The Real Inglorious Basterds: The Men Who Hunted Nazi Soldiers Behind Enemy Lines | Timeline

[Music] this is the true story behind a glorious bastards Jewish Americans who were refugees of Nazi Germany that go back behind the lines for vengeance we were dedicated to killing Nazis and doing it Behind Enemy Lines that's what we are trained for and that's what we volunteered for Lieutenant he said the only thing you have to know is have a gun in your hand and aim it at a German and do this that's all the trading I'm going to give you I kept beating me more and more in act that on my back th this is almost like a suicide mission it's a situation where the truth is way Stranger Than Fiction War has been raging in Europe for 4 years US forces have been engaged for a year and a half all along America has been waging a secret War the OSS has been training Commandos to parachute Behind Enemy Lines one of the most successful of the missions was Operation Greenup operation Greenup was made up of several men that were a refugees from Nazi Germany that were Jewish they did the amazing thing of going back to strike back at Nazi Germany probably the most hostile police state in history the team was led by Fred mayor Fred Mayer was daring and audacious willing to roll the dice on his life to accomplish the mission it felt like I had my chance to do what I set out to do to kill Nazis that's why all the Jewish boys joined Hans windberg the radio operator was the lifeline of the mission because a team behind the lines in Nazi Germany without a radio is absolutely dead I was 15 16 when Munich and Czechoslovakia and Austria were overrun when Hitler came the Germans who fled Germany came through our town we were very much aware of it the evil or fascism it started right away in 1933 when Hitler took power the flag for the handwriting on the wall all the public buildings spasticus that was the end of democracy Fred Meyer was a Jewish teenager living in Hitler's Germany his father was a patriot who fought in the first world war my father kept insisting oh I'm a war veteran and all that nothing is going to happen to us my mother said well as Jews there'll be no preference and he was right but my father was active in the anti-nazi party here Jews were fleeing Germany so my father was completely up to dat and he apparently didn't trust it hans's father decided to send him to America with his twin brother a business associate agreed to take over guardianship of the young twins their father sent 3600 to the United States probably a Year's income an enormous amount of money whole family said to my father Leo how can you be such a nut to send 16y olds to the land of cowboys and Indians the whole family was against it except my mother Hans and his twin brother left behind their parents younger brother and extended family in Holland they would never see them again I will never know all the details I believe they were they tried to flee to Switzerland and they were either betrayed or caught at the border and my father was sent to a concentration camp in Poland and my mother and my brother who was at time 16 17 were guest in outwit Fred was one of the lucky ones he managed to escape to America with his immediate family we were able to come to the United States just in time from then on until the war ended Germany was my enemy and I had no Scruples doing my utmost to destroy them December 7th 1941 the Japanese attacked K Harper the next day I was in line for the recruiting station I had a good combination hatred and love hatred for the Nazis and love for America like Fred Hans was ready to fight as soon as he was of legal age one day before my 21st birthday I became an American citizen and then I was in the Army for every and HS quickly found out that Army life wasn't what they'd expected Pi me you KP it wasn't interesting enough just to be another number that wasn't for me the Army identified Fred and Hans as recruits with special talents they had language skills knew the culture Behind Enemy Lines and most importantly they were motivated to take on high-risk missions somebody from Washington came up to me I hear that you speak Dutch I say yeah do you want to liberate your country I said yeah all right if you sign here you can go and join the OSS I've never heard of the OSS gorilla sabur Commando Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of these names in the news of World War II the US didn't really have until late 30s did not have anything in a way of an of a intelligence organization and we had a Secretary of War Henry sson who said gentlemen don't read other people's mail and so you can imagine where the OS has started with nothing the oss commandeered the Congressional Country Club to train recruits this was the General T area as I remembered that's where we did our demolition exercises and we blew up some of the good trees these were the dirty dozen of the day a mly crew of men from all walks of life German refugees alopa pilot a butcher one guy said it perfectly it's the craziest group of men I've ever been with and they also shared a common passion of striking back at Nazi Germany they took us to train Us in Small Arms the lieutenant he got us up in the morning he said the only thing you have to know is this that is to have a gun in your hand and aim it at a German and do this that's all the training I'm going to give you but there was more training almost a year of it covering all the basics of gorilla Warfare knife fighing hand toand combat underwater demolition bco parachute School how to use a pistol working with explosives night training how to own Lo very scary movies about venial diseases never anything about intelligence that was strictly disruption of the enemy and we put our hearts into it they told us that slim chance of survival would you still be willing to do it none of us pulled out Fred and Hans bonded through the training sessions they connected almost like family I felt like he was my little brother I kind of felt he needed somebody to protect him he was so young so young looking so I became his big brother he was almost aead taller than I was but still his face if you looked at him he was just a young boy yeah like a brother yeah he always impressed me a strong personality uh knew what he wanted bossy that's why I got divorced so soon treat yourself to the best gift in history this holiday season enjoy unlimited access to award-winning podcasts and thousands of hours of original history documentaries released weekly exclusively on History hit there are topics for all history lovers from Pompei to D-Day sign up via the link in the description for an exclusive discount don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to explore the past like never before with history hit Dino Lowenstein a commanding officer in the OSS recalls the two men Freddy was sort of a well I shouldn't call him a rfan that's not really fair but he was willing to you know to play the thing rough uh he would have killed somebody else if he had to and this sort of thing Hans had this purity of soul and he was motivated but he would have like to do it with a minimum of nasty things to other [Music] people D June 6th 1944 Allied Forces launched the largest invasion in history against the Germans in Normandy every available body is tapped into action but Fred and Hans find themselves in military limbo their station to North Africa far from any action you have this high-speed Commando unit that has been training for months they're going to do this specialized Mission behind the lines of Nazi Germany and they get into North Africa and nobody knows who they are it's suddenly they're lost in this bureaucratic Shuffle because nobody knew who they were it was the OSS it was a secret organization Freddy and I said we're never going to see any action war is almost over so then Freddy says well we're going to take this we're going to go to the higher officer that's when I decided that's enough I'm going to headquarters and ask for a transfer to intelligence friend and Hans are transferred to intelligence headquarters in Barry Italy the staging ground for all covert operations in southern Europe ready for action Fred comes up with a plan well he explained this plan that they were they wanted to be dropped with arms on top of D and they were going to distribute the arms to the inmates and they were going going to start a revolution that way and uh my reaction was very negative he might as well drop out the window which would be in the long run more economical and more practical instead the team is sent into the Austrian state of tyru on a near suicidal Mission codenamed operation Greenup operation Greenup had two key goals one was to monitor the rail traffic in the brener pass the main Supply route from Nazi Germany into Italy it had been bombed relentlessly by the Air Corp but nothing was stopping the flow of rail traffic the brener pass runs through tyru a German stronghold governed by France Hofer Hofer an extremist joined the Nazi party years before Hitler's triumphant annexation of Austria the other key goal is to identify and find out what was going on in the Alpine Ral it is rumored Hofer is building an impenetrable Fortress in the tyrolean Alps here Nazi zealots will rally and make their Last Stand H's dream threatens to prolong the war for months maybe even years France Hofer is a DieHard Nazi a fanatic and he's power hungry too because he wants to bring the Alpine redout to the area that he has power over he saw it as a chance to save the Third Reich so the team was sent in to find out what was really going on this is dangerous territory to infiltrate operation Greenup will need a third man an Insider from tyone Freddy and I went to German prison camps to find the the third man mainly a German or Austrian prison of War who had spent all these years in in in Hitler territory and among this list there was a lieutenant wber fron wber is a worm mared officer from tyrol who deserted from the German Army out of conscience well I left him right away he was trustworthy why did the OSS think that you would [Music] [Music] cooperate France was a very interesting individual he did not like the approaches the Germans used he saw what they were doing and capable doing so many of the Germans had no idea what was going on [Music] well France was not the type he knew what was going on somehow we got along immediately very well we come from completely different backgrounds F was a fairly devout Catholic TR and I were of course Jews and still we had absolutely no trouble trusting one another completely total trust the plan is perilous and near impossible in order to enter the region undetected the team will fly over the Alps and parachute onto a glacier then make their way to over perus fronzes home home Village this will be their base for foray into Windbrook the capital of tyru and a major rail Center in the region it is the seat of power for governor France Hofer I drove them to the airport what was the mood in this vehicle as you were going out there uh we had all discussed at Great length The Perils Freddy was so sure that it would all work according to plan and I think the other two trusted him I