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 adventure, Direct Line to Bombers, the story of an American OSS agent who during the height of the war, directed from the streets of Berlin, an American attack, is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services.
A story that can now be told.
After you get back from a mission, you sit around and there's nothing to do but sit around.
So that's what I did. I sat in a room in Milton Hall in England where OSS agents are trained. I thought about the restaurant on Sixth Avenue I wanted to open after the war. I was never so bored in my life.
Yeah?
Hey, Nicky, the Colonel wants to see you. Very important.
Okay, pal, tell my pal the Colonel I'll be there and win the war for him.
And that was how it all began, November 1944. After that, I didn't have time to be bored.
I know you've just come back from a mission in France, Lieutenant, so it's strictly up to you if you want to go out again immediately.
Oh, now listen pal, I mean, Colonel, if I have to sit around here and do nothing, I'll blow my top.
You speak German, don't you?
Well enough to know that Hitler speaks a lousy German full of grammatical errors. If I see him, I'll tell him.
You may be closer to him than you think.
Corporal?
Yes, Colonel?
Send in Professor Warburg.
That's how I met the Professor. He was a little guy with a beard. He weighed about as much as ten cents worth of liver.
He reminded me of my chemistry teacher back in Lincoln Junior High School.
Professor, tell Lieutenant Olesnikos just what you told me.
With the greatest of pleasure, Colonel. Lieutenant, I am an escaped political prisoner of the Nazis, and I am here in England illegally.
And you just walked into headquarters and told that to the Colonel, eh? Don't you know you can be interned?
I know that very well, but I can no longer sit by and be idle while I have a plan that I know can help the Allies.
What Professor Warburg suggests, Lieutenant, is that he be parachuted into Germany with another agent. Make his way to Berlin.
I assure you, I can move about Berlin blindfolded. I know it well.
Berlin? This could be interesting. What then?
Then, with a radio transmitter, we could pinpoint military targets to American planes overhead.
We could direct bombs from the streets of Berlin itself.
Wait a minute. Walk around with a walkie-talkie in the middle of a raid, carrying on conversation with bombers?
When do we leave, pal?
I am ready any time. Today, tomorrow, yesterday.
The Professor may have been ready yesterday, but the OSS wasn't.
The
First, we were briefed for weeks how to get food coupons in Berlin, how to buy a railroad ticket, how to post a letter, how to greet a German officer in the street.
Little things, an American cigarette, an English match, a laundry mark, could give us away. And there were big things, too.
We were grilled for hours on cover stories. Forgeries became documents, fiction became facts, passes, stamps, signatures, everything authentic, everything else, including my manners and habits.
But I was ready to pass as a citizen of Berlin. And then a plane took us high over German soil, and we jumped.
We made it, Nicky. Yeah. It's only a few kilometers to Berlin. We can walk it, make it before daylight.
We should find the farmer who owns this field and say thank you for providing us with so ideal a landing place.
Yeah, we'll send him a letter sometime. Right now, let's get out of here.
You will wait where you are. Kindly keep your hands in the air, unless you want that I blow your heads off or that my dog tear you to bits.
You've been a good dog keeping so still.
Well, as your farmer, Professor, you still want to say thank you.
See still, do not talk.
You have made a mistake, my friend. My companion and I got lost trying to find the road.
We came by accident on your field. That's right. We both of us only recently discharged from the army.
If you would care to see our papers right here in this nap.
If you don't keep your hands up, I will let the dog go for your throat.
I do not care to see your papers. I saw you parachute from an American plane.
Walk now to the barn. We'll see to it that you stay there.
Won't you, Rolf?
The German farmer left the barn and he didn't have to lock the door.
That big black doberman with the impatient fangs watched us as if he wanted us to make a move so we could jump.
If we get out of this, my friend, I shall never again be a dog lover.
Professor, don't move. Don't turn your head. Just listen to me.
Yeah, I'm listening.
There's some harness straps hanging on a hook right over my head. I noticed them when I came in.
If I can pull them down fast enough, I'll throw them over the dog when he leaps, trying to untangle.
Yeah, but...
There's some horse blankets near you. When I pull down the straps, throw the blanket over him.
