He would later on return to Germany to start over. Anna was a Tyrolean hotelier who gave the team shelter, support, and protection from the Nazis at the risk of her own life, and who once cried out, both in despair and defiance, If Hitler wins the war, then I dont believe in God anymore. A film on Greenup would have it all: a righteous cause, victims fighting back, nail-biting chase scenesit couldnt help but score big at the box office. Data gleaned from these reports helped US intelligence officers explode the myth that the Germans were concentrating men and weapons in the south for the Alpine redoubt. Despite being captured by the Gestapo and nearly tortured to death, Mayer was able to make contact with a number of local officials, including Franz Hofer, the Nazi Gauleiter(district leader) of Tyrol. While Tarantino's films have featured many strong female characters, the director's treatment of women in real life has been the subject of controversy. Finally, an intrepid American Air Corps pilot, Lt. John Billings, and his crew stepped forward and volunteered. Mayer was assigned to the German Operational Group before heading out. Mayer died in 2016, aged 94. Edit Search New Search Jump to Filters. Franz Weber. He introduced himself as Lt. Mayer of the OSS and explained that he was going to take the major with him to accept the German surrender from Hofer. When Georg Weber was born about 1506, in Mollis, Glarus, Switzerland, his father, Franz Weber, was 33 and his mother, Weber, was 33. When he is not skiing, Weber's schedule is filled with promotional and personal appearances for sponsors, celebrity sports events, speaking engagements and charity events. They recommended him for the Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ , Last week we posted a story on the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and how after 73 years they were finally recognized as a group and were honored with a Congressional Gold Medal. 1 was here. Quentin Tarantino's 2009 war film was partly based on a real story. All rights reserved. The true story reads better than the fictional one, although I admit a fondness for Tarantino films however. Over 40.000 pages on the officers, the boats, technology and the Allied efforts to counter the U-boat threat. See Photos. Once in place, Mayer posed as a German . This enabled him to pick upinformation from other German officers, which Wijnberg relayed back to the OSS. Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria, on December 18, 1863, the oldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, who was the younger brother of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph. By Tom Linder West Hawaii Today tlinder@westhawaiitoday.com | Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 12:05 a.m. Franz Weber, a longtime Kona resident, started Paying it Forward, which serves as a bridge between . Franz Weber (actor) (1888-1962), German actor Franz Weber (footballer) (1888-? . By now, those of you have seen Tarantinos film should be thinking Inglourious Basterds. Mayer, Wijnberg, and Weber are the real thing, the actual basterds, and indeed, Mayer himself is once supposed to have said that the three of them just wanted to kill Nazis.. Hans Landa chokes Bridget Von Hammersmark to death. The OGs were the Special Forces of WWII, theyd support resistance groups and train for guerrilla warfare. The members of Operation Greenup ended up helping the Allies get their victory and were later on decorated for their heroic services during the war. Their mission: to compile reports on German rail traffic over the Brenner Pass between Italy and Austria. Just dont hurt my family., Mayer was disgusted, What the hell do you think we are? Like many other Germans by the end of the war, Hofer was looking for a safeguard with the Allies to secure his own freedom. Mayer then turned his back on the agent and the war, refusing to speak about it for decades. As the troops approached the city, they saw a car with a large white bed sheet attached to a pole racing toward them. STIWOT, 1999-2023. One, an engineer, had worked on the German Fuhrers bunker in Berlin. But rather than doing that, why not just read the actual history of the war? *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. OK Theyd be sent into Nazi-occupied Europe and they knew what awaited them there as most were Jewish. Mayer radioed the exact location and dimensions back to headquarters. Hoffer, who had already anticipated the fall of Nazi Germany, met Mayer to discuss the possibility of a German rendition, and naturally, his own protection. Talking on the podcast "The Moment with Brian Koppelman,"the director said, "I told [Waltz], 'I'm not doing this to be perverse game playing everybody is so curious about who is playing Hans Landa. Air Force Special Operations