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A collection ol articles on Ihe historical, operational, doctrinal, and theoretical aspects ol intelligence
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Recenf Boofci
COUNT FIVE AND DIE. By Barry Wynne, as told by Colonel William. (New York: Ballantlne.
This purports to be an OSSecent addition to the literature ol the over-stuffed American pocket. It waspublished in England earlyt subsequently appearedutchndovie version. Mr. Eliseu (who allegedly took part in tbe operation) Is one of the sponsors of the OSS television feature which has appeared in the United States since the fall
Both the English and American editions claim to be true accounts except for changes in "certain minor incidents and tbe names of leadinghe Americaneinforces this claimurported introduction byDonovan. General Donovan's alleged accreditation of the story makes the book of Interest to the mteUigenceand injects an element of mystery into what appears toastily acaled-up versionovie script TbeHow was General Donovan led to underwrite as factual and truthful. If he did, an account of OSS activity soigment of the Imagination?
'London: eouvtnlr Press
*ref totterjl (Amsterdam: achanena and Olltey, ISM.)
Recent 8ooki
book's story line is as diaphanous as the habit of its principal character, one Hannieoothsome Abwehr agent At the story's start in the springhe is plying her blond lissomenessnameless Lt. Colonel" of OSS Algiers. Having learned from the hapless officer the place and time of the Allied attack on Sicily and perhaps the details of some OSS missions, she repatriates to Germany by submarine at the endhe receives the personalof Canaris' successor, Kaltenbrunner, who sends her early4 to England.
Infiltrated by submarine in March. Hannie is the same Dutch refugee she was in Algiers: cover in her case is as light as her baggage. She sets herself upondon apart-ment and proceeds to take over directionesident German IS net consisting of four individuals, including two radiowhich had presumably been successful in defyingsecurity forces from the beginning of the war. Hertarget is the Americans; her mission is to ascertain the time and place of the upcoming Allied attack on the continent. With aone feels,she locks with an OSS officer in London, thisaptain. Traces of her Algiers activity carried in the heads of officers in OSS London are her downfall.
A joint British-OSSs laid onOSS supervision to permit the Captain to develop theunwittingly with Hannie and guide her into atailored Dutch resistance organization In London. Thereafteringular example of an unwittingagent, is built up and fed deception material on the cross-channel attack. OSS London sacrifices the lives of two Dutch resistance operatives in order to makeetter .fiy-trap;ops-and-robbers ending the GIS net ta England is rolled up by OSS (and theut Hannie Is permitted tothe tain tod information to Berlin. The outcome,to tbe author,iversion of Nazi military forces toignificant contribution to unbalancing the' strength available to oppose the Allied landing ta Normandy. Hannie forfeits her life to Kaltenbrunner when it ia realized that her information was false.
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All of this Is fiction purporting to be fact. An examination of OSS and other official materials has produced no evidence to authenticate the account, even if one allows the maximum for changes "in certain minor incidents and the names of leadingeginning with Mr. Eliscu's colonelcy, his ORE. and his claim of participation in the "Stampede" operation, the story comes apart at the seams when subjected to critical review. The record or Oerman intelligence activity in World Warnows no character or composite identifiable with Hannle He rod sen. It is now known that the British security services controlled or neutralized all OIS operations in the UK during that period. There is no trace In OSSof an operation entitled "Stampede" or otherwise identifiable with what Is described In the book. The extensive interrogations and testimony of Kaltenbrunnerontain nothing to support the story. Finally, the official Dutch resistance has been unable to identify the twopurportedly sacrificed.
The mystery of the Donovan imprimatur is. therefore, of more than casual interest: the endorsement was decisive In quieting the skepticismeviewer in one of the national newshe issues raised by Mr. Eliscu's TVof OSS were put sharply in the press* Because the OSS is tbe foundation of US. national intelligence and counterintelligence abroad, the questions raised by Count Five
' Nemuretk,: 'If Count Fine and DieIntroduced and vouched for by Gen William J.easily be mistakenighly Implausible piece of spyHowever, British author Barry Wynne's story Isorker-
"The New York rtnas,bserved, "rhen.conld be aa engrossing TV soles to some of Ux courageous and imaglnaUrr achievements ot the men wbo served in OSB. But these are stories that should be presented with careful Odeflty to detail and without the shabby, melodramatic nourishes that marked this telecast" In November IH1 the Washington Daily Hettt,imitar review, questioned whetherood Idea for the OSS te beon TV by the series under thathich It found to be "nothins more than the same old foreign intrigue stall that baa clattered the little screenInch days- '
Original document.
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