It's got to be fast. Better work.
I'm ready.
On three then. One.
Nice boy. Nice, nice big ugly mutt.
Two. Three.
The harness caught on the nail as I tried to pull it down, the dog leaped at my neck.
Then the nail came off too and the straps fell across the dog's snout.
Professor flung the blankets over the dog's head.
I have him, Nicky, but I can't hold him.
The shovel? Where's that shovel I saw?
Hurry, hurry. I can't hold him.
Now I hit him again and again.
And then suddenly the only sound in the barn was the dull thud of the shovel.
The dog didn't move to make a sound.
He never would again.
We had better get out now.
Yeah, let's go.
The smell of a bakery is always good.
How fortunate it is I have only this morning made Pfefferkuchen, Josef.
Just the way you always liked it.
How good to see you again, Anne.
I'm so glad you're here.
I told my friend Nicky that you would take us in.
Help us?
Of course, Nicky. I will do anything I can.
We may stay here then, Anne.
If all goes well, we will leave right after the raid tomorrow night.
Yeah, 24 hours, all we need.
Of course you may stay.
I still live above the bakery. There is an extra room.
My grandson Emil will not be home from the youth camp for a week.
What could I do, Nicky?
What could anyone do in these days in Berlin but ride with the wind?
Until there is a chance to fight against it.
Helping you and your mission will give me my chance.
Little Emil, eight years ago seemed like only yesterday.
I used to sit with him on my lap here in this bakery and twirl my gold watch on the chain for him.
Remember, Anne, how he laughed?
Yeah, I remember. He has forgotten you by now.
And you would not know him. He is 13 years old.
Oh, 13 years old.
Already they have poisoned his mind.
I cannot get to him. I do not dare.
He is a little parrot speaking only what is taught him.
Nicky, some more coffee?
No, thank you, Frau Leitner.
More Pfefferkuchen or Apfelstrudel, a specialty of my shop. Apfelstrudel.
No, thanks.
Six years ago at this very table I had Emil on my lap when the Gestapo walked in and arrested me.
They did not like what I taught in their school.
What's that? Someone is coming?
I do not know who it can be. Customers never come by this late.
Grandmother, surprise, I am home.
Emil!
What these men?
Emil, your manners. These are friends just passing through Berlin.
They are just staying the night. This is Herr Neudeck and Herr Josef.
Vigets.
Heil Hitler.
Oh yes, of course. Heil Hitler.
I did not expect you until next week, Emil.
How is it you are here so early?
I won a great honor which I want to tell you about.
I did not know I'd have to share to a stranger.
Shame, Emil. These men were soldiers of the fatherland.
Yes?
Yes, Emil. We were both with the elite guard of one of Rommel's Panzer Division.
Rommel?
Yes. That is before we received our medical discharges.
Oh Rommel, sit down my boy. I will bring you something to eat.
Don't you want to hear about the honor you received?
Look Grandmother, on my sleeve.
A red swastika.
Yes, a red swastika for the youth movement. I learned my lessons faster than the others.
The commander-in-chief of the youth movement awarded me my swastika.
He told me I could take my vacation a week early.
Are you proud of me, Grandmother?
Yes, my boy. Yes. Let me get you something to eat.
Oh no, no, no. I'm too tired.
Going up to bed.
Grandmother said you were staying here. Will I see you in the morning, gentlemen?
Well, I'm not sure.
Oh, they will be here. Now that you are home, Emil, I will sleep on the couch and give them my room.
No, no please.
Oh, it is all right. It is settled.
Good. Perhaps then, Herr Josef, you will tell me about Rommel. A great leader.
Yes, yes, perhaps. We will see you in the morning, Emil.
Why do you stare at me?
Do I stare, boy?
I thought so. Have I met you before, Herr Josef?
No, I am sure not.
Your face. Ever since I came in.
Grandmother, have I met him here before?
No, no, Emil. Herr Josef was here before you were born even.
You have never seen him. It has been years.
Fifteen maybe. Before you were born.
I suppose so.
Well...
Good night.
Professor, he wouldn't remember, would he?
Oh, how could he, Nicky? He was a baby that last day Josef saw him.
