Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines, knowing you may never
return alive?
What you have just heard is the question asked during the war to agents of the OSS, ordinary
citizens who to this question answered, yes.
This is Cloak and Dagger.
Black warfare, espionage, international intrigue, these are the weapons of the OSS.
Today's story, the Brenner Pass, is the story of an American engineer who single-handed
cut off the escape of part of the German army in Italy from unrushing American troops.
The Brenner Pass is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office
of Strategic Services.
A story that can now be told.
No, no, Padre, I don't want it.
Drink, drink this, it will warm your insides.
I want to talk to you.
I want to tell you.
Drink this first.
I'm so tired.
Rest then.
So, so tired.
Rest.
You, you won't give me away, will you?
You'll hide me if the Germans come, won't you, Padre?
Won't you?
You came to me, my son, because you knew I'd give you sanctuary.
Any man has sanctuary in this house.
Yes, yes, but...
I have taken an oath, Filio Mio.
Anything you tell me, only God and I will witness.
And if I had not taken this oath, I still would not give you away.
Thank you, Father.
You are an American, that much you have told me.
Do you want to tell me more, or do you want to sleep first?
No, no.
It is better you sleep first.
I'll sit beside you, I won't leave you.
No.
Padre, I want to tell you, there may not be much time.
I have a feeling that time is running out for me.
My name was Donald Harper.
I say was because somehow I don't feel as if I have a name anymore.
When you're tracked down and hunted, you're not a human being.
There's no past or future.
There's just the present, and you run.
So much has happened in a few weeks that it's hard for me to remember.
Remember back from this morning when you found me unconscious on the steps of the chapel.
Back to the morning I was sent on my mission.
November 12th, 1944.
Captain Harper, I'm well aware of everything we have to gain if this scheme of yours succeeds.
You still think it's just a scheme, eh Colonel?
I don't have to think.
I know what your chances are of actually getting through to the Brenner Pass and blowing up
that highway.
And I know what will happen to you if the Italian fascists or the German police get
you.
I know a couple of things too, Colonel.
One of them is the country up there in the mountains.
Yes, I nearly broke my neck half a dozen times when I was a kid climbing the rocks around
my grandmother's hut.
And just before the war I took a trip from the States to see her again.
I skied over every inch of that mountain near the Brenner Pass.
Colonel, I know I can do it.
We've been through this before, Harper.
I'm aware of everything in your favor.
Your knowledge of the country, the fact that you were an engineer before the war.
Just give me supplies, some TNT, an Italian uniform, and some phony papers in case I tangle
with the fascists.
It's all I need, Colonel.
I tell you I can do it.
It's true.
If that highway to the Brenner Pass could be destroyed, it would take the Germans months
to repair it.
It would cut off one of their retreats out of Germany.
Of course.
Now, we'd have them where we want them when the American armies advance.
Their backs to the mountains are no way up.
That's it.
Your permission, Colonel.
Please, let me try it.
You say your grandmother's hut is right near your objective?
Yes, sir.
I'll give you names to memorize of other partisans in the mountains who might help you on the
way.
I'll have all the supplies you requested, and you can leave.
From the beginning, Padre, I had bad luck.
It snowed during most of the 40-mile journey, and it was difficult for me to move quickly.
And the longer it took me, the more chance I had of being discovered.
Then it came.
You know what a storm is like here in the mountains, how it can blind you and throw
you against the rocks?
When it was all over, I realized what had happened.
I had been thrown off my course, but that wasn't the worst of it.
My knapsack was gone, all my supplies, and the packet with papers the OSS had forged
for me.
I had no identification now and no food, but I still had the TNT for the highway near Ampezzo.
There is a tavern, Padre, not far from Parola.
It wasn't sheer recklessness but desperation that made me go in there knowing I had no
papers, knowing the tavern catered to Nazis and fascisti, knowing the rucksack on my back
was filled with explosives.
