krizan asked serial number. They learned he spoke planned to surrender.
a few minutes later as he deliberately French, but when an interpreter tested Lain and McGregor, both still in fairly .1
stumbled against the pilot trudging in Krizan's knowledge of the language, he good physical shape, volunteered to go :
front of him. reported back that the prisoner "speaks with, the airmen and help those men who'
"You're co-pilot," came the reply. Kri- with a strong American accent." . were too ill to make the descent alone.
zan had to smile. Krizan was kept with men imprisoned "We'll catch up with you," McGregor
Three days later, the captured Ameri- for political and other reasons. Some told Green.
cans. were take to Bratislava, a Czech remained in the same cell with him for It was the last time Green saw the two
city on the Austrian border less than months; others were taken out for "inter- infantry officers. Both were captured,
100 miles from Vienna. The Americans rogation! and never returned. In one, along with the airmen they were shep-,
underwent routine interrogation, and herding.
then were questioned individually. In an effort to keep warm those win-
Standing at attention before a Wehr- try nights in the Carpathians, the OSS
macht intelligence colonel, Krizan stuck agents burned the Navy photographer's
to his cover story. film, hoping that the cellulose would
"I am Lieutenant John Krizan, U.S. . burn despite the sleet that pounded,
Army Air Force," he announced, adding down. Through the month of December,,
his serial number. - the number of OSS agents slowly dwin-;
"Krizan. That's a Slovak name isn't dl d th
e as a enemy captured two men on
it?" the colonel asked. Krizan nodded. the 7th and three more on the 10th. While
The questions followed one after the heading toward one town they came
other. Do you speak Czech? Krizan nod- across a peasant standing beside a tele-
ded yes. Where are your parents from? phone pole. It wasn't until an hour later,
He explained that they had been born tt that the weary Americans realized that
in the States, and that he was third gen- 4 ?` the man was probably an enemy. spy and
Sl
era on
ovak. His answers were as that he had phoned in their location to
short as he could make them-yes or no a German command post. They aban-
or sentences of two or three words. He'd doned their efforts to reach the town and
fall back every few minutes on his pre- headed up the slope of Dumbier Moun-
rogative as a POW-giving no more tain. There they came across a partisan .
than name, rank and serial number. He group. They were. told that the best way
worried that his strong Slovak accent to go was to follow the railroad tracks,
might give him away. The Germans which had been demolished by this par-
weren't. stupid. An American with a titular group and hadn't been used in ;
strong accent might raise additional weeks. The OSS agents took this sug-
questions, questions that could easily gestion and were almost run down by an'
lead to suspicions. They could take him - 1 armored train filled with German troops.
for a spy, especially if word had reached "Who needs enemies with friends like .':
Bratislava that OSS teams were oper- these?" Catlos wisecracked. The tired
ating in Czechoslovakia. sense, Krizan was at least "safe" in men laughed,-but the bitter truth had
Whatever he did, Krizan knew that he enemy hands-as long as they didn't : been apparent for a long time. The so-
had.to stick to his story-that he was a know who he really was. called partisan movement was more fi
-
t
co-pilot whose B-17 had been shot down For Sergeant Steve Catlos, PFC Ken tion than fact. The only cooperation from
on a bombing mission. He knew all of Dunlevy (a radio operator), Lieutenant ` the resistance forces was what was paid
the details from the air
Ken Lain and Ca
i
h
t
Bill M
G
d b
h
h
men
p
e
a
n
a
c
een
regor, t
e for in gold napoleons and American
traveling with. If only they didn't blow ordeal of retaining their freedom was greenbacks althou h indi d 1 f
v
ua
, e
i
armers .
his cover. His wallet was gone-and the- . something else again. One by one they occasionally did provide food and shelter.
code with it. He had his dogtags. They saw their fellow Americans drop away. On December 15, Ken Dunlevy, Joe!"
would suffice. After all, who could prove Most of the airmen, ill with fever and. Morton and another officer descended to
that he wasn't Lieutenant John Krizan? frostbite, voluntarily surrendered to the a village to forage for food. A group of
His dogtags had his cover name, his ad- Germans figuring that they'd be treated partisans they met on the way reported
dress in the Bronx, his serial number, - well. At least, as prisoners of war they'd an enemy patrol in the next valley. The '
blood type and religion. He was pleased; - be fed and given medical attention. OSS men had not carried any weapons; i
everything appeared to be going his way.' On November 10, Wehrmacht moun- they wanted to be free to carry as much
"So you're from the Bronx?" the tain troops began to pursue relentlessly food as possible back to the group. With
colonel said. "I lived there for eighteen the Americans, forcing them to live the help of some peasants they had en-'?
