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 Trap, about an OSS agent who prevented an American advance onto German soil from turning into a massacre,
is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington Files of the Office of Strategic Services.
A story that can now be told.
Did you ever notice the name Irwin, signed in a fancy flourish on the covers of those kid comic books?
You know, all about moon men chasing the earth men into the stratosphere?
Well, that's me, Irwin Hazen. I'm a little guy, about five foot four.
Before the war, I loved flashy ties and babies.
Girl babies, about 21.
So what was Irwin doing being an OSS spy in a German hell town in France after D-Day?
Listen, my children, and you shall hear.
Sergeant Irwin Hazen reporting, sir. Here are those overlay maps you requested, Colonel.
Good, good. Fast work, Sergeant.
Thank you, sir.
I'll look them over now. In the meantime, I'll go and get the documents.
Fast work, Sergeant. Thank you, sir. I'll look them over now. In the meantime, I want you to do something for me.
Yes, sir.
I've just had word that one of our agents, Lieutenant Miller, who was sent ahead into Royale for advanced reconnaissance, has returned.
Lieutenant Miller? Yes, sir, I know him.
He's in that tavern about a mile from the headquarters, getting very drunk.
I can't understand it. It doesn't sound like Miller.
No, sir. He should have reported immediately.
I want you to go down and bring him back to headquarters.
Yes, Colonel. Right away, sir.
Oh, Hazen, I saw that cartoon you submitted to Yank.
Oh?
Very good, very good. Not very flattering of me, though.
Uh, no, sir. I'll get Lieutenant Miller for you, Colonel, sir.
Not all of the 12,000 people working with the OSS parachuted blind into enemy territory.
Some of them stayed in Washington, making up secret codes.
Some of them, like me, sat behind a desk in France and drew maps.
But I was through sitting behind a desk the minute I walked into that tavern.
Lieutenant Miller was slumped over the bar, swaying back and forth, and he looked very drunk.
Hey, Lieutenant, what's with you?
Huh? Who's?
Colonel wants you to report to headquarters right away.
Oh, is that you, Irwin?
Boy, you get your ear chewed off for this. What's the idea? Couldn't this wait till later?
No. Couldn't wait. Couldn't make it otherwise.
Gotta get to the Colonel.
Say, bartender, how many has he had?
Only two. Very little one, Sergeant.
Oh, yeah?
Irwin, tell the Colonel I couldn't make it otherwise.
That you came. Can't make it now, maybe.
What are you talking about?
Tell Colonel Brière heavily fortified.
More than we thought. I saw it myself.
80 pieces of 105 millimeter artillery behind the lines.
Germans are digging in.
Well, come on back and tell him yourself.
Couldn't you have celebrated later?
Made it this far. Needed a drink to make it all the way.
Tell Colonel Brière heavily fortified.
Heavily fortified.
Miller!
The Lieutenant, he is pass out?
The Lieutenant, he is dead.
You see, Miller had been slumped over the bar, Colonel,
so I couldn't see those bullet wounds in his chest until he fell over.
The Germans must have caught on to him and given him a chase.
It's a wonder he got as far as he did.
Sergeant, you're sure about everything he told you?
Yes, sir.
But we were positive the Germans didn't have that much artillery on the 7th Army front.
If this is true and we had walked in not knowing what was ahead,
our men could have been massacred.
Thank you, Sergeant. You may go now.
Colonel, if you're going to send another agent into that territory
to get a more complete picture of what's going on, I'd like to volunteer.
Sergeant, a mission like this calls for an agent who's had experience along the East.
Yeah, yeah, I know, but you see, Lieutenant Miller was a friend of mine.
Besides, I'm sick of spending the war behind a drawing board.
Sergeant...
Look, I can do it, Colonel. I can speak French fluently.
And I'll do more than just look around and come back.
I'll come back with sketches and maps and diagrams, everything you want to know.