But there was no other place for miles, and I had to get food or I couldn't go on.
Come, Torge, tell us more of this story.
Well, as I've already told you, she was fat as prima donna.
She was big as a cup of coffee.
Oh, she was like this.
And look what she sang.
It looked like this.
See, what would you like to order?
Some bread and cheese, if you have it, and some coffee, black, very strong, if you have
it, please.
Where is the PIO then?
Bring it fast, if you know what's good for you.
Yes, see, see, see, fast, bring it fast, if you know what is good for you.
See, see, coming right away.
I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible.
I hoped the Germans would continue to be amused by the Italian girl and not ask to see my
papers.
I had nearly frozen in the snow a half hour before.
Now the sweat broke out all over my forehead.
Pay attention to her, I kept praying.
Watch her, watch her, don't even look my way.
Here you are, sir.
Tea, bread, coffee.
Oh, thank you.
It is here, I have it here, right here.
Oh, that soldier must be important to be served first.
Come here, soldier.
Come over here and tell us how important you are.
Well, no, I'm not important at all.
Forgive me, the waiter should have served you first.
Yes, I am.
He is not important.
Come, come, take a sip of my beer for me.
It will make you feel better.
Let the soldier have beer with us.
Poor soldier, he's all alone.
Buongiorno, come and have some beer with us, soldier.
No, I, I, grazie signorina, I, I will just finish this coffee and then I must go.
Wait a minute, you must not be rude, soldier.
Men are never rude to me.
If I ask you to drink with us, you must.
No, no, please, signorina, some other time, perhaps now, now I must go.
You are afraid of me, afraid of girls and afraid to drink beer.
Oh, you should be back in your mama's lap, I think.
I will give you some beer now.
Perhaps you will acquire a taste for it.
Here.
She threw it in my face.
I felt it start to trickle down my neck and I could hear the Germans laughing themselves
sick.
I wanted to snap that small neck of hers in half for making me the center of attraction.
Grazie, waiter.
Look at that, look at that.
You are sure, you are very sure you are not followed here to my house.
Very sure, Amico, and it's snowing again.
Even the tracks from my snowshoes are covered.
We must be careful, very careful.
All of us partisans.
The Germans are closing in on us.
Do you know what would happen if they found out I took you in?
An American?
This would happen.
But I tell you there's nothing to worry about and I'll be gone in the morning.
Ah, the morning, one, one.
All I want is a night's rest.
There is a bed in the back room you may use, signor Harper.
You are sure you are not followed, very sure.
Yes, yes, and I'll be gone in the morning before you're awake.
What's that think, signor, that I am being in the business of the hospitable, but these
times are very bad times for all of us.
Yes, yes, I know.
To leave is important too.
Yes, in order to fight back later one must leave now, no?
Yes, yes, yes.
And the Germans are clever, very clever.
If they knew you were here.
I was too tired to stand there and listen to the old man's whimpering.
Too tired to watch his narrow eyes like small brown buttons dart about the room, looking
first at the windows and then at the door, half expecting the Gestapo to come.
All I wanted to do was sleep.
I fell across the bed, but a few minutes later I sat bold upright, listening to the voices
in the next room.
My daughter is here, an American in the back room, sleeping.
Are you sure?
Are you sure he's an American father?
His name is Harper, Donald Harper, Tony.
The American OSS sent him.
An American, eh?
Oh, how the German police would like to know that.
That girl, the girl from the tavern, the friend of the Germans.
I didn't stay to hear any more.
There was a small door leading out to the back of the hut.
I knew, Padre, that somehow I must have come to the wrong house.
I didn't dare take any more chances and stop again until I reached my grandmother's, and
I was so tired, so tired.
Donaldo, donaldo, so good it is to see you again.
Oh, Nana, Nana.
Oh, but how you look, so thin, so tired.
Nothing changes here, does it?
It could be six years ago or ten.