years. Near Fordham Road." He be-, above the freezing timberline through - listed in the village, the three Americans
gan talking about that borough of New . the months of. November, December and moved slowly back up the steep moun-
York, his comments slowly taking a most of January, tain slope beneath g heavy load of food. ?.
sharper tone. Krizan had to get him off The OSS agents had old na 1 Ab th
g po eons ove em, an enemy patrol blocked
the subject. He knew the Bronx, but - and other Czech currency with which their way.
he hadn't lived there long enough to they purchased food-and paid dearly "Nemci! Nemci! Nazis! Nazis!" the
pass himself off as a native. At the mo for it. On the night of November 10, frightened peasants shouted. They
ment, the German was doing all the talk- - Morton's dispatch case filled with stories dropped their packs and ran just as the
ing. But he'd almost certainly detect ; was stolen. A few days later they came patrol opened fire with rifles and ma-
Krizan s accent if the OSS spy began an- across his small brown, dog-eared note-,' chine guns. The Germans cut the fleeing
swering questions at any length. The book beside the trail. The OSS agents men down. "We were so completely:,
interrogation finally ended. Krizan was wondered if one of the partisans had ? surprised that we were frozen in our
shi ed t R 1
p
o
i
p
osau er
andau Prison in stolen and sold it to the Gestapo for a - tracks for a few seconds," Catlos and
Vienna with the other members of his pardon and a reward. On November Dunlevy later recalled in their official
crew. 11, Green decided that the Americans - report. "Upon recovering, we also dashed
There he stayed, constantly interro- should join the remnants of the Czech for cover in the woods." Bullets kicked
gated, until one day in February, 1945, brigade, which was going to try to reach up snow around the three Americans.
he was brought face to face with the pilot Russian lines, believed to be about a Morton stopped and drew a -small Beret-
of
his "crew." The officer appeared un- week's march away. The brigade com- to pistol.
steady on his feet. mander was determined to shoot his way "I'll hold them off!" he shouted and in-'
I had to tell, them, John," he told ' through if necessary. effectively returned the enemy fire. But
Krizan. On November 17, the Americans had it saved Dunlevy's life. He was the last
"Tell them what?" Krizan asked, just paid for their food, which included man in the line. Running through deep
alarmed. n i of vnn;~..< ..,i,e.. .,.ti.:?._ .~ a n -. ... ...:ai ai._ ~.___-
---r - r--~? ? ? ++ ++. + -1-0 vycaacu uav. wags utlJ[L W al115U5bIUIV. DUI "t: piungvu
s replied abjectly before he was led back "Let's get out of here!" Green ordered, up the hill, somehow managed to- jump
a to his cell. Then began a round of Inten- pointing up the slope toward.the summit. over 'a log and then tumbled to the
A sive interrogation for Krizan. His ques- ? The Czech brigade, disorganized by the ground rolling over and over as bullets,
boners .-were good. They led him on, sudden attack, scattered without even splattered all around him while he
'
A playing cat-and-mouse with him. He setting up. a defense or attempting to re- wriggled out of the pack harness As
PR Aped 5 or Release : 0 f0/05/05 ;C1A-RQP75-0,0001 F 0003003000: 6-
 6
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a
0
soon, as he freed himself, he got to seduce two women who had been Ten days later the Germans retreated
up and ran deep into the woods. The working with the Americans and British. and the front moved on past the mine.:
Germans finally were eluded. When the', Catlos, Dunlevy, two British intelli- On January 23, the Rumanians liberated
men regrouped, they discovered. that gence agents, a Russian captain who had Dunlevy, two British agents, Mary Gula-
they were completely lost. But then been with the partisans and several vich, an interpreter from the under-
they came across tracks in the snow. Be- 'other resistance people hiding in an ground, a Russian captain and four
side the tracks were dirty tobacco brown abandoned hotel higher up on the slope partisans.
stains. They had found the way back. heard the Gestapo attack the hut below. On January 29, Dunleyyy. was reunited'
Dunlevy, who chewed tobacco in an Without waiting to find out what had' with Catlos, but it wasn't until mid-
effort to alleviate his hunger, had happened, they cleared out just in time' March that the Russians let them return: marked the route well. - to escape another enemy patrol. On, to OSS headquarters in Bari.
