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

by Patrick K. O'Donnell

At the height of World War II, with the Third Reich’s Final Solution in full operation, a small group of Jews who were naturalized American citizens, having themselves barely escaped the Nazis, did the unthinkable: they went back. Trained as spies, these men took on a perilous covert mission to strike back at the Third Reich behind enemy lines. They Dared Return is their story — a gripping tale of adventure, espionage, love, and revenge.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Holocaust, Military Fiction, Espionage, War

264 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 2009

About the author

O’Donnell is a bestselling author, critically acclaimed military historian and an expert on elite units. The author of twelve books, including: Washington’s Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution, The Unknowns, First SEALs, Give Me Tomorrow, The Brenner Assignment, We Were One, Beyond Valor, and Dog Company, he has also served as a combat historian in a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and speaks often on espionage, special operations, and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks’ award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers and for scores of documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Discovery and is the recipient of several national awards. He also regularly contributes to several national publications and shows.

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up this WW2 book at Half-Price bookstore. Well worth the read on this true spy story.
Jewish spies that volunteered to go behind the German lines had a mission of their own along with the dangerous spy operation they volunteered for.
Yes, it is one of those books that says --- keep on reading and don't put me down.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it possible for a story to be compelling if the storytelling isn’t? Case in point: the premise of Patrick O’Donnell’s book They Dared Return is absolutely irresistible: German Jews whose families were threatened or destroyed by the Nazis are recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the American wartime espionage organization, to collect intelligence on the Nazi regime during its final months when rumors were swirling about plans for an enormous underground bunker from which the German armed forces were to make their final stand. The setting is fascinating, the protagonists as courageous as they come so I can’t pinpoint the reason I never felt pulled into the story as I was to a title with a similar premise, Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany. The latter reads almost like a novel and perhaps They Dared Return suffers unfairly from this comparison but on the other hand it seems that, on occasion, O’Donnell was indeed attempting to novelize his material. Consider this line from a later chapter: “[He] did not see the first rays of early light seeping through the window of Innsbruck’s Gestapo headquarters since he lay on the cold damp floor of the unheated cell into which his captors had thrown him, bloodied, beaten, bound at the hands, and naked.” If he didn’t see the first rays of light how could he have recalled that the sun was even out that morning? Although O’Donnell peppers the book with this type of descriptive bordering-on-fiction writing, bringing certain scenes to life, the rest of the book, which contains a disruptively shifting timeline, is written in a fairly prosaic style..

However, if one can overlook the faulty issues of the narration, this book accomplishes several valuable things. By highlighting this particular mission of one of the OSS’s Operational Groups, it gives the reader a better understanding of the wide variety of work done by the OSS, the incredible dangers their agents faced and the valuable information they provided. Also, some of what these particular agents witnessed individually absolutely fascinates. Consider the following scenario: one of them, disguised in a German uniform, is invited over to a VIP table in a beer hall where an inebriated Austrian captain regales them all with tales of a gaunt Hitler who is “tired of living.” The fact that a Jew was one of the first to report on the Fuhrer’s depressed state of mind is deliciously ironic.

WWII vets are leaving us far too quickly, very often before they can record the details of their war stories so while it’s wonderful that O’Donnell stumbled upon this story, it’s unfortunate that it will not gain the audience its protagonists deserve. But anyone who is willing to expend the effort to become acclimated to O’Donnell’s writing will be well rewarded by the accomplishments of these courageous Jewish men who collected intelligence on Nazi Germany during its final days.

Three and one-half stars.

This review also appears at Curled Up With a Good Book: http://www.curledup.com/they_dared_to...

[Neven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story here is fascinating: Jewish emigrants who return to occupied Europe as a top-secret spy squad. After hearing the author in a radio interview, I could hardly wait to read the book. Sadly, the book is written in a dull and incompetent style, bumbling its way through the gripping plot with little focus, depth, or impact. It takes a lot of concentration just to keep track of the simple story, so slapdash is the writing, peppered with surely the world's most boring quotes from ostensibly heroic survivors.

[Sam Mart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable story of bravery, ingenuity and selflessness

[Lorri · Rating 5 out of 5]

They Dared Return is a fast paced and intriguing page turner. To state that it is an intense book would be an understatement. It is riveting, adventurous, dramatic, and a thriller filled with vivid imagery that filled all of my senses to overflowing. The courage and efforts that were planned and executed are hardcore examples of mental and physical strength endeavored under the most adverse of scenarios.