had total confidence in the team if they couldn't do nobody could do it there was nothing in the world that could go wrong with the team except through bad luck operation Greenup is deemed so dangerous that the Royal Air Force refuses to fly it a young American pilot lieutenant John Billings volunteers for the job the Brena pass was was heavily fortified the the Germans had brought anti-aircraft guns to the tops of the mountains surrounding the Bren aath and it was just absolute suicide to try to go that way we were not supposed to learn any information about the Joe's this is the only time that I ever even laid eyes on them let alone speak to them doing the things that they were doing wasn't something that I would think that I I could do even I didn't think I could hold it together to go stealthing around in enemy territory in plain sight we would try to stay as low as as as physically possible and in between mountains as much as we could so that radar wouldn't see [Music] us we got into trouble we got into a downdraft so severe in the Alps that it took us down 6,000 ft in 20 seconds forced down by high winds you were going down faster than you would have gone if you just jumped out of the airplane keep your head down and then near the bottom of the Gully probably because the wind veins were leveling out at the LA we stopped [Music] descent once had never jumped out the a plane before I told them especially on the graer there's no problem just thinking a little deeper that's all keep your down go go go we landed at 10,000 ft so you can imagine how high we were and how cold it is so there in the middle of the winter we found one another immediately we didn't jump far apart and then we realized when we got together we had no skis I couldn't see the P that that H the SK they must have gone on the other side of the mountain peak the snow was deep and we kept thinking in the air was thin we had to stop in between to take your breath at one time hunt was ready to sack out and we had to keep them going they becomes a matter of life or death you either go or you free eventually the team arrives at a Mountainside Hamlet they claim to be an Alpine Ski unit that's gotten lost one of the villagers loans them a sled picture going off a sheer Cliff that's all ice with no brakes on a sled and then hoping you make it and that's exactly what that was like the mountain was so scary and steep by ski poles the tips turned red from trying to slow the thing down it was the scariest ride of my life but we made it the team had dropped in blindly there was no reception party but fron knew the lay of the land he knew the people there he had the family members he had the safe houses which was critical to the success of the mission when they arrive in Ober perus fron makes contact with his fiance Ani her immediate reaction is Terror his desertion has become public knowledge and she is afraid for his life Ani can think of only one person who can help the team her mother mama kusher she was if not the leader of the community the hidden leader of the community and she was very antimi she immediately hugged me and welcomed me she was just so happy to see that somebody else will fight the Nazis Mamita kerser takes Hans to the attic of a sympathetic farmer Hans Taps out his first transmission to the OSS headquarters in Barry [Music] Italy it worked the signal that we sent it bounced around over the Alps to bury Italy unbelievable Mita kerser takes a great risk in welcoming the team the threat of being caught is only too real the Germans had inserted their own agents that claimed that they were Allied parachutes and they went around and they wanted to see who would provide them Aid and then those people were rounded up in some cases never seen again so it was an extremely dangerous and hazardous environment that the green of team had gone into only at night was I allowed to go to the bathroom It's Tricky they were so scared deadly scared that there would be discovered Mita kerser assumes responsibility for Fran's safety she hides him in a room at the hotel she [Music] owns [Music] France has three sisters who share his anti-nazi views they will each play a key role in operation Greenup they live in inbrook and are keenly aware of the risks they will take the city is tightly controlled by Hofer and the gapo one of the sisters Louisa creates the perfect cover for Fred she is a nurse at a hospital and manages to steal a uniform from a dead officer Fred is now a convalescing German officer in inbrook on leave from the front I was able to check in the local barracks and our officers quess so I can come and go freely Fred's story is that he's wounded in action and he presents outpatient documents forged by Louisa to support his claim so issu me a pay cards so I could draw rations and money I have to live [Music] somewhere I had confidence that I could handle it I never question what unit I came from all I knew is that I was a wounded officer and that was enough the Officer's Club was this sort of watering hole and people talked they talked about Secrets some of the great secrets of the war right in front of this Jewish guy from Brookland in a German officer's uniform to get these secrets to Hans in the OSS Fred works with Fran's youngest sister Eva they create a secure Courier system of young women who travel back and forth between inbrook and over perus I've never met them they gave him to the farmer and the farmer saw of was safe he passed it on to me that system they worked it out within a few days was excellent the messages begin to flow filled with critical intelligence