Barely five years old. And the professor was thirty pounds heavier at least.
And clean shaven.
Yeah, yeah. Anna is right, Nicky. Do not worry.
He could not remember. Do not worry.
But I couldn't help worrying.
I lay awake half the night thinking about that kid in the room next door.
The thirteen year old puppet with the new red swastika.
It was just a feeling. I had a funny kind of feeling at the pit of my stomach
that made me wish they had kept him in that youth camp until after we were gone.
When I got up, the sun had been up for hours and so had the professor.
I went downstairs to the bakery. There was the smell of fresh bread baking
and I knew for our light and it was in the kitchen.
But the professor was sitting at the table swinging his watch on the gold chain
and talking to that German quiz kid.
What have you learned, Emil?
But why do you want to know?
Oh, I'm just interested. I want to see how well you have earned that swastika.
I stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened.
We have a leader who has revolutionized Germany.
He is the greatest man who ever was or will be.
When I joined the Fuhrer's organization, the man in charge said,
join no organization but this. Forward, forward. The banner leads us to eternity.
You have learned your lesson well.
Herr Josef, are you sure I have never seen you before?
Of course not, my boy.
I seem to remember.
Herr Josef.
Ah, good morning Herr Neudeck.
Since we're just passing through Berlin, don't you think we ought to see a few of the sites before we leave?
Yeah, yeah, you're right. We will leave now. Perhaps later, Emil, we will talk more.
The raid was scheduled for that night. The professor and I had a lot of work to do.
We made arrangements to meet about 4.30 that afternoon at a tavern on Wilhelmstraße.
We went separate ways.
I did a lot of walking and I made a lot of notes in my head.
The Klingenberg power plant was still functioning.
The Ostkreuz junction of the city railroad had been repaired.
There was an ammunition dump on the north side that our bombers couldn't see from the air.
It was a nice day, a lot of Germans were walking the streets and I made a lot of notes in my head.
You wish to order now, mein Herr?
Nein, nein, later. I am waiting for a friend.
The professor was 15 minutes late and I started to get nervous. Maybe somebody had recognized him.
I sat there and sweated it out. 15 minutes, 20 minutes, half hour.
Then he finally came, but he wasn't alone.
Herr Neudeck, this is Hauptmann Müller.
We met only this afternoon and I invited him to come and have dinner with us.
It was not quite that way, Herr Neudeck. It was I who insisted upon coming alone.
I, uh, give this a town.
You were with one of Rommel's panzer divisions, I understand.
Yes, we were only recently discharged from the army.
Myself, I am just back.
We will have much to talk about.
Where is that stupid waiter? They are never around when you need them.
He will be here presently.
Presently is not soon enough. I will go to see him myself. I'll be right back.
Where did you pick him up? He found me, my friend.
There is a reservoir near the rail line. I was looking around.
I think he was a little suspicious at first, but when I told him I was with Rommel, he became more friendly.
I am beginning to believe I was in Africa myself.
Just the same, I wish you could have shaken him.
What did you find out? It was a profitable afternoon.
And you? Profitable afternoon.
Good. He comes back.
Ah, yes. At first it seems strange to me that here, Josef here, should show so much interest in the reservoir.
Well, I was merely taking a stroll, getting reacquainted with Berlin.
Then I watched you. I saw you walk down towards the rail line.
That was when I stopped you and began to talk.
We are both glad you did, Herr Hauptmann.
You gave us this opportunity to get acquainted.
I hope we shall see more of you while we are in the capital.
Perhaps, Herr Neudeck. Perhaps you shall see a great deal of me.
I think I shall call the waiter and order some brenda.
Oh, Herr Neudeck, you have not yet finished your meal. You are still eating.
It's very good. Our diet at the hospital was not so varied.
No doubt, no doubt.
Everything I ate stuck in my throat. I wouldn't go down.
I knew that German officer was watching me as he talked.
Watching me strangely and I didn't know why.
I knew that something was wrong and I didn't know why.
Professor felt it too.
Her name is Gertrude, this little troller, and I tell you about it.
And she has friends.
Oh, some very pretty friends.
You would like to meet them, perhaps?
