WWII: OSS Tragedy in Slovakia

The outgoing McGregor relished his experiences with the Partisans. One unit was commanded by a Russian, Alexei Sadjalenko. He nicknamed McGregor "Bazook," which amused the American. McGregor and Lain had trouble convincing the Partisans that the bazookas would not blow up when they fired them. Later, the Americans discovered that the Partisans had thrown away many of the weapons.

Joe Morton also was busy and piled work on his interpreter. Piontek had worked with Jerry Mican to prepare a specialized dictionary so he could better interpret newspapers and documents for Morton.

Jan Schwartz who arrived with Lt. Holt Green was edgy about the security of the OSS in Banska Bystrica. Wearing uniforms still bothered him. One afternoon after the second group arrived, Schmidt recalled telling Lt. Jim Gaul his habit of wearing his all-weather jacket with US Navy printed on the back in large letters was reckless. Gaul disagreed, saying, "It's good propaganda," Schwarz was preparing to go underground if the Germans overran the city and believed that both Holt Green and Gaul were naïve about their security. Schwartz thought Gaul's views were "the biggest hang-up of the mission."

Much of this was indicative of the poorly planned, by-guess-and-by-gosh nature of the mission. Disaster was about to descend on the Anglo-Americans in the rebel capital.