Operation Timepiece

By Steven Jacobs

The OSS was the precursor to today's CIA and took on the most dangerous missions of World War II. For Captain Scott Abel and his team, this mission is going to be about as tough as they come. Tasked with parachuting directly into Germany, Captain Abel, code-named "Paul" and his group of OSS agents will find trouble at every turn as they penetrate deep into Nazi-occupied territory on their mission to seek out and destroy the deadliest gas mankind has ever created to date.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven Jacobs
• Release date: Oct 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005138691

Steven Jacobs

Steven Jacobs was born in 1971 in Wilmington, North Carolina, and at an early age, he became interested in all aspects of history. He became a history buff by watching old movies with his father that contained great actors such as Cary Grant, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Steve McQueen, and many others.Later in high school, Steven excelled in United States history, especially in the turbulent years of the early to mid-1900s, and this is where his love for military history flourished. By the time Steven was thirty-five years old, he had read countless books on United States history with a focus on the era of World War II.At the age of forty-five, he wrote his first book oddly enough about the disappearance of a German U-boat in World War II called The Disappearance of U-491. Followed a year later by Operation Timepiece. After Operation Timepiece, Steven wrote another book of espionage and murder onboard the fictitious SS Brazilian Queen called The Brazilian Affair.Steven had such a great time writing The Brazilian Affair that he felt now was the time to branch out into a new genre by writing his first murder mystery inspired by the area in which he grew up.Now at the age of forty-eight, Steven lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife and son, and he has worked for the government for almost thirteen years.Please “like” and follow his Facebook page for updates and sneak peeks at other books in the works. Also, feel free to add him on Twitter at @StevenJ661944, and don’t forget to write a review on amazon.

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Operation Timepiece

A work of Historical Fiction

By: Steven Jacobs

Copyright© 2018 by Steven Jacobs

All rights reserved

This book or any portions thereof may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief

quotations in a book review

DEDICATION

I would like to take a moment to thank my wonderful wife and son for the absolute joy they bring into my life every day and a special thank you to my wife for once again reading my book.

Thank You to my parents for reading my book and providing me with additional insight.

Lastly, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to my co-workers, past, and present who have aided and encouraged me where ever they could.

Prologue

In 1940, six months after Germany invaded Poland, the United States intelligence program was in its infancy. All the military branches had their own intelligence-gathering units, as did the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of State. Each intelligence-gathering unit had its own rules and standards, which did NOT include sharing information with other intelligence groups within their government, much less from other countries.

As another war gripped the European continent, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States, sought to strengthen the intelligence gathering capabilities of the United States and unify all the different Intelligence groups within the United States. President Roosevelt appointed William J. Donovan Coordinator of Information of a new intelligence unit of the same name. As it was known, the COI was based on a design from the British Intelligence community and was designed to pool all the information coming in from all the US agencies into one place very similar to today’s Department of Homeland Security.

The heads of the different intelligence agencies did not like sharing information and were not forthcoming with information for fear that the individual agencies would appear to need the help of other outside sources and be unable to complete tasks without assistance. After the massive intelligence failure that destroyed the US fleet on December 7, 1941, everything changed.

In mid-1942, President Roosevelt issued an executive order to streamline and improve US intelligence capabilities. The COI was replaced with a new unit that was tasked with collecting and sifting through massive amounts of intelligence as well as running special operations of their own, and with that, the Office of Strategic Services or OSS was born.

Immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the OSS began setting up innocuous training camps in the Virginia area and surrounding areas of Washington DC. These camps were designed for secrecy and given mundane names to not give out their real purpose. The first camps were named Areas A, B, and C.

Areas A, B, and C were the first of what was to become many special OSS training camps throughout Virginia and the surrounding mountains. They were modeled on the very secretive and mysterious Camp X, located just inside the Canadian border and was run by the British Security Coordination Center, which had ties to MI-6, the British military Intelligence service. Camp X was so secretive that those in the Canadian government did not know what went on inside the camp.

As the war progressed, more and more Areas were opened, including several overseas. These Areas taught the OSS personnel everything they needed to know about covert operations. The typical recruit was not going to make it through all the rigorous training involved to work covertly behind enemy lines for perhaps weeks at a time. Recruits were first sent to Area B, where they would go through a rigorous two week mental and physical evaluation as well as endure a multitude of strength and agility tests along the way up to and including a stressful shooting test called the House of Horrors. In this test, a recruit was given a pistol and ammunition and told to clear the house. There were cardboard cutouts of German soldiers inside, and if the recruit did not shoot all the targets, he failed the test.

