Born in China, Stephen Hall enrolled in the US army soon after the bombing of pearl of pearl harbor. In 1943, he sent a letter to the head of the OSS. Due to his past, Hall had a strong knowledge of the Brenner pass, which are Alps located in Italy. Hall suggested that they send an agent (himself) by parachute into the Alps, and from there they could sabatoge the Germans by cutting off roads and highways. The OSS took liking to his plan, and after training, Hall was ready to begin. On August 2nd, Hall and his team were dropped at the bottom of the Alps, leaving an 85 mile walk in enemy territory to Brenner Pass. On the way, Hall destroyed many bridges, but the team never made it to Brenner Pass. Hall decided to meet with a friend in a city nearby and was caught in a blizzard. He took shelter in a German church, but the police found him and imprisoned him. After a year of imprisoment and interrogation, Hall died. He was later rewarded a Legion of Merrit.
|
In 1943, British officers had the idea to kidnap German military general Friederich Mueller. A year later, a group of spies took off for Crete, Greece, to secretly land. The landing strip was small, and only one person could jump at a time. Twenty year old Patrick Leigh-Femour went first, but as another agent was about to jump, it got cloudy. Femour had to spend 2 months alone hiding as they tried more air drops, but finally they were able to come by dinghy. As they were travelling across the mountains, General Mueller was replaced by General Kreipe, but they decided to go ahead anyway. They ended up gathering more people for the job, having 11 people at the end. Dressed as peasants, the agents layed low for a few days. One day, they saw Kreipe driving down the road, which gave them an idea. On an April night, Leigh-Femour, disguised as a German soldier, stopped Kreipes car. After arguing, Kreipe got out of the car, demanding Femours rank. Agent Femour replied with "General, you are a prisoner of war under British hands." The agent put the General in the back of the car and Femour disguised as Kreipe, passing through 22 Military posts without trouble. After the agents got off the island, Kreipe was sent to a POW camp in Canada.
|