Nana sitting here like this, in this house.
Oh, your mama, your papa, how are they?
Mill does not come here easily any longer.
You have heard from them?
Yes, Nana, a few weeks ago.
They're fine.
They tried so hard to get you to America when the war came.
I would not go anywhere, Don Mille.
This is my home.
No one could make me leave my home.
Not the Germans, not the fascisti.
Here I stay until the world writes itself again.
But what can I get you?
It's a comedy.
Make yourself comfortable.
You are hungry.
Yes, but I'm too tired to eat.
I just want to sleep.
Do then.
I'll make up the room for you later.
For now, rest here on this couch.
When you wake, I will have food for you.
Like the old days, Caramele.
My dear one, I will be in the kitchen.
Sleep now.
Sleep.
I don't know how long I slept.
When I woke, I wondered for a moment where I was.
And then I saw her standing over me.
Oh, like a little boy you sleep.
I've been watching you.
You?
What are you doing here?
Watching you sleep.
You don't drink beer, and you're afraid of girls.
And you sleep like a little boy.
You followed me here.
You brought them.
What have you done with my grandmother?
What?
I'll kill you.
I should have killed you then.
I will now.
Stop.
Stop it.
You're hurting.
End of the Germans, you little she-devil.
I'll kill you.
No, no, no, no.
Donaldo, here, here.
What is going on?
No, no.
You all right?
Of course I'm all right.
What are you doing?
Tony, what is wrong?
Oh, your grandson has his mother's heart, tail, and blood in his veins.
He wants to kill me.
That's all.
I'm ashamed of you, Donaldo.
This girl, she's a friend.
Friend?
I will get the soup for you, Signora Apicello.
Perhaps some soup will cool his temper.
But none.
I saw that girl with the Germans.
She's...
Oh, she told me about that.
She did not know who you were then.
Yes, but I...
She wondered why you disappeared from her father's house.
She knew the name Donald Harper because she heard me speak of you often.
So she came here after you.
No, no, I...
When she saw you were asleep, then she understood why you had run away from her.
She was with Germans.
I was there.
I heard...
That girl, Donaldo, is the leader of our group of partisans.
Your leader?
But the Germans are...
Oh, the Germans.
I amuse them.
Porky, animali.
I tell them funny stories and they laugh at me.
Here's your soup.
They do not hear me laugh when I get them drunk and they tell me things I can use to
our advantage.
Your soup.
Drink it.
Tony, I'm sorry.
I understand.
Que bella questo ragazzo, Donaldo.
No?
Yes, Nana, the girl is very pretty.
Oh, Signora Apicello, you embarrass me.
No?
Donaldo, we are friends now.
Si?
Si, Tony.
Friends.
You work too hard, Caramio.
What are you doing?
Oh, drawing diagrams, Nana.
I've got all the plans made to blow up that highway early tomorrow morning and I want to
make sure nothing goes wrong.
Here.
I brought you something to eat.
You'll spoil me, Nana.
But it was good to have you spoil me again these past few days.
Ah, how good it is to be able to.
Will you leave then tomorrow after you do what you have to do?
Yes, I must, but I'll come back to say goodbye first.
Ah, come.
Ciao, Signora Apicello.
Ah, ciao, Signore.
Where is Donaldo?
Here.
Are you displeased to see me?
Where is that partisan friend you were going to send to help me?
Here.
What?
Me, me, me, me, me.
I am the friend.
Oh, no.
I can do as good a job as any man.
Let me help you, Donaldo.
No, it's crazy.
Please, please, let me do it.
Oh, girl, it's crazy.
It is not crazy.
Think, think what it will mean for me after you are gone from these mountains.
Listening to my fat friends, the Germans, talk about the explosion and to know secretly
that it was I who helped to make it.
Please, please, Donaldo, Mio.
It's too late to get anyone else.
That's why I waited so long.
The only man to get on this short notice is my papa and he is a scared rabbit.