Look, Colonel, the next time I send a cartoon to Yank,
I'll make a very flattering one of you.
Please, Colonel, what do you say?
The OSS placed me in the custody of a French priest
who had sneaked through the lines from Briere
to tell the Americans about underground activity there.
A few days later, the priest and I were on the road,
30 miles away from the American hell town, walking smack into enemy territory.
The priest was in full clerical garb.
Me? I was dressed like a French peasant.
Then the Germans stop us, my son. Let me do the talking.
Well, I hope we get away with it.
Do not worry. Out of necessity,
I have become adept at making up very convincing lies.
Yeah, but do you think the Germans will believe this phony story?
What reason will they have to disbelieve it?
Besides, I am well known and respected in town.
The Germans have enough trouble now without staring at the antagonism of the people
by disciplining me for so small a reason.
Well, all I can say is I hope it works.
We'll have a chance to find out now.
There's the town.
Ah, and there is a welcoming committee.
Halt! Who goes there?
Remember, let me do the talking.
I say halt! Where are you?
Bonjour. I am Father Robert, priest of the church in this town.
And under this man?
A friend.
You're from this town. What are you doing behind the border?
Do you have permission?
Let me see your papers, your passes.
Most unfortunately, I did not wait to request a pass.
Well, so can see the harmony.
Come with me to the commandant's office.
With pleasure.
Come, my friend.
As well. There's no way back now, Father.
You have been given too much freedom in this town, Father Robert.
This insolence is too much.
But, Monsieur le Commandant, this poor lad...
You, where is he? Your name again?
Francois. Francois Jovin.
Call me by my title!
Francois Jovin, Herr Commandant.
Now go on with your story, Father Robert.
It is a sad, sad story of a dying woman and her last wish to see her nephew,
this lad, last remaining member of her family.
Her husband and two sons were killed in the early days of the war.
You see, I have the holy oils with me to give this poor woman the last sacraments.
And why did you not ask permission to get this boy?
I was afraid, Monsieur le Commandant, that by the time the permission was granted,
it might be too late. The woman might die. So I slipped out.
When did you last see your aunt, Jovin?
Why, over three years ago, Herr Commandant.
And this is most irregular?
Surely the request of a dying woman.
Well, I'll let you go this time, Father Robert.
There's enough unrest in this town without starting a tempest in a teapot.
One more question.
Yes, Monsieur?
If you managed to slip through the lines going out,
why is it you did not attempt to sneak back into town
instead of walking boldly up to the borderline?
Sneak back into town? Why, Monsieur le Commandant,
that would be against regulations.
But I do not understand either, Father Robert.
Or is it that you did not try to sneak back into town?
Our American friend, Erwin...
Pardon, Francois. He can tell you that.
Well, you see, Madame Jeanette, this way, if the Germans know I'm in town
and supposedly staying with an aunt,
I can move freely about without being suspected.
Oh, I see. I see.
The time is late. I must go now.
Oh, Madame Jeanette.
Eh oui?
If Monsieur le Commandant should inquire,
I did administer the last rites to you,
but the sight of your dear nephew brought to life
flowing back into your veins.
Of course.
We do not have something to eat before you go.
I have not much to...
No, no, merci. I have much work to do.
By the way, that last meeting of the underground went very well,
don't you think?
Oui, mon pere. Very well, indeed.
Well, I can't thank you enough, Father, for everything you've done.
Oh, why? Oh, why, mon ami.
Perhaps we shall meet again. Who knows?
If not, I'll be with you on your mission.
Thank you, Father.
And, my son, be very careful.
Monsieur le Commandant is not very bright,
but unfortunately he is not a complete idiot.
Moi.
That was the last I saw of Father Robert.
It happened like that all during the war.
A member of the underground would come along,
get us over a rough spot, and then disappear.
But without all the help from all the little people along the way,
none of the work of the OSS could have been done.
They helped, they wished us luck, they left.
After a few days of staying with Madame Jeanette,
I almost felt that she was a relative.
The old girl practically adopted me.
Erwin?
Hmm?
One thing.
What Father Robert told the Commandant?
It was not a lie.
Well, what was that?
I did lose my husband and two sons in the early days of the war.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Eh, hello.
What has been good these last days?
I've been looking for you, making up another bed,
as if I had my family again.
Are you being very careful?
Well, I mind my own business, look around the town.
From all I can tell, there are just a handful occupying it,
just the way headquarters saw it.
Looks like a pushover.
Perhaps it is.
Perhaps the agent who was here before you was mistaken.
Miller?
The Nazis didn't pump air into him for nothing.
He saw something.
Madam Jeanette.
Oui?
Here, let me fill your plate again.
Look, what's the best way to get through the forest
to the river north of Brie.
I'm going to take a look around there.
Ah oui, oui, perhaps the river.
There may be something there.
A guard is always posted.
I thought it was just to keep the townspeople from leaving,
but perhaps, perhaps there is something else.
Is there a way past the guard?
Ah, I have lived here all my life.
I know a way.
I will show you, even take you part way, myself.
The woods began about a hundred yards back
of Madam Jeanette's little house,
and early the next morning we started through them.
I followed her through the thick brambles,
through the narrow paths she knew so well,
through the brush and the high grass
that moved gently in the wind.
Madam Jeanette's skirt caught on the brambles,
and she stopped, just long enough to rip off
that part of her hem and leave it behind,
swaying in the wind.
Then she moved on, me right behind her.
Maybe this would turn into a wild goose chase,
but I had a hunch I'd find what I came for.
Then we came to a slight clearing.
I will go back now, Erwin.
We turned later the way we came.
You remember?
Yes, yes, I remember.
Go now along the outskirts of this little wood.
You'll see a hill.
From there you will have a good view of the river
and anything that might be there.
All right, I'll see you later.
Careful, careful now.
A minute afterwards she was swallowed up in the woods.
A little while after that I was on top of that hill,
flat on my stomach under a clump of bushes,
looking down through strong binoculars.
My hunch was right.
It was all there, and I began to sketch it quickly,
but accurately.
From somewhere the Nazis had gotten reinforcements
and their high command had decided to make a stand,
dig in and hold, there at the river.
There were heavy artillery positions all set up,
machine gun and anti-tank emplacements.
There was barbed wire, lots of it.
There were anti-tank obstacles
and the 105-millimeter artillery Miller had seen,
all of it there.
A nice big booby trap all set for our men to walk into
when they tried to advance north across the river.
I couldn't hear them, but I could see them,
swarms of German soldiers working hard, working fast,
digging in, getting ready.
I took down everything I saw, and I had it complete
except for the west bank of the river near the bridge.
There were too many trees blocking my vision.
I had to get closer.
By the time I got to the bottom of the hill
and crawled along through the brush to the west bank,
I didn't just see the Germans, I could hear them as well.
See that now the orders are carried out.
There must be no slip-ups.
Jawohl, Hafmann.
Oh, and Leutnant.
Jawohl.
See that more guards are posted at the edge of the town.
The commandant wants no one snooping around here.
Very well. No one will get through.
There were too many of them all around.
I knew it would be crazy to try to get any further without a plan.
I had to have time to think about a way.
I waited until they left.
Then I slipped back the way I came,
up the hill and through the woods to Madame Jeannette's.
I went around the back,
so I didn't see the commandant until I walked in.
Ah, François, you are back.
Yes, I...
Bonjour, Herr Commandant.
I have been waiting for you.
Well, is there something wrong?
No, no, of course not, François.
I am here to talk, Madame.
François Jouvin.
I believe Father Robert told me that is your name.
That is correct.
It was through the kindness and understanding of the German high command here
that you were allowed to see your sick aunt.
You understand that, do you not?
Oh, yes, I appreciate that.
