Doomed Dozen

By late 1944, the collapse of the Third Reich seemed imminent, yet pockets of determined resistance remained, including in Slovakia, where 15,000 German troops had been dispatched to quell an underground resistance movement. General Donovan had persuaded US President Roosevelt that his OSS personnel could make a difference, not only helping downed Allied airmen but also aiding the Czech resistance and collecting intelligence on and conducting sabotage against the German occupier. Thus, in September 1944, the Office of Strategic Services dispatched the Dawes Team to Slovakia, almost simultaneously with the British Special Operations Executive “Windproof” mission. However, beset by larger numbers of German and allied troops, a shortage of food, illness, and Europe’s worst winter in 50 years, members of the Dawes Team and sub-units were soon captured. Despite being taken in uniform and with military ID, these OSS and SOE personnel were brutally interrogated, tortured, and ultimately executed by the SS on January 24, 1945 at Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. Given the inherent secret nature of both missions, news of the massacre emerged only slowly. The May 1945 liberation of Mauthausen by US forces uncovered eyewitnesses—including another OSS member—and the discovery of damning records. The perpetrators who had survived the war were soon tried by US Army authorities, with the majority of the accused sentenced to death. The proceedings generated controversy—then and since—due to the speed with which they were conducted and the irregular nature of some of the proceedings. In the years since, the sacrifices of the OSS, SOE, and partisan personnel have been recalled not only by the veterans themselves, but also by a grateful Slovak population in yearly remembrance. This book follows the disastrous mission and the treatment and death of the twelve OSS personnel, the post-war reckoning, and the ongoing remembrance of these men’s sacrifice.