Yes, we would like to very much, Herr Hauptmann.
Ah, you would have enjoyed them.
We might have had great fun together, all of us.
Unfortunately, you may be otherwise engaged with the Gestapo.
What did you say, Herr Hauptmann?
I have been watching you all through dinner, Herr Neudeck.
You are an American. Do not move, either of you.
I have my hand on my tongue.
Surely you're joking.
No European eats the way you do.
To change the fork from the left hand to the right after the knife is used.
At first it escaped me. I just knew something bothered me.
Then I realized what it was.
There it was.
The little thing that could put a rope around my neck.
Only Americans hold the fork side where it's in the right hand.
In my nervousness, I'd forgotten a little thing like that European manner of eating.
The sharp knife I'd been eating with was still in my hand.
Almost as if it moved by itself, it disappeared under the table and halfway into the German office.
Jump!
Good work, Nicky.
Good. I was stupid to get myself into that jam in the first place.
We're not out of this yet.
Waiter, waiter.
I'm on here.
Check, please. A friend has had a little too much to drink.
We will take him home.
Right away.
Between the two of us, we managed to get him out of there.
His head was rocking back and forth like a drunk.
The knife was still in him, so the blood didn't flow very much.
We kept his cape around him.
All right. There is no one around here, Nicky.
We can dump him behind this shed.
All right. We're beginning to leave a trail a mile long.
So long, pal. It was nice meeting you.
Come on, Professor. Let's go.
When we got back to the bakery, there was more trouble waiting for us.
Trouble 61 inches high, weighing about 110 pounds,
wearing a new red swastika on his arm.
They're in the kitchen.
Something is wrong.
All right, the sound of that.
Come on.
Let's go.
All right, the sound of that. Come on.
You are confusing me with someone else, Amy.
No, no, no. Why are you so stubborn?
This morning when we were at Watch on the Chain,
I thought I remembered something. And just now, how I feel?
Oh, you have never seen her, Joseph, before, Amy.
I have. When I was very little, they get stoppies.
They arrested a man with a gold watch on a chain.
I tell you, he is the same one.
Amy, they do not even look alike, my boy.
And what about this? This broadcast radio I found
hidden in your bedroom in a hat box?
I... I...
It's called a walkie-talkie, Amy.
He'll give it back to me.
Mickey, Joseph, come back.
You see, you see, we've wasted time.
I should have gone to the authorities right away.
They have tricked you, Grandmother.
He knows, Anna.
I am afraid so.
I've been holding him here, hoping he would return.
What did you say? You knew Grandmother, didn't you?
They didn't trick you at all. Traitor.
You're a traitor too.
Amy, Amy, listen to me.
Get away from me. I hate you. I hate you.
Get away.
He's trying to run. I've got him.
Let me go. Let me go.
I report to the Gestapo. They'll kill you.
Have you shut?
I'm not doing a report, anyone.
What'll I do with him?
Upstairs, his bedroom.
Lock him there until after you have gone.
Let go of me. Get your hands off me.
I hate you. I hate you. Let me go.
You will have to come with us when we leave here tonight, Anna.
You cannot stay now.
Professor is right, Frau Leitner.
That kid upstairs will turn you over to the Nazis so fast
you won't know what happened to him.
My little Emil. Turn me in.
Josef, would he?
Yeah, I'm afraid he would, Anna.
It is best that you come with us.
They're going to try to get through the lines into France.
Once there, there are underground workers who will help us.
Yeah.
Nicky, is it all right if I bring this tray of food up to him?
He has not eaten.
He's still such a little boy.
Yeah, sure, sure. You?
I'll take it up, but don't untie his hands. Remember?
Yes, I will remember.
The raid ought to start soon.
Let's go over this map and make sure we have everything right.
Yeah.
Now, the rail line is here.
Sector two, grid B3.
If our bombers knock that out,
Berlin's transportation is completely crippled.
And here on the map,
power plant is in sector six, grid G5.
Nicky, he's gone.
What?
His hands. He got them loose.
He lowered himself from the window with the bedsheets.
What are we to do?
He'll bring the Gestapo back with him.
We don't know how long he's been gone.
Professor, the window, quick.