I was right the first time.
You are a little sheet, Ebbo.
Take her with you, Donaldo.
All right, then.
Pay attention to this diagram.
Now there's a railway, as you know, going right over that highway.
If we plant enough TNT to blow that right onto the road, it'll be blocked up for months.
It was about four o'clock in the morning when we got to the highway and climbed up on the
tracks of the railway.
Tony stayed up above and I made my way slowly, slowly climbing down into the framework of
the trestle, feeling my way along the girders.
They were icy under my hands and two or three times I almost slipped.
Careful, careful, Donaldo.
It's all right.
Watch yourself.
Watch how you handle those explosives.
Do not trouble yourself about me.
I told you I can work as well as any man.
Then work as quietly as one.
The troop train of Germans would be coming over the railway soon and I had to finish
before it came.
I had a coil of wire around one arm and a pair of pliers hanging on a thong from my
waist.
Tony, you hear me?
Yes, I hear you.
Well, hand me down those packages of explosives, one at a time.
Here?
Here you are.
All right, thanks.
I shoved them in where I wanted them.
Pack them close.
Tony, the wedges.
Quickly, don't be so slow about it.
I'm doing it as fast as I can.
There.
All right.
I lashed the grenade on top of the braced explosives, wound it tight with a wire, twisted
it with pliers.
Finally, I was finished.
There was snow on the ground and yet my shirt was wet with perspiration.
All right, last finishing touch.
That does it for this side, Tony.
Now let's get to the other side.
See?
I'll get you some more pliers before you drop them.
Okay.
There.
Oh, I have helped you much this far.
See?
You've helped me much.
Let me do it.
No, no.
We haven't any time to argue, that train will be along any minute.
Please, please let me set off the explosion.
Let me have that pleasure.
I will follow your directions.
I will do it just the way you told me.
No.
The train, it's coming.
Just tell me when to pull it.
All right, you win.
But heaven help you if you make a mistake.
Hold it now, steady.
And don't pull on the wire yet.
Yes, I will pull it softly, softly, lightly, but firm.
Here she comes.
Pull it.
Nana, Nana, it's done.
And I pulled the wire, Signora.
Nana, Nana, what is it?
It is nothing.
These attacks come on after.
Nana, Tony, some water quick.
No, I will stay with her, Denado.
You must leave quickly.
No, I'll stay.
You go on.
This section will be swarming with soldiers after what we've just done.
And if they find you, they'll wonder what you're doing here.
Men do not know how to take care of the sick.
I will stay and help you.
All right, get the water.
You should not have stayed, Don Mio.
I would have been all right.
All right, don't talk.
Just rest.
Donaldo.
What is it?
Germans coming to this house.
I can see from the window.
Oh, no.
Oh, no, you should have gone before, not waited.
Oh, no, Nana, it's all right.
Donaldo, do this one thing more for me.
I won't leave while you hold them off for me.
Is that what you want?
I know them.
I am a favorite of theirs.
Please, caro mio, you can escape and do more important work.
And I will not be harmed if I stay behind.
Please, ride, my son, escape, escape.
There is still time.
The girl knows them.
Upstairs, upstairs.
They may be around the back too, so go upstairs.
Jump from the window to the roof of the barn.
You can make it from there.
No, Tony.
Go, go, go, I say.
Promise not to turn back.
Promise.
I ran up the stairs to the tiny attic.
I heard the door close downstairs, so I knew they had come in.
I could distinguish their voices too,
although I couldn't hear a word they were saying.
I opened the window and saw it was an easy jump to the roof.
Then Tony screamed.
And I forgot my promise to her and went back.
Flattened myself against the wall at the head of the staircase.
No, no, I have done nothing, but I came here to take care of this poor old lady.
Well, can you not see that she's evil?
Give her another taste of the stick.
Oh, please, let the girl alone, please.
Perhaps another taste of the stick is what she needs.