Commandos owe part of their heritage to OSS pilots who flew many dangerous missions during the war. His parents and younger brotherwere all murdered in the Holocaust. The third soldier was the Austrian Franz Weber, a Nazi officer who had deserted the army. WORLD WAR II; Nov 27, 2015 Shahan Russell, Guest Author. Pernass, Manfred Franz Joachim, born on 03-08-1920 in Gollnow, the son of Willli Hermann Pernass and Charlotte Anna Elisabeth Ulrich, was a soldier in the German Army and set up in Operation Greif. Feigning the role of a captured German POW, Fred entered a camp and networked within its gates. Weber, a Catholic, had deserted, convinced . There is a nice WC on the ground floor with baby changing facilities. Heinrich Weber (1799-1848) married Susanna Fritz (1807-aft 1861) a. Franz Weber (this Franz Weber) b. Anna Maria Miller c. Elizabeth Herrman Provided by Trecil. The story of Operational Greenup deserves greater attention than it has received. Undeterred by the units previous record, Mayer and his friends approached the units commander, Lt. Alfred Ulmer, and begged to sign up. Franz Weber. Both programmetitles are somewhat misleading, since the members of Operation Greenup were tasked withgathering intelligence rather than directly killing Nazis, and the only connection with the filmInglorious Basterds is that they were American Jews operating behind enemy lines. Patrick K. ODonnell is a bestselling author and combat historian who has conducted over 5,000 oral history interviews with heroes like Frederick Mayer. The top and bottom have been folded over and stitched together. They were joined byFranz Weber, an ex-Wehrmacht officer turned freedom fighter comparable to the Basterds' Hugo Stiglitz. Here is the short version: two Jewish refugees to the United States, living in Brooklyn (Frederick Mayer, 23, and Hans Wijnberg, 22) enlist in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the postwar CIA, and parachute deep behind German lines into the Austrian province of Tyrol in February 1945. Their mission was to infiltrate the area around Innsbruck, Austria and monitor the reports of the Nazis stockpiling arms and ammunition there, the Alpine Redoubt. Working alongside Mr Mayer were Hans Wynberg, a Dutch-born Jew whose family had been deported to Auschwitz, and Franz Weber, an Austrian officer whose patriotism had led him to defect from the . The Gestapo burst in and arrested Mayer and took him to their HQs. Franz Weber currently works honorary as a teacher at the Clinic for Nephrology , University Hospital Essen. Franz Weber remains very active in numerous alpine skiing events and competes on the popular Legends/Champions Tour. Tarantino would later reedit his movie "The Hateful Eight" into a miniseries for Netflix. Weber stayed with his family, his fiances mother took Mayer in, and Wijnberg stayed at a neighbors house. In 2005, he and five others were honored by Austrian Chancellor Dr. Wolfgang Schssel for their athletic achievements and economic contributions to Austria. Franz Weber. Wijnberg was sent by his parents, along with his twin brother, from the Netherlands in 1939to live with his fathers business partner in the USA in 1939. 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Support Veteran Journalism . Major Bland West, an intelligence officer, saw a young man with a swollen face jumping out of the car. It's aged well, winning IndieWire's critics' poll for the best Tarantino movie a decade after its release. The war pitted the Central Powersmainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkeyagainst the Alliesmainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United . On 7 December 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, forcing America to enter the war. One of the OSS men chosen for this mission was Frederick Mayer. Frederick Mayer, right, with Franz Weber, left, and Hans Wijnberg, in an undated photograph, took part in the Greenup operation, parachuting into Austria in 1945 to spy on Nazi troop activity. The team would infiltrate using a blacked out B-24, After three months, Mayer changed his cover to that of a French electrician who was fleeing the Soviets. Franz Weber. Then he posed as a French electrician to infiltrate a Messerschmitt factory. Franz Weber. Franz Anton von Weber (* 26. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. son. John Billings, his command pilot on the mission, described Mayer as fearless about returning to Nazi Germany. "Literally, the only reason he auditioned me is because there was no one left to audition," said Kruger. The award was presented to him by the Austrian ski resorts for his contributions to the sport of skiing. In a scene that could have been ripped from the movie Where Eagles Dare, the team, clad in white ski parkas, parachuted onto the side of a 9,000-foot glacier. Part of the reason Tarantino decided to make "Kill Bill" first was due to the fact the story for his epic was growing so large in scale that he was having trouble cutting it down. Their mission was given the name of "Operation Greenup," and though their deeds aren't that well known, they manage to destabilize the Nazi regime. In one of the most incredible scenes from World War II, Frederick Mayer approached the American lines and informed the advancing 103rd division that the Germans had surrendered Innsbruck to him, saving potentially thousands of German and American lives in the process. He had Mayer brought to him. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. In April, Mayers superiors needed info on an underground factory that made jet engines. His torturers wanted to know the location of his radio operator, but Mayer insisted that he worked alone. Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. Kruger did consent to this, and she posted on Instagramin 2018 that Tarantino "treated me with utter respect and never abused his power or forced me to do anything I wasn't comfortable with." On November 26, 2007, Franz was the recipient of the prestigious Schneekristall award (providing him with lifelong free skiing privileges in Austria). Log In. The Gestapo agent that had mercilessly beaten him was taken to the very cell where he had tortured Mayer. Birth of Franz Weber. For the next several months, Mayer and his best friend Hans Winberg went about planning Operation Greenup. Donny Donowitz. Or are you interested in war medals and their recipients? Air Force, The only area to infiltrate was a small lake frozen over in the winter between the mountains. : an American History (Eric Foner) Business Law: Text and Cases (Kenneth W. Clarkson; Roger LeRoy Miller; Frank B. Its Like the First World WarIf We kill them, theyre just replaced, The Russo-Ukraine war: Implications for UK Defence, SMS Seeadler: A First World War Sailing Warship, Rishi Sunak to end asylum claims from small boat arrivals, Prince Harry: I always felt different to rest of family, Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks, Kuenssberg: Sunak can't escape past Tory horrors, Chris Rock talks about Will Smith's Oscars slap in a live Netflix show, Rail fares go up in England and Wales by 5.9%, Everything Everywhere sweeps Independent Spirit Awards, King's Coronation: Pubs to stay open longer in England and Wales, UK Weather: Snow and ice expected in Scotland and north of England, Ukraine war: The Moldovan enclave surrounded by pro-Russian forces. Cuffing his hands in front of him and pulling his arms over his bent knees, they forced him into a constricting fetal position, then shoved the barrel of a long rifle into the tiny gap behind his knees and his cuffed hands. They didn't end up killing Hitler, but they were able to negotiate the . General William Donovan the creator of OSS and a WWI Medal of Honor winner wanted PHDs who can win a bar fight but he also called them Glorious Amateurs as they learned as they went. RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. Feeling he had achieved his speed skiing goals, Franz permanently retired from the sport following the 1992 Olympics. But unlike other refugees, Mayer decided to return to German-occupied Europe to strike back at the very individuals who imprisoned some of his family members in concentration camps. The leader of the mission was Fred "Freddy" Mayer, who settled in Brooklyn in 1938 after escaping Nazi Germany with his family, having to leave the love of his life Hannah behind, who was . Tarantino worked on the script for years, made tough decisions in casting the film, and took time to get the final cut just right. The documentary ended with Fred Mayer talking to Hans Wijnberg via Skype. Greenup also discovered Hitlers location, as well as that of Mussolini. Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. Looking for reliable information or news facts about WW2? 129.303 mph/208.092 kph which he set in 1983 in Silverton, Colorado. Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, The OSS in Vietnam, 1945: A War of Missed Opportunities by Dixee Bartholomew-Feis, Secret Agents, Secret Armies: The D-Day Misfit Spies, Black Volunteer Infantry Platoons in World War II, Kasserine Pass: German Offensive, American Victory, Gallantry against Great Odds: LTC George Marshall and Operation RESERVIST, Prelude to Liberation: Genesis of American Amphibious Assault in the ETO, Black Thursday October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid, An Exercise in Depravity: The Establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto, Unsung Witnesses of the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalingrad: Experimentation, Adaptation, Implementation. They said if we were in there