border activity training exercises troop movement train schedules arm shipments bomb construction the desire for information is insatiable and Fred has a special talent for getting people to talk that's how I got the information on Hitler's buker I didn't force him to talk to me he just talked one of the officers had just returned from Berlin and he was an engineering officer and he explained the bunker where Hitler was located house I constructed it with the walls Stone so thick and the location of it and I sent that [Music] in headquarters assigns Fred a side mission with their Advanced engineering new German mmid Jets could dominate the skies the question is can they produce enough machines this is a James Bond movie with a secret hideout buried underground in the side of a mountain it's a measurment factory creating German Jets 262s they have these massive metal steel doors somehow Fred Mayer has to infiltrate this top secret facility [Music] he comes up with this perfect plan he finds out what they need which is they need skilled labor so he works through his context and gets the proper papers to be fredrique mayor this French electrician that wasn't hard I changed clothes and I pronounced my name a little different but that's it instead of Fredick mayor I became Frederick mayor very simple Fred infiltrates the factory and reports production has ground to a halt the Allies have managed to cut off the Supply Route by now Fred has established an extensive network of informants and contacts his Ambitions grow larger he wants to organize and arm the local partisans to take inbrook from Hofer and the Nazis I figure well not I had some free time and could put it to good use he wanted to take the role you know yeah he wanted to establish some sort of a resistance Army at Grand ideas of liberating Theo no I was just intelligence sending things and he wanted to me to run an army yeah actually he should have been a general headquarters turned him down basically said your job is not to start at a third front or something like that your job is to gather intelligence while Fred works his contacts in inbrook fron stays hidden in over perus he becomes increasingly anxious for the safety of his sisters who are active accomplice in his mission his main source of support during this time is his fiance Ani [Music] [Laughter] oh this yeah it's F the FR yeah no sh over my father died uh 10 years ago and when he died she was very sad when we were children my father didn't talk about the Greenup Mission and he was I think he was a brave man he didn't fear doing this it was dangerous [Music] I went down to the Rail Yards and kind of looked around and the yach master started talking to me I was in in German uniform so he didn't suspect anything I ask him what are all those trains doing here he said these 26 trains here are going to go out in two days so I sent that message and that's how we destroyed F six trains complete with ammunition and new armor slated for the Italian front April 20 19 45 as the war is coming to an end the Allies are streaming through Germany in the west while the Soviets are on the outskirts of Berlin the Reich is collapsing but in inbrook the Nazis under hofer's command are holding out the Gestapo execute last minute security sweeps Fred using the cover of a French laborer is now living with Fran's sisters grettle and Eva [Music] Eva went to the door I knew something was wrong there was no Escape there was no second door she kept them at the door long enough for me to throw all the papers in a fire so can't be sub machine gun six mon he's going argue with six submachine guns Eva gets word to Louisa who makes her way to over perus where she finds France and warns him that Fred has been captured fron came to me and said we better get out Freddy has been caught and he knew of course that neighborhood thoroughly it was middle of the night as far as I recall we traed through the woods that night till about 3:00 or 4 in the morning and then we sheltered at a friend of his a farmer in a large Farmhouse and he put us in a ha Loft in enbrook Fred is taken to the Gestapo prison his interrogation begins first started hitting me in the face where's your radio operator [Music] is I had a cyanite fill which I tried to bite on but it fell out when they hit me so I couldn't kill myself I kept beating me more and more stuck a pistol in my mouth gave me a hay maker and knock that all my back teeth and I spit my teeth I spit blood I still didn't know what they were talking about that night Mita kerser organizes a prayer vigil for Fred's safety this is an extraordinary moment in the mission itself a sense of humanity that's unparalleled where you have this Village that's arguably very pro-nazi they're Catholics and then they're praying for a Jew and they're effectively collaborators they're all collectively collaborators in that church that night back inside the prison Fred is subjected to merciless torture led by gestapo head Walter Goodner he was a little rat I could have killed him with one hand if I was free but he was determined to break me I just kept siling to get me to talk as long as they don't break they'll keep me alive and I'm not going to break because I'm not going to give anybody away one of them said oh maybe it's it you but the other say nah you couldn't take it like that n youed as the they me and H me upside down with a rifle barrel between my legs and raced me between two desks and to beat me getting whipped getting bloody and bloody also kept saying where's your radio operator over and over would give the same answer CH SA