When they returned to the hideout New Year's Day, 1945, Catlos and his.,, By the time these' survivors were
above the timberline, they were told group began trudging toward the east,,' recuperating from their ordeal, the im-
that a group of partisans had passed by where the Russians were reportedly ad- t prisoned Lieutenant John Krizan.faced
and reported how they had fought off vancing. another crisis. The Gestapo had begun'
an enemy patrol that had attacked the On January 15, grey snow clouds scud to suspect that he wasn't what he said
Americans. They. found out later that ded across the sky and freezing moun-: he was-an aircraft crew member-
the partisans had watched the enemy. tain winds beat against the small group' although the interrogators still hadn't
attack without even going to the aid of of exhausted men. Catlos was feverish; been able to break his cover story.
the OSS agents. ? Dunlevy's feet were white from frost- On March 23 a pair of Gestapo inquisi-
A week before Christmas, the Ameri- bite (he later lost a toe) and the British" tors finally confronted him with the
cans linked up with the British "Wind- agents had passed the point of exhaus- . evidence of his guilt-the slip of paper
proof" team from "A" Force 399, led tion. They had lost all track of time. with the code that I' rizan thought he had'
by a major who had been fighting in the Time and again they had escaped the thrown away with his wallet. The evi-.
hills for at least six months. Windproof German gunfire: As they moved east, dence was damning.
had been scheduled to penetrate into the woods became sparse; tree stumps. "You're OSS!" one German said. "We'
Hungary. Just as they finally made it, dotted the slopes because the Germans, know you. Your headquarters is in Bari.
they received a coded message from one who were digging in against the Rus- Your unit is the two-six-seven-seven
.of the regular BBC news broadcasts sians, had cut timber to build bunkers. Regiment. Your intelligence chief has an
ordering them to return to Banska Bys- Catlos had a severe case of dysentery. ! office on the fifth floor. His name is,
?triaa to aid the Slovak uprising. By the He insisted that Dunlevy and the others Colonel Chapin. You might as well talk.
time they had returned, the Germans continue toward the front because some-1 We know everything!"
were closing in, so the British team took body had to get out and report what had' Krizan was surprised, yet he kept his
? to the hills without waiting to join any happened. In the town 'of Rejdova, a Poise. He decided to tell the Germans
of the local partisan groups or the rem- Czech farmer took Catlos into his home what he thought was plausible-and
nants of the Czech brigades, as the OSS and bedded him down. The town was' what the Gestapo wanted to hear. He
teams had done. The British still had a' occupied by a German regiment. Catlos denied that he belonged' to the OSS-
radio, and on December 16, Lieutenant was taken for a native by a group of or that he knew any Colonel Chapin-
Green contacted Bari for the last time. enemy soldiers who were camped near-- but he admitted knowing about the code
The entire Dawes Mission had long.': by. One of. the enemy soldiers, sym- slip in his wallet.
since been given up for dead when Lieu- pathizing with the American sergeant's He told the Germans that he-had been;
tenant Duranian of communications burst condition, gave him two opium pills. It' given the slip of paper the previous
into the office of Colonel Chapin, in- ' was the only medical treatment that October by a British officer in the Czech,;
telligence director for the Central Euro- Catlos received. Nine days later he hid mountains, and that he was supposed
pean Section. in a haystack when the enemy turned to pass it on to another major on another
"They' -J.the town into a division headquarters., mountain. "I never met the major,
re alive!" Duranian said. Catlos knew he would be caught be- Krizan admitted. "I just didn't want to
"Who?" Chapin asked. get caught with this piece of paper. It
"Green and his people. We've just fore long. "I've got to get out of here," looked like a code to me."
received a code from him. He's holed he told the farmer who had befriended The two Gestapo agents, certain that
they had finally broken the case, or-'i
up with an "A" Force team." him.
Chapin summoned Otto Jakes, a civil- The farmer rummaged around in a dered Krizan taken back to his cell. Un-'i ti.
ian OSS agent, and together they read trunk and came up with a fur hat and known to Krizan, his fellow agents had
the decoded message:' "ENEMY SLOW- a topcoat which he gave to Catlos. Tak- . already been executed in Mauthausen
LY CUTTING US DOWN TO SIZE. ing a deep breath, Catlos walked to the "concentration camp (after first being
WE'RE STILL HOLDING OUT. RE- barn, picked up a bale of hay and began tortured, each one was shot iir the back
QUEST DROP. WE'LL KEEP FOUR walking toward the outskirts of the ,! of the head) and the Gestapo had no,."
SIGNAL FIRES BURNING FOR FIVE ' town, passing hundreds of German way of doublechecking his story.
NIGHTS. NEED GUNS, FOOD AND ' troops. Suddenly, he realized it would Krizan was saved. His underground
MEDICAL SUPPLIES FOR THIRTY." look suspicious if he walked away from contact in prison, an Austrian doctor,
Green's message gave the coordinates for the town carrying a bale of hay. He was released before Vienna fell to the
the drop.. He also reported the latest dropped it at the last house he came to Russians. The prison guard detachment
military and political situation and the and picked up an axe imbedded in a log ; tried to buy its own safety by releasing
names of the agents who had been cap- near a woodpile. i all political prisoners. In Budapest the
Catlos propped the axe on his shoulder prison guards and the Gestapo had mur-
tured. and nonchalantly began walking up the
Unknown to Green and his men, bad. dered their political prisoners before re-
weather'in Bari had grounded all air- mountain slope toward the timber-like , treating, but they were caught by the'
craft. The five. nights passed without any woodcutter going about his business. Red Army and hanged without trial.
For three days he remained in the forest The commander of Rosaulerlandau ,'
any of the 15th Air Force's Special 'without food or shelter while Red army Prison didn't want to meet the same fate.,
Group planes showing up overhead to artillery fire thundered closer. On Janu "Release us as political prisoners,"
drop the needed supplies. The drop ary 28, Rumanian troops attached to the Krizan suggested, "and I'll give you a
wasn't made until the night of December ! Soviet command found Catlos huddled; letter 'signed by me, an American officer,
26. By then it was too late. ? - beneath a tree, starving and freezing. that you were good to us in prison." ?
At 0830'thal morning, in a small hunt- Meanwhile, Dunlevy and his group,, Soviet artillery rumbled in the dis-
ing hut on Dumbier Mountain, Green's had made it to an abandoned iron mine i'tance. The prison commander needed no',
group, along with. the British and two on January . 13. They hid in the mine, C further urging. Krizan and' two' Ameri-.
partisans, were captured by a Gestapo ' waiting for the fighting -to pass them by,. can airmen .were .given release papers
patrol disguised as Slovak peasants. The
Allied agents had been betrayed to the
:Germans by a partisan ,who. had been
kicked out of the but when he had tried
APR
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 Approved For Release 2000/05/05 :'IA-RDP75-00001 R000300300026:-4
and on April 15 they were set free. Kri-
zan holed up until Vienna was captured
by the Russians. He, too, was interro-
gated at length by the NKVD before be-:
ing returned to Bari.
On April 22, Lieutenant Lain and Cap-
tain McGregor also were released from
a POW camp by the Russians, who,
accepted them for what they were
-members of an American military
mission sent into Czechoslovakia to res-
Some of Joe Morton's reports, and
what was left of the film shot by the
!.Navy photographer-along with a diary'
t kept by one of the British agents-were',
,..given to a Czech lawyer for safekeeping
. in one of the towns the Americans had
After V-E Day, Lieutenant Krizan,,'
alias Corporal John Schwartz (he had
been promoted), returned to Czechoslo-
vakia with a war crimes investigations.
group to find out how and why Ameri-
can OSS agents, captured wearing U.S.
Army uniforms, had been tortured and i
executed by the Nazis. He never dis-,
covered who had given the order to ex-
ecute the agents, nor who had carried it
out. However, at the Nuremberg War
Crimes trial, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who
had taken over the Gestapo after Hein-
rich Himmler had committed suicide,
was charged with the atrocity.
In 1948, the surviving OSS agents
Slovak National Uprising, 1st Class by
the last government of a free Czecho-
slovakia, and the Czechoslovak War.'
Cross of 1939. Their own government
had presented them with Bronze Star?
Medals and a Legion of Merit.
of the revolt that failed.;k T419 END
? APR 1965
Approved For Release 2090/05/05: CIA-RDP75-00001`R000300300026=4