It was irregular, but we let you in.
However, I am here to tell you that you had better have no illusions
about leaving Bruyere now,
going back through the American lines to your village there.
Well, no, no, I have no wish to leave.
Why, you... you've anticipated me here, Commandant.
I was going to request permission to stay here with my aunt from now on.
I was in the square today looking for work.
Oh, they are good, as long as you understand.
Madame, if you will allow me to say so,
you look very well indeed.
Oh, she was very ill when I came.
Father Robert gave her last rites.
I wish to speak to you. I'm not talking to you.
My nephew is correct, but so are you, Herr Commandant.
I was very ill, but I am very well now.
Yeah.
Well, that was all I wanted.
I will go now.
But remember, you are not to leave Bruyere.
What the Commandant didn't know was that I had no intention of leaving
until I made the sketches of the west bank of the river.
Late that night, Madame Jeanette helped me bury the plans and diagrams
I had already drawn.
You are right, my boy.
To bury these here behind the house rather than leave them inside, it is safe.
Okay, that's deep enough.
Now, I put this rock on top of them.
There, that's done now.
You will go back tomorrow?
No, I've got to get a good look at the west bank of the river.
Ah, it is wise you did not try to press further ahead today.
It would have been too dangerous.
I know another way through the forest.
Well, tell me.
It is a roundabout way, but it will bring you closer to the west bank.
Or closer enough, at least, so that you will have a better view than before.
Ah, but if there are so many troops, as you say, do not get too close.
When you have finished, come back to the woods the same way.
I will be waiting.
I did exactly as she said, took the long way round, across little streams,
watched for landmarks, dropped from high rocks and landed on rough little paths
that were hidden by the brush.
I did everything she said, except one thing.
I got too close.
Sergeant, you are laying those mines too far apart.
What would you be doing?
With these defenses, we will be ready for anything, Lord Marlborough.
No water.
I decided I better get out of there.
And as I started, a twig under me snapped.
What was that?
Did you hear something in the brush?
Hmm, probably some small animal in the forest.
Go see.
Come on, Herr Hauptmann.
There is nothing here, Herr Hauptmann.
Make sure, remember the fragment of a woman's dress we found in the woods this morning?
I was crouched down behind a rock, and the German lieutenant came so close,
I could have reached out and touched his mud-kicked boot.
He stopped for a minute, and then he walked right past me.
There was nothing there.
Well, we can't be too careful.
Come with me, there is something I want to show you here.
I had everything indicated on my sketches, minefields, tank positions.
I knew everything about the west bank of the river I wanted to know.
When the coast seemed clear, I started back.
But I didn't get very far.
Halt! Keep your hands up! In the air!
I took a couple of steps and then slammed myself into a shallow ditch.
I remember German burp guns and rifles cracking around me.
A bullet went through the heel of my boot and sent a shock up my leg
that made me wonder if it had been blown off.
Then it was quiet, and I waited for them to come and get me.
It was all over.
Perhaps that will convince you we mean what we say.
Look, I tell you, my name is Francois Jovain.
You know my aunt, she's...
What were you doing near the river?
I'm new in Brouillet. I don't know the forest or the woods. I was lost.
My aunt, perhaps another taste of your fist?
With great pleasure.
Get him up. Put him back on the chair.
Now listen to me, Jovain, whatever your name is.
We found this sketch of the bridge and the west bank of the river in your pocket.
Look, I don't know. I don't know anything.
That part of the sketch is quite complete, every detail.
The rest is diagrammed in lightly.
Where are the rest of these plans?
I don't know.
Have you hidden them? Where? Have you given them to somebody? Whom?
Where are the rest of them?
Keine Antwort, eh?
But not...
Try twisting his arm again.
He is fainted.
Have him thrown in a cell.
I will question him more tomorrow.
That was the German way of questioning.
Beating you up, twisting your arm.
I was sure they had a lot more ways of questioning, but I didn't intend to stay and find out what they were.
I had to figure out a way to escape.
And then I noticed it.
The glass of the window in front of the bars had been shattered.
I broke off a piece and then I cut myself severely about the face.
I guess it doesn't sound pretty and it didn't look very pretty.
But that was the effect I wanted.
I heard the guard coming back.
Quickly I threw myself on the floor in front of the door so that when the heavy door was opened it would crash into my head.
The Commandant wants to see you.
What's this?
Hair! I must get hair!
My hair was matted with blood and my cut-up face looked pretty horrible.
Not that the guard was worried about the state of my health.
He was afraid of what the Commandant would do to him if I wasn't able to be questioned.
He left the cell door open and ran.
And so did I, in the other direction.
I ran up the stairs to the second floor of the small town jail the Germans had taken over.
Down below I could hear voices.
I didn't wait to hear any more.
I slid down the sloping roof and landed right next to a German soldier.
Halt!
It was a good thing it was my left arm they had twisted. I was better with my right anyway.
I took his gun and ammunition belt and shot the front tires of the German cars.
Then I borrowed a parked motorcycle.
Just as the Germans were spilling out the front door, I drove off, headed back to where I'd buried the papers.
But the papers were gone.
Everything I had worked on so painstakingly.
The maps, the diagrams, the sketches, the plans.
They were gone.
Madame Jeanette.
Maybe she had them.
Madame Jeanette! Madame Jeanette! Open up!
Yes? What do you want?
Madame Jeanette, where is she? I've got to see her.
You cannot.
But I've got to, it's important.
Look, who are you? Where's Madame Jeanette?
She died.
What? What did you say?
She died yesterday.
Died? But I don't...
The Germans!
If they're after you, go! I want no trouble, go!
I want no trouble, go!
That motorcycle ride through enemy-held territory with that car full of Nazis firing at me
was wilder than the stories in the comic books I used to draw for.
There was a phosphorus grenade on the ammunition belt I had taken from the soldier outside the prison.
I put the pin with my teeth and tossed it back over my shoulder.
Through the side mirror I could see the German car slowing down.
It stopped right over the grenade.
And a minute later there was a car full of very dead Nazis.
Well, that's all that happened, Colonel.
The sketches are gone, but I think I can remember most of them.
The ones I drew last, the west bank of the river, I know completely.
For the rest I'll do the best I can.
Did your sketches look anything like this, Sergeant?
What? But those are the sketches.
I don't understand, where did you...
Corporal.
Yes, Colonel?
Send in the woman.
Woman? What woman? I don't get this.
This way, ma'am.
Hello, Erwin.
Madam Jeanette, I heard you were dead.
Your face. What happened to your face?
Look, never mind that. Just tell me.
Oh, when I learned you were arrested I dug up the plans.
And with other ground help I got them through the lines to deliver them for you.
Yes, but that woman...
She had her orders. She was doing as I told her.
Colonel, you know that tavern about a half mile from headquarters?
Yes, Sergeant.
Well, do you mind very much if I go there and get very drunk?
The maps, diagrams and information which Sergeant Erwin Hazen provided
allowed the American army to prepare a counteroffensive.
Three days later they were on German soil.
And the report of another OSS agent closes with the words,
Mission accomplished.
Listen again next week to another adventure based on actual incidents
from the files of the OSS on...
Cloak and Dagger.
Heard in today's Cloak and Dagger adventure as Erwin was Everett Sloan.
The priest, Barry Kroger.
The commandant, Stefan Schnabel.
Madame Jeanette Virginia Payne.
The Colonel, Raymond Edward Johnson.
Others were Carl Weber, Jerry Jarrett, Ralph Bell and Lottie Stavitsky.
The script was written by Winifred Wolf and Jack Gordon.
And the 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 Halister McBain.
This has been a Louis G. Cowan production in association with Alfred Hollander.
It was under the direction and supervision of Sherman Marks.
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