Señorina, somehow Tony, you are always around when there's trouble.
Trouble and Tony.
Oh, let the girl alone, I beg of you.
No, no, no, no, no, no, go back.
Bosses, boss.
I surprised the first German when I jumped him.
Brought the button of my gun down on his head again and again.
But the other German was not so simple a matter.
Oh, please, please.
Please.
Oh, please.
Please.
No, he had my shoulders pinned down and I couldn't move.
Then, then I saw Tony standing over us, a heavy candelabrum in our hands.
Good work Tony.
Now listen to me carefully, Tony.
Take my grandmother back to your house.
No one will know you were here.
If others question you, tell them my grandmother was here alone
when someone, a stranger, took refuge here and killed the officers who came.
Then she went to your house because she was afraid.
Will... will you remember that? All of it?
Will you be back?
Will I ever see you again?
Who knows?
Perhaps.
Karina.
Karina, my... my dear little Tony.
Now go. Go quickly.
She did...
I... I wanted to tell you, Karina,
that everything that's in my way is here.
You... you will hide me.
If they come, you...
I will do what I can for you.
Wait...
Who is... who is...
Yes, sir.
What right have you, coming in like this, breaking down the door?
I'm not making trouble, Padre. I warn you.
No, no. This is a house of God.
It's all right, Padre.
It's all right.
No, no, no. You're mistaken.
My name is not Donald Harper. I'm an Italian soldier.
I... I was lost in the snow. I...
My... my papers are gone.
Come, come. This is tiresome. Admit it.
You are the American who blew up the highway.
Answer.
You are mistaken, Herr Hauptmann. You are mistaken.
We will see.
Sartre, send in the old man.
Your Herr Hauptmann.
In the house with you.
See, Hauptmann.
In the house with you.
See, I come. I come.
What? I...
You recognize him, I see.
Excellency, myr, what is this man's name?
Behide there.
Harper. Harper. Donald Harper. The Signor is an American.
Now I have told you, you will let us alone.
You have talked enough, go now.
You will leave my daughter and me alone, and the old lady too,
now that I have told you.
We have nothing to do with it. Any of it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But you will not tell my daughter.
You promise, remember?
She has a soft heart. It would distress her.
Take him away, Gartylock.
You will let us alone now. See?
See, we are on your side, loyal fascists.
Garty. You have nothing to say.
Everything has been said for me.
That highway has been completely destroyed.
I'm delighted to hear it.
That many loyal soldiers as well I have been killed.
Well, thank you for telling me.
And what is more, you are in Italian uniform.
A spy.
Bullets are too good to waste on you, American.
But a rope can be used again.
Sergeant.
Yes, Herr Hauptmann.
Take this man out and hang him.
But I cannot do this.
You will do as you are told, Herr Doctor.
Here is the death certificate of the American who was hanged this morning.
Sign it.
And the cause of death you want that I should write?
As I told you. Just as I told you.
Heart failure.
A pity.
Some weeks later, two retreating German battalions found their escape through the Brenner Pass blocked.
Captain Harper had done his job well.
And the onrushing American troops caught the enemy with their backs to a mountain.
Though Donald Harper did not live to see victory.
He shared in it.
And once again the record of an OSS agent closes with the words.
Mission accomplished.
A further adventure in black warfare is next week's.
Cloak and Dagger.
Heard in today's Cloak and Dagger adventure were Everett Sloan, Hester Sundergaard, Barry Kroger, Louis Soren, Virginia Payne, Raymond Edward Johnson, Karl Weber and Boris Aplin.
Script was by Winifred Wolf.
Music was under the direction of John Gart.
Today's true OSS adventure was based on the book Cloak and Dagger by Corey Ford and Alastair McBain.
This has been a Louis G. Cowan production in association with Alfred Hollander and was under the direction and supervision of Sherman Marks.
Stay tuned for the second big mystery high adventure on NBC.