Once their two-week course at area B was up, the men were transferred to Area C or Area A. Area C taught a multitude of various things on communication from coding and ciphering to Morse code and radio maintenance. Area A taught recruits more advanced skills such as demolitions, sabotage, information gathering, hand to hand combat, and even other languages. Sometimes the training could be as long as six months, depending on the recruit's course.

Not all the recruits were sent behind the lines. In the OSS, there were linguists, Research Analysts, a Maritime Unit, and the very secretive X-2 Unit, a counterespionage unit within the OSS itself. Also, the OSS had its own Research and Development Branch, responsible for making any Specialized weapon or gadget that could be used. The R&D Branch was responsible for making silenced pistols and guns, to the Beano grenade that exploded on impact to the 16 mm camera. The R&D Branch was also responsible for supplying the OSS agents with fake identification cards, passes, and things that the OSS agent hoped they would never need to use, such as the poison K and L pills.

During World War II, many thousands of men and women alike worked in the OSS performing all types of work from researching ways to make weapons quieter to handling Top Secret information to being the actual agent on the ground behind enemy lines. In fact, the OSS was so secretive that the names of people who worked for the OSS were kept secret until 2008.

Now, nearly 70 years after World War II, yet another special branch of the OSS has been declassified. As it turns out, only a very select few even knew of this branch’s existence, so secretive, in fact, was this branch it had no name and official designation. Some of their missions are just now again coming into the light of day. This mission could be one of those missions

Chapter 1

Somewhere near Harrington England

Captain Scott Abel stood outside the mission briefing room in the hallway to gather his thoughts before entering the room. Captain Abel had been on several previous missions, but this was the first time he would be leading a mission, and truthfully, he was terrified. Abel took a deep breath, opened the door, and strode inside.

As soon as the door opened and Captain Abel stepped inside, the other three men in the room jumped to their feet and stood at attention. Captain Abel closed and locked the door behind him. As confidently as possible, he walked up to the front of the room, holding a folder underneath his arm. Once he got to the front of the room, the imposing man relaxed a bit, dropped the folder onto the map table, and said, Relax boys, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

Every man in the room except for the youngest relaxed and began either pulling out cigarettes or pipes, as the case may be, and lighting up. Before long, there was a massive cloud of smoke hanging above the men in the briefing room.

Before he started speaking, Captain Abel, the man the rest of the group would only know as Paul, reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. He removed a cigarette, put one in his mouth, lit it, and took a long drag off it. He held the smoke in his lungs for a moment before slightly tilting his head back and blowing the smoke up and out of his lungs.

Ok, let’s get some ground rules straight right now. Like in the states, you all know who we work for, and as such, you are not to EVER divulge your true identities to me or anyone else in this group. Is that understood?

Everyone in the room gave a nod of the head and a sharp, Yes, sir!

As you know, most of us who work in the special operations group are destined to work far behind enemy lines, and if I do not know your names, I cannot divulge anything about you or your families. Likewise, you cannot reveal anything about me because you do not know anything about me, and I want to keep it that way. In our world, the less we know, the better.

Captain Abel took another drag off his cigarette and began pacing back and forth across the front of the room. As he moved back and forth, the blonde-hair blue-eyed man looked like a massive and very intimidating figure because of his giant six-foot-four-inch, two hundred thirty-pound frame, and everyone in the room knew he commanded respect.

My code name is Paul. I am in charge of this mission, and that is all you need to know about me. You do not need to know, and you will never know my real name or from where I came. Do you understand?

Again, everyone in the room gave a sharp, Yes, sir!

Paul stopped in front of the other men seated around a large map table in the room and watched every move he made. He briefly paused and finished off his cigarette. Once he had put the butt out in a nearby ashtray, he continued.

One or two of you I have seen, and the others I have never seen before. I want to take a minute or two to go around the room and have each one of you, in turn, stand up, tell me your code name ONLY and your specialty. Let’s start with you, Paul said, pointing to the seated figure nearest to him.

In a deep booming voice, the figure stood up and said, My code name is Oscar. In training, I excelled at hand to hand combat, map reading, and scored top scores in demolitions as well as different sabotage techniques.

As the group listened on, Paul replied, If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess you were from the western part of the U.S. Am I right?

Oscar just smiled and replied, Maybe, but you will never know.

Paul walked over and stood directly in front of the person named Oscar and said, Very good, that is what I wanted to hear.

Paul then pointed to the next person who, when he stood up, was nearly as tall as Paul was. The person then said, My name is Allen. I have excellent survival skills and am expertly trained in combat medicine.

Finally, the last person in the group stood up and said, My name is Butch, and I am a demolitions expert. I am also trained in hand to hand combat as well as an expert marksman.