another 15 seconds, the stage we were on would have collapsed and we all would have been killed." He was a German Jew whose family emigrated from their home on the Western edge of the Black Forest in 1938 to make a new life in the United States. After reaching a small town outside Innsbruck, the Greenup team set up camp. While promoting her 2022 action movie "The 355," Diane Kruger appeared on the podcast "Reign with Josh Smith" and answered questions about how she got the role of German actress and spy Bridget Von Hammersmark in "Inglourious Basterds." Weber, Franz; Weber, Franz. (371) 7.4 52min 2012 13+. He was 94 years old. In 1997, he won the Legends Downhill Championship in Vail, Colorado and placed first overall in the Masters Division of the MCI World Downhill Championships. So convincing was his performance that the agent turned away from the team and started checking the papers of the other passengers. Jason Dawsey, PhD. At the Arcadia Conference, held in Washington, DC, from December 24, 1941 to January 14, 1942, the Western Allies agreed to a Germany First policy to govern global strategy, but the question where to engage Germany, and when, remained unsettled. Mayer, who is Jewish, and his family fled Germany at the onset of the war, barely escaping the holocaust. Franz Weller was captured in May 1945 by . Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. Both men joined the US Army, and were then approached to join the OSS, the US intelligence service,because of their language skills. This fact caught the attention of Franz Hofer, a member of the Reichsgau, a Nazi administrative subdivision based on occupied territories. Jason Dawsey, PhD, is a Research Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. As you can see, there are some similarities with Tarantino's film. Eventually, the man who fingered Mayer was brought in and he knew the ruse was up. A Nazi SS general responsible for deporting tens of thousands of Jews to death camps worked for West German intelligence after World War . A native Austrian, Weber fought on the Eastern Front but was convinced that Austria needed to be free of Hitler and the Nazis. Operation Greif was a special false flag operation commanded by Waffen SS commando, SS Obersturmbannfhrer, Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge, Skorzeny died age 67, on 05-07-1975, The . While Mayer was being tortured in a Nazi prison, another American agent was being interrogated by the Gestapo. He dominated the sport of speed skiing from 1980 to 1985, winning over eighty percent of the races he entered. In fact, it deserves nothing less than a movie. A couple of excellent books on the subject are : This Grim And Savage Game: The Oss And U.s. Covert Operations In World War II by Tom Moon and. You think they're gonna be one way and then they're not at all.". When the American 103rd Infantry Division of the Seventh Army closed in on Innsbruck on the morning of 3 May 1945, they were met by a car sporting a white bedsheet. On the outskirts of a sleepy West Virginia town lives 92-year-old Frederick Mayer. Mayer was the son of a German WWI veteran. He found and recruited deserter-volunteer, Franz Weber. Do you want to create your own battlefield tour to sights of wars from the past? Tarantino is also dyslexic, and Scott Meyers of the screenwriting website The Black List speculated that the unique spelling of the title is a tribute to Tarantino's general way of writing. This is a horrible place where the Nazis tortured and killed members of the Belgium resistance. Show Location on Map. info@nationalww2museum.org Tarantino's movies, "Inglourious Basterds" included, generally have such excellent casting that it's often weird to read about who almost played their iconic characters instead. For three days and nights, Mayer was savagely beaten, but he kept up his cover speaking only in French. Wijnberg and Weber had to flee, whilst Mayer was tortured by the Gestapo. The interrogation was watched by a third man, who eventually took Mayer to the house of Franz Hofer, the local Gauleiter [Nazi Party boss]. The OSS went to the only available source of that nearly impossible combination: an Allied prisoner of war camp. It wasn;t until they brought in the informant that Mayer finally admitted he was an American agent, but insisted that he worked alone. One of the most popular genres of WWII literature is espionage, the spy novel, the thriller. Books abound on the topic, dealing with undercover operatives, double agents, and breathless derring-do. Hotels near Franz Carl Weber Geneva: (0.04 mi) Htel de la Cigogne (0.10 mi) CitizenM Geneva Centre (0.09 mi) Bel'Esperance (0.12 mi) Htel Les Armures (0.05 mi) Hotel Longemalle; View all hotels near Franz Carl Weber Geneva on Tripadvisor.
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