I applaud Patrick K. O’Donnell for his efforts in researching, documenting and bringing us this untold and remarkable Story. They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies Behind the Lines in Nazi Germany is an invaluable addition to World War II and Holocaust history. It belongs in every home library

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredible true story about the bravery of a handful of special operatives in Germany as the 1000-year Reich collapsed. Unfortunately, it is really poorly written.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many stories about WWII that remain to be told (and, possibly, many that will never be told), so that I shouldn't be surprised when I find a book about a facet of the war that I had never heard about previously. This is one of those stories. The OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the US intelligence agency during the war, actively recruited individuals with native language skills and personal knowledge of the geography and local customs in enemy territory, hoping to insert them behind enemy lines to establish intelligence networks to serve the war effort. As part of that effort, a number of European Jewish refugees, who had escaped the Nazis and found themselves in the United States, joined the fight against the Nazis and ultimately found themselves operating inside the Third Reich in the final weeks of the war as OSS agents. Their willingness to risk everything to fight the Fascists is incredible enough, but their accomplishments as the war drew to a close are equally remarkable and heroic. I found myself surprised by how little I actually knew about the final weeks of the war, and how the final surrenders took place. This book is an important addition to the record of WWII and the heroes that helped defeat the fascists.

[Ben Ricketts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a huge fan of military/war history, and I echo what some reviewers say about its somewhat weak writing at times, but this story was great. It was a page turner that was engaging throughout, and so many details of the story are just incredible.

[Steve Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read many of O'Donnell's books, this is a fascinating true story of Jews who escaped Nazi Germany in WWII, only to return behind enemy lines as American OSS operators. Good historical references but it lacked a can't put it down factor.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

It could have been a good book but the writing was terrible. The author went off on tangents and included irrelevant and trivial stories from the soldiers’ training that added nothing to the story. Very frustrating to read.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you enjoy reading history, World War II history to be exact, this is the book for you. History, yes, but also a bit like a good spy story.

[Keith Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked the movie "Inglorious Bastards" then you owe it to yourself to read this book. About the only thing the movie shares with the book is the concept of parachuting a group of determined Jews deep inside Nazi territory. In real life the men that were dropped were espionage agents, commonly called spies. Also part of the group were German POW's that were anti-Nazi. The main character in the book, Frederick Mayer, was born in Germany in a Jewish family. His father was a decorated officer in WWI, Knights Cross 2nd Class. Yet this meant nothing when Hitler came to power. Fred came to the US as a young man. When the WWII broke out he tried to enlist but was turned away as he was an "enemy alien". His younger brother, born in the US, was drafted. Fred wanted his brother to stay in college and approached the draft board offering to go in his brothers place. Fluent in three languages he was soon part of the OSS (for runner of the CIA) and trained as an operative. He and others dropped into Innsbruck, Austria in late 1944 and set up shop. He was variously disguised as a German officer of an Alpine unit, a French electrician working in a Messerschmidt jet plane factory and others disguises. From casual conversations with other officers he was able to pass along where Hitler's bunker in Berlin was located and how it was built. He also clued in the Army Air Force of 26 trains of 40 cars each loaded with material headed to Italy. The AAF was able to get a mission in and nailed every train. Massive loss of equipment. Fred was later captured by the Gestapo and tortured...but the end result of his capture and torture was the surrender of Innsbruck and the surrounding area to the allies. You have to have courage in the extreme to do what this man did.

[Zach Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the true story of the Jewish American spies that risked it all to parachute behind enemy lines to fight back against Nazi Germany during World War II. An incredibly well-written book about Operation Greenup – the Allied top-secret effort to secure intelligence about the Nazi's underground fortress compound, or "Alpine Redoubt," within the Austrian mountains.

Towards the end of the war, American intelligence services began hearing credible rumors that, with the fall of Germany and the Third Reich inevitable by late 1944, the Nazi regime was planning one last defensive stand in an underground fortress under construction within Austria. The secret Allied Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was tasked with recruiting the men who would parachute deep behind enemy lines in Austria in order to gather intelligence on the Alpine Redoubt as undercover spies. Five brave Jewish men were chosen to lead the fight, in three daring missions known as Dania, Dillon, and Deadwood. This book mostly focuses on the Deadwood Mission and the two heroic men who led it, Frederick Mayer and Hans Wynberg. Their story is a gripping and suspenseful one, and one that every American today should read. In the closing days of the war in Europe, Mayer and Wynberg's quick decision-making could very well be credited with potentially saving thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands of lives. Another intensely researched masterpiece by Patrick O'Donnell that I highly recommend. A real life Inglourious Basterds.

[Barbara (Bobby) Title · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was born in 1935 - and for me reading books like this bring back old memories of the early 1940s when I got my understanding or WWII from seeing magazine covers of battles fought and hearing stories by three uncles who all ran to Fort McArthur in San Pedro, CA in December of 1941 to enlist . I know we youngsters studied bits and pieces in school, but as I grew up, my knowledge pretty much remained bits and pieces. So as I find a book about that era I am always interested in it. (I'm not strong enough to watch films of war.)