After each man had introduced himself, Paul said, Well, now that we have been formally introduced, let’s get down to the mission, shall we? Just so everyone knows, as always when mission preps have begun, none of the team members will be allowed off base. Is that understood?

As each man either nodded and affirmed or said yes sir, Paul had the men gather around a briefing map laid out on the table and began to talk.

This mission is critical, and we have been tasked with infiltrating a factory deep behind enemy lines. American intelligence has found out from the resistance movement in the area that this particular factory is in the process of switching over to manufacture a new type of automatic weapon that is said to be faster than the MG-43 machine gun. Our mission is to infiltrate that factory without being found out, taking detailed photos of any plans we may find of the new weapon and any prototypes. Once we make our escape, we are to rendezvous with a resistance group that will be waiting nearby, and they will escort us out of the area and get us to friendly territory.

Paul stopped a moment to let the gravity of the situation sink in and then continued.

This is going to be a quick and quiet mission, picture taking ONLY. The goal is to leave no trace we were ever there. We do not want to alert the Germans that we know about the new machine gun. Does anyone have any questions?

Butch, the youngest and least experienced in the group, raised his hand and said, Why doesn’t military intelligence just have the Army Air Force bomb the factory out of existence?

Paul replied, The powers that be want to get information about this new weapon, and they can’t do that from a bomber now, can they? Military intelligence wants to either have a new weapon in hand or have photos of the new design, so they can reverse engineer it to find out how lethal it can be BEFORE our boys find out the hard way on the battlefield.

This time, Oscar spoke up and asked, Do we know any particulars of the factory, such as the layout inside, and how many guards and people there are in the factory?

Funny, you should ask, replied Paul, All the information we have is right there on the table. A good part of the mission has been planned out for us. Our point of insertion, gear load-out, and the point at which we meet the resistance group have already been pre-arranged. All we must do is figure out how to get in the factory, take the pictures needed, and get out again to the pickup point. As factories usually do, this factory closes for a brief time at night for maintenance and cleaning, not to mention it is blacked out to prevent it from being spotted by bombers at night.

So, we will be going in at night then? One of the men asked.

Oh absolutely, this is going to be a stringent timeline for this mission. Hopefully, we will hit the ground at or near 02:00 in the morning in a field around two miles away from the factory. We will proceed directly to the factory and, as ordered, infiltrate and get out without being seen or having anyone know we were there. IF all goes well, we should land, hit the factory, and be safely at the rendezvous in 3 hours.

THREE HOURS! Butch exclaimed, That is one hell of a tight timeline for sure.

Tight indeed, but I am positive we can make it.

Right now, it's 13:15 in the afternoon, so we have until 19:00 to get the factory portion of the mission planned out, get some chow, and rest. No later than 19:05, everyone needs to be in the mission fitting room to get their gear fitted and check their load-outs. I am certain there will be guard dogs at the factory, so in addition to the regular load-outs, we will each be taking dog drags to mask our scents. If you are not familiar with them, I will give you a crash course when we get to the hanger for gear fitting. Takeoff will be at 21:00, so let’s get started.

After spending several hours hovering around the map table going over the map of the area surrounding the factory and detailed photos of the factory, the men were confident that they had a solid plan laid out before them. The only portion of the project that none of the men could know about was what was waiting for them once they managed to enter the main factory building itself. There were no interior plans or photos, so the men had no idea what to expect once they got inside the main factory building. The only thing that they knew for sure was what the outside of the factory looked like. The layout of the inside was a total mystery.

Once the operational planning was over, the men had a large customary meal of steak and eggs, coffee, and real orange juice before the operation was set into motion. After lunch, the group was sequestered in a bunkhouse all to themselves for two reasons; one so they can be alone with their thoughts in peace before the mission, and the other reason was for security purposes so that no information on the planned mission could accidentally leak out. The inside of the guarded bunkhouse was fitted with all the comforts of home. There was a bed for each man, two showers with hot water, a radio for listening to music, and a bookcase with different books.

After each man in the operation had a nice hot shower, instead of being every man for himself as the case may be, all four men found themselves in the bunkhouse seating area going over and over the mission's operational notes. Butch, the youngest and least experienced man in the group, asked Paul, who was tasked with taking the lead on this mission, What was this extra piece of gear called again? I am a little nervous about using it. I have never heard of it before.

Paul replied, It’s called a dog drag, and don’t worry about it. There is nothing to it. It’s better if I show you while I tell you about it, or I would give you the low down on it now. But that is the least of your worries right now. Your main focus should be on security. I know you’re a demolition man, but this mission will call for quiet and speed. You may be called on to help with an occasional guard, but since this is to be your first mission, you will be mainly relegated to the security of the team.