I don't know a high ranking Nazi Party official Dr prims has been silently observing Fred's torture at the critical point he steps in good Dr Bri saved my life there's no question about it and told gner cut me down because I'm unconscious I know I wasn't but that's what he told him it was his own view I think that I could be useful and they put me in a prison cell Fred is held in the cell for several days during that time another prisoner suspected a being a resistance fighter is tortured to death by gutner finally Dr prims came into the room he told me get cleaned up and we're going to take a little [Music] right [Music] it was a very impressive house like a mansion they were assembled about six men with food in front of them and drinks all kind of Delicacies it look good common I Heard a Voice have some food and relax nothing is going to happen here it was over for [Music] hope his wife greeted me beautiful woman blond perfect picture of a nauy woman I mean I can just let a imagine here was Fred he must have looked like a real mess hope of course had hoped that he would be the big shot in the Alpine weed out well by that time he could see that there wasn't much of a chance and so he decided that he might as well use Fred Fred takes this opportunity to offer hope for a way out I told him you surrender to our troops and we'll treat you as prisoners of War I had no right to do that but I thought that was a good deal that way he would stay alive I suggested that uh he declare enburg an open City he kind of Hampton Hall well you know it's my duty but it started Hofer thinking Fred learns that Hofer has had a change of heart instead of surrendering Hofer wants to fight to the better end as governor of Tyrone he is about to deliver a call to Arms the radio hookup was up there I told him again before he went on the air to do the right thing for the people and declare inbook an open city which he did then Fred once beaten and imprisoned by the Nazis now puts Hur under [Music] arrest it's very reminiscent of the scene in the glorious bastards France Hofer wanted immunity from war crimes Fred Mayer had no authority to grant that immunity but in one of the great Bluffs of the war said that he would protect Hofer in exchange for surrendering insbrook I drove to the mar I met the first American officer I said major West I'm fright mayor of the OSS I want you to accept the surrender of Tyrone that's what happened the Americans March into inbrook now an open [Applause] City for yeah operation Greenup success saved onto lives short the war on the Italian front and spared historic inbrook from being destroyed perhaps I can say is I a little bit proud of my father of course and I think my father can be an example for me I often think what would I do if I would live in such a [Music] time I can't really say I hope I would do right hello yes Freddy where are you I'm I'm supposed to see your picture but I don't see it yet I don't see you yet either but at least I recognize your voice yeah I see you you do yeah I can see the top part of your face can you see me yeah now I see you I see you too you have all your hair still I do too look all my hair so how are you with yourself you you're very well I have no complaints I wish you were feeling as well as I was yeah well I'm out of the hospital now for a week and I feel better today than any other time sure I'm in good shape oh that's very nice well now you'll give me a midal yeah that's right you I'll pin it on my pajamas at least I consider the whole thing just a lucky break and I consider that sort of an image of my life I think even though my parents were killed by the Nazis I still think I've been a very lucky fellow all the other guys were fighting and I was sitting in a comfortable room very little bravery on our part except for Fred and for f f of course was immediate in danger because he was a deserter we all wonder how we would react to torture it's one of the things that one thinks about we take prisoner or anything like this in the case of Fred we know how he reacted kitna was picked up by the cic and he was in prison there say ask me if I wanted to see him of course I did I wanted to beat him up I went there and there he was in the corner and he started saying to me look please do anything you want with me but please don't hurt my [Music] family I tell them what do you think we are nais [Music] I walked out now I find you looking well and healthy stay that way for another 10 years at least okay well I I don't want to hang around that long but well you take care H same to you Fred and above all get healthy same to you bye-bye [Music] bye-bye what wonderful gadgets I have nowadays huh he looks terrific a little bit older but still the same boyish face [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] I did my job but it was my War I hated the Nazis and I Lov America it was the simp my War there was a good feeling that we won we beat them and the fact that Hans was where I could find them and France was where I could find them it was a good feeling happy ending [Music] is [Music] [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: Action movies, Battle scenes, Brad Pitt, Code 'TIMELINE', Documentaries, Emmy-winning, Facebook, Historical accounts, Historical accuracy, Historical accuracy debate, Historical investigations, History, Holocaust, Military operations planning, Nazi soldiers, Plot twists, Tarantino films, Timeline, Timeline - World History Documentaries, War drama, War movies

Id: 1wdfa8EqQ6E

Length: 50min 54sec (3054 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 26 2023