Secret Surrender: The Classic Insider's Account of the Secret Plot to Surrender Northern Italy During Wwii

On April 17, 1945, Adolph Hitler sent a memorandum to a German general who wanted to fall back to a more advantageous position in Northern Italy: "The Führer expects the utmost steadfastness to defend every inch of the North Italian area entrusted to your command. I desire to point out the serious consequences for all those higher commanders who do not carry out the Führer's orders to the last word." Such was Adolph Hitler's insane directive and unambiguous threat to anyone who contemplated anything other than Hitler's last-man defense. But Allen Dulles, who worked in Switzerland for "Wild Bill" Donovan's OSS-the precursor to the CIA-was conducting Operation Sunrise, a secret plot to effect the surrender of Nazi and Fascist troops in Italy. Dulles guided the delicate, top-secret negotiations in Switzerland. In an immediate, personal, and page-turning narrative that has all the hallmarks of a suspense novel, Dulles reveals the extraordinary details of one of the most successful intelligence operations of all time.In The Secret Surrender, Dulles re-creates the climate of paranoia and terror that paralyzed the German top military command, vividly conveying the hidden antagonisms of important Nazis concerned for their personal safety. He describes the hazards of keeping channels of communication with the SS general in Italy who defied Hitler's "scorched earth" command, and recounts the tension-packed weeks during which Allied support of the surrender plan was secured in spite of Stalin's plot to wreck the enterprise. The Secret Surrender conveys the breathless excitement of a fictional thriller, and furnishes valuable firsthand insight into one of the most dramatic events in World War II.. .