Butch replied, Not a problem. I will do whatever you want me to do. I am just excited to be here.

The men examined the operational notes for a while longer, then Paul suggested that everyone hit their racks for a while to at least try and get some sleep before the mission. One by one, the small light beside each man's bed winked out, and before long, the bunkhouse was dark, but not for long. Each person was tossing and turning in their bunk, and slowly but surely, the men found themselves back up at the seating area once again pouring over the operational notes until it was time to go to the hanger to be fitted and for final equipment checks.

At precisely 19:00, there was a knock on the bunkhouse door, which meant it was time to get ready for the mission. Paul opened the bunkhouse door, and standing before him was a tall, thin captain, a sergeant, and a couple of other soldiers.

As soon as Paul opened the door, the captain said, I am Captain Nichols. My men and I are to escort you to the mission fitting area and then to the hanger. We will be with you until you and your men board the plane for your mission.

Paul looked over his shoulder and said playfully, Come on, boy’s, our ride’s here!

The rest of the men finished what they were doing, got up, and came to the door. As Paul and his group left the bunkhouse, they noticed another group of military policemen going inside the bunkhouse. It was their task to sanitize the bunkhouse to make sure that there were no papers or anything left behind in the room that could divulge even the slightest bit of information about the group or what they were going to do.

Captain Nichols and his men escorted the group of four men a short distance away to the equipment fitting area, which was a large room in one corner of the hangar where the mission would take off from in a couple of short hours. Once inside, the captain and his men stood guard on the entrances to ensure secrecy was maintained until the men boarded their aircraft and headed down the runway.

Once the team was inside the equipment fitting area, each of the four men was assigned a specialist to help get him dressed for the particular mission. Since it was the middle of December and the men would be jumping at night, it was a must to start with a set of full-length underwear. Over the top of that, another layer of wool undergarments followed by a black set of cargo pants and a specially modified black jacket.

Once the agent was dressed, the specialist would begin adding the appropriate tools and weapons requested for the mission at hand. Each member would have an on person checklist of items that the agent would be jumping with. On longer missions, there would also be another in canister checklist of items that would go inside the cargo canisters that would be dropped with the agents. These items would be larger, bulkier, items considered too dangerous to parachute with. However, since this was hopefully going to be a short mission, they would not be dropping a supply canister this time. Each man would only have the equipment he was jumping with.

Since this mission called for a very quick in and out without the Germans even knowing they are there, hopefully, each man would be jumping with a minimal amount of gear. Two of the men would be carrying paratrooper wrist compasses as well as maps of the surrounding areas. Each person would also carry on this mission an 11-inch double-edged fighting knife that tapers down to a point and can cut off equipment or silencing a guard. Each person would also be carrying a TL-122 flashlight, a compact camera the size of a deck of cards for photo taking, as well as a silenced .22 caliber automatic pistol with 5, 10-round magazines of ammunition. With a 90 percent reduction in sound, this pistol was a perfect choice should the need arise to take out a guard. Last but not least, each person would carry his medical kit, which one hoped they never had to use.

After the specialists helped the agents get the standard gear load in place and exactly as he wanted it, next came the secondary gear, which each agent asked for and the usual loadout. This secondary gear could be anything that the agent wished for, from brass knuckles to extra hand grenades to chewing gum. These particular agents had a vast supply list from which to order just about anything they desired. Since this was going to be a rapid mission, there was little in the way of auxiliary equipment.

Just as the men were finishing loading up their gear, Paul began to address the group, Ok, gentlemen, can I get your attention, please? Since everyone is about finished gearing up, take a couple more minutes to finish, gather your thoughts, and come meet me at the table.

On hearing this, each man nodded or affirmed in one way or another that they understood, and one by one, the men finished putting the last-minute touches on their gear and waddled over to a large table where Paul had set up a map of the target factory and surrounding area.

This is going to be our last-minute brief, Paul said. I know we have been over it again and again, but guess what? That’s right; we’re going over it again and probably one last time in the aircraft on the way to the LZ too. We are going to drop into this field adjacent to the trees here. Paul said while pointing to what appeared to be a farmer’s field next to a stand of trees.

Since this is hopefully going to be a quick in and out mission, we are going in relatively low at 500 feet and fast at a target speed of 170 miles per hour, so be ready for a bumpy ride when you exit the aircraft. We will not be jumping with an equipment bundle this time, so as soon as you hit the ground, make sure you gather up your chutes and bury them, