They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies behind the Lines in Nazi Germany »

Patrick K. O’Donnell is the author of five previous books, including Beyond Valor, winner of the prestigious William E. Colby Award, and the highly acclaimed account of the Battle of Fallujah, We Were One. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

A never-before-told World War II story of Jewish soldiers on a dangerous mission within the Third Reich—a tale of adventure, espionage, love, and revenge

Publishers Weekly

In what could be a true-life companion to Quentin Tarantino's recent pulp-grade wish-fulfillment WWII movie Inglorious Basterds, military historian O'Donnell (We Were One) tells the unrecorded story of Jewish Americans and German deserter-volunteers who hastened the War's end by infiltrating enemy territory, gathering intelligence and performing shadow operations for the newly-formed OSS (the forerunner to the U.S. Army's Special Ops). Operating in the Innsbruck area, considered the heart of Nazi Germany, one team was surprised to find several people willing to assist them. Though all operatives were eventually captured by the Gestapo, this eye-opening account reveals the inefficiency and cowardice of Gestapo agents, who often betrayed the Reich once they realized Germany would lose, hoping to improve their post-war lot (many mistakenly believed that the Americans and British would immediately turn on the Soviets, and want to use German forces in that fight). O'Donnell's book is quick-paced and immediate, with many satisfying moments like this exchange between U.S. Staff Sergeant Frederick Mayer and arrested Gestapo officer Walter Güttner, who had held Mayer captive: "Do anything you want to me, but don't hurt my family," Güttner pleads; Mayer responds, "Who do you think we are, Nazis?"
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Prologue 1

1 "Get Me Out of the Infantry!" 3

2 Country Club 8

3 The Wait 19

4 A Roll of the Dice 27

5 Into the Cage 43

6 The Hustler 47

7 Alpenfestung 51

8 Operation Greenup 57

9 Operation Deadwood 61

10 The Jump 67

11 The Counterfeit Gambit 74

12 Ticket to Ride 78

13 The Game 81

14 In the Belly of the Beast 87

15 The Electrician 92

16 Where There Were No Borders 95

17 Fly in the Ointment 100

18 Alpenfestung? 105

19 Captured 112

20 The Kriminalrat 116

21 Downfall 117

22 Funkspiel 122

23 General Fred Mayer 125

24 Into the Hills 127

25 The Tables Are Turned 131

26 To the End 138

27 Matull's Plight 142

28 The Surrender of Innsbruck 144

29 Turnabout 149

30 The Double Agent 151

31 "Who Do You Think We Are, Nazis?" 153

Epilogue 155

Then and Now 157

Appendix A Report on Operation Dania 159

Appendix B Debriefing Report on Operations Dillon and Dillon III 170

Appendix C Bernd Steinitz Debriefed by Dyno Lowenstein 187

Appendix D Report of Gestapo Anti-Parachute Chief in Klagenfurt 190

Appendix E The German View of the Dillon Mission 192

Appendix F Final Report on German Civilians 196

Notes 201

Index 229

Illustrations appear after page 124