It didn't matter to me that O'Donnell's story was a little sketchy in places, or I didn't fully understand what the narrator was getting at. But I didn't put the book down and I didn't skip any pages! I read every page and garnered a wider picture of what the OSS did; I was gripped by the tale.

I think that what this book has to offer will surprise old folks like me whose knowledge of the OSS - and especially the role of German Jews in it has been minimal all these years.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that provides more detail after I watched documentary called the real inglorious bastards on Amazon prime. It provides in-depth detail about operation greenup and the seemingly impossible tasks that these 2 Jewish men and 1 German deserter dropped in and how they were able to initiate the surrender of Innsbruck with no blood shed. Author was quite informative. I did find a few typographical/ grammatical errors in the hardback copy. Definitely worth reading to learn more about the secret missions USA performed during wwii. Also, it shows that their secret intelligence office needed huge improvements made to decipher when an agent had been caught and was in danger. Many mistakes were made by not reporting to correct offices or misinterpreting messages. It’s amazing that their mission was such an unbelievable success.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I had read part of this story in another book, but I enjoyed it none the less. I didn't know much about the OSS. It is crazy how they had to stumble around without a reliable communication devices. I enjoyed the book so much that I added the rest of his books to my reading list and discovered that I had read his book on the Korean War several years ago.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about what it was like to be spy during World War II. The people who were spies were extremely brave. One spy actually convinced the Nazis to surrender and save the city of Innsbruck instead of allowing it to be bombed, etc.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was just so amateurish, it seemed as though a 5th-grader had written it.

[Cindy Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth is stranger than fiction

This is an amazing story of heroism and resourcefulness. The only downside is the recounting is too short and doesn't go into enough depth.

[Essi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kirja jäi kesken, kerronta mielestäni jotenkin tönkköä, en päässyt oikein sisälle tähän. Harmi, koska hyvin mielenkiintoinen aihe ja kertomus tositarina.

[Finola Donohue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story involved is definitely more engrossing than the writing itself, but I loved reading about these events and the author's enthusiasm is bouncing off the pages, which I really loved!

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Incredible story just not written so that I couldn't put it down. Still worth reading about these amazing men.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book gave me a brief look at what the OSS,got up to in europe after 6th of june 1944

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very brave men.

[Colin Conway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the story itself is very interesting, and the characters are true heroes, I was slightly disappointed with this book if I'm honest

[Pasi Rautio · Rating 1 out of 5]

En tiedä miten suhtautua, vähän sellainen too good to be true-osaston yhteenveto.

[Allan Nemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. I have read several books on WW2. Both sides of the war. Yet I had no idea about this story or the book.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair read, written more like a novel than a historical text. Not sorry I read it, but not one that I would put in my 'want to read' list. It is an interesting side not to one of the many facets of WWII that is seldom written about.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reminds me of Born Survivors in that it's a fascinating, valuable story that was hamstrung by the style of the author. O'Donnell has a gift for finding great stories - and just making them so dull they're virtually unreadable. I'm a big history buff already and have done my share of slogging through dully-written tomes because the payoff of knowing the story was worth it. This one made the story difficult enough to follow that it almost /wasn't/ worth it because I'm still not sure I know what exactly happened. Honestly the Appendixes were better reading than the book. It's worth reading for anyone interested in this part of history, but I would discourage it as an introduction to WWII books because it's not a good representative of the genre.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patrick K. O'Donnellin "Soluttautujat" (Gummerus, 2011) valottaa ehkä vähemmän tunnettua toisen maailmansodan osa-aluetta, nimittäin amerikkalaisten sodanaikaisen tiedustelupalvelun OSS:n salaisten asiamiesten toimintaa Itävallassa alkuvuodesta 1945. Fred Mayerin ja kumppaneiden toimesta liittoutuneille onnistuttiin toimittamaan tietoja muun muassa sotatarvikejunien kulkemisesta, saksalaisten joukkojen ryhmittelystä sekä huikeinta kyllä, edesauttamaan myös Innsbruckin kaupungin julistamista "avoimeksi kaupungiksi".

Kirjan takakannesta löytyvä Publishers Weeklyn mainoslause "Tosielämän vastine Quentin Tarantinon elokuvalle Kunniattomat paskiaiset" on tavallaan ihan osuva, sillä osa kirjan kuvaamista miehistä sattuivat olemaan myös juutalaisia, joiden perheenjäseniä oli joutunut myös keskitysleireille, eli sota oli heille henkilökohtainenkin missio Saksaa vastaan. Sota synnytti hyvinkin mielenkiintoisia liittoutumia, sillä Itävaltaan solutettujen agenttien joukossa oli myös vihollisen riveihin loikanneita saksalaisia ja itävaltalaisia.

O'Donnell on tutkinut aihetta tarkkaan, liittänyt kirjansa loppuun niin amerikkalaisten kuin saksalaistenkin dokumentteja agenttien toiminnasta, sekä haastatellut elossa olevia miehiä.