Please Select your Language:

OSS TRAINING

On October 18th, 1942, Hitler issued an order to all German forces, known as the Commando Order, stating that all Allied commandos encountered in battle should be killed, “annihilated,” immediately, without being taken prisoner. The order, which was issued in secret, made it clear that failure to carry out this edict would be considered an act of negligence, and punishable under German military law.

Such was the reality of all OSS and SOE agents, that, if caught, surely meant an interrogation, which the agent knew would involve torture at the hands of ruthless people. Agents were issued a “Q” pill which was a glass vial, filled with cyanide … enough for a “quick” death.

Some key points of the SI Field Training Manual are shown:

OSS SECRET INTELLIGENCE (SI) TRAINING MANUAL

Security of the wireless and the encoded messages, or “telegrams”—a daily occurrence from Salonica, by Doundoulakis—was paramount

The operative’s ID card, was issued at the OSS-Izmir Station, in Turkey

Establishing a phony business, the “front,” was Salonica’s abandoned Jewish textile factory

Assistance from foreign nationals, i.e., Cosmas Yiapitzoglou's Salonica network

The agent, Doundoulakis, was ferreted by boat to the outskirts of Salonica, with Yiapitzoglou, where a cell was formed

The fear of being exposed and forced into the role as a double agent

Underground resistance organizations, like the ELAS communist partisans, were not confronted in Salonica for fear of betrayal

Yiapitzoglou’s contacts kept busy scouring Salonica for pertinent information

One message per day was established initially, changing quickly to twice a day transmissions—one factor which would bring Doundoulakis close to capture by the Gestapo

The slower speed, longer length, or number of the messages sent would determine the risk the agent undertook, and undermined the agent’s safety ... especially when the Gestapo's triangulation equipment would “listen.”