German anti-Nazi espionage in the Second World War : the OSS and the men of the TOOL missions / Jonathan S. Gould.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Historical background -- The HAMMER Mission and the GRU -- Mission into Landshut: The triumph of the PICKAXE Mission -- Gone too soon: The courageous life and tragic death of Kurt Gruber -- Still missing: The story of Werner Fischer and the ill-fated BUZZSAW Mission -- Conflict of loyalties: The Mallet Mission -- Epilogue.

"This book tells the dramatic story of the recruitment and training of a group of German communist exiles by the London office of the Office of Strategic Services for key spy missions into Nazi Germany during the final months of World War II. The book chronicles their stand against the rise of Hitler in the 1930s that caused them to flee Germany for Czechoslovakia and then England where they resettled and awaited an opportunity to get back into the war against the Nazis. That chance would arrive in late 1944 when the OSS recruited them for these important missions which became part of the historic German Penetration Campaign. Some of the German exiles carried out successful missions that provided key military intelligence to the Allied armies advancing into Germany while others suffered untimely deaths immediately upon the dispatch of their missions that still raise troubling issues. In addition, a few betrayed the trust that the OSS had placed in them by collaborating with a Soviet spy network in England by secretly disclosing top secret OSS sources and methods used to carry out the German Penetration Campaign missions. These dual loyalties, however, did not prevent the United States military from awarding these men military decorations which have been confirmed as the first such medals awarded to German nationals for their service to the Allied armies in World War II."--Provided by publisher.