Yeah.
The back door.
There is a car coming. I can see it.
There is an alley and we can...
Now, look, look. No time. They'll have this place surrounded.
How do you get to the roof?
The roof, yeah, yeah. Up those stairs.
We can go to the other rooftops and perhaps escape.
There better be no perhaps about it.
We went up to the attic stairs and onto the roof.
You could see the Germans from there.
Four of them in black shirts spilled out of an armored car.
Two of them broke in through the front door.
Two of them started around to the rear.
Then we heard Emil.
They're out up there on the roof!
Emil, my boy! Don't burn!
Anna!
Nikki, Nikki, she's dead.
Well, it won't do her any good if we stay here.
Come on, across the parapet.
There they are.
Oh, that's music to my ears.
At least it'll keep them from getting more help right now.
Stay where you are!
Surrender now and it will go easier with you!
Come and get us, pal!
One of them did try to come and get us.
He got it first.
Right between the eyes.
He swayed for a few seconds back and forth
and then he fell off the roof onto the street.
That's one of them, Nikki.
There are only two left.
Two? What happened to the third division?
Behind you!
The fourth Nazi had come up the other way
through somebody else's attic and onto the roof behind.
Get your hands up!
Now there are just two left, Professor.
Professor, what is it?
My leg. I can't move it.
I can't go any further, Nikki.
What happened afterwards was a nightmare.
It was as if the earth cracked wide open.
It was red hot and burning and the noise of the planes and the AK-AK
and the German guns and the bombing made my...my stomach turn.
We crouched behind a parapet and I held them off
while the professor directed the bombs.
Attention! Attention, bombers!
The Klingenberg power plant is still functioning
and supplies electric power to vital industries.
Bomb sector six, grid G5.
The Ostkreutz junction of the city railroad has been repaired.
Knock it out and all traffic in Berlin will be stopped.
Sector two, grid B3.
All right, go now, Nikki, while there is a chance.
I can hold them off long enough for you to get away.
I can't leave you here.
No, no, they won't take me. Don't worry.
Now look, I'll carry you. We'll make it. Come on.
Listen, listen to me, Nikki.
Go across the next two rooftops and then down through the skylight.
There is a tailor shop.
Go out the back door there. It leads to an alley.
Once over the fence on the cover of the rage, you can make it.
Now look, I won't go without you.
All right, I will change your mind.
Attention! Attention, bombers!
Hey, what are you doing?
Attention, bombers!
Imperative! Wait two minutes
and bomb crossroads at sector seven, grid D3.
Hey, professor, what are you doing? You're crazy!
That's here, this sector.
Go on, run. Run, Nikki. I'll cover you.
I ran. I stumbled and fell and got up and ran again.
When I got down in the alley through the tailor shop, I kept on running.
And then the bomb fell and the concussion rocked the ground
and I went flat on my face.
When I looked back, I knew that our bombers had made another direct hit.
The professor had not only held off the Germans while I got away,
but kept them there until it was too late for any of them.
A little German bakery that specialized in Obfuscsteudel
folded up and made of matchsticks.
Somewhere in the wreckage, the professor with his gold watch on the chain
was buried under it.
And overhead the planes headed back.
There was nothing left for me there.
I headed back too.
Lieutenant Gasolasnikas made his way to France
and after months from there to England.
But his direction of the bombing raid from the target itself
kept some of Berlin's major industries crippled
and its transportation system in check.
The bomb was dropped on the ground
and Berlin's major industries crippled and its transportation system paralyzed.
And once again the report of an OSS agent closes with the words...
Mission accomplished.
Listen next week when we again present...
Cloak and Dagger.
Heard in today's Cloak and Dagger adventure were Everett Sloan,
Bill Zuckert, Lily Darvoss, Barry Kroger, Michael Artis,
John Edward Johnson, Carl Weber, Jerry Jarrett, Bobby Weil and Brad Barker.
Script was written by Winifred Wolf and Jack Gordon.
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.
NBC offers three of radio's top mystery adventure shows.
The Big Guy, Sam Spade and The Saint.
So if mysteries are your meat, listen in tonight.
Next here, high adventure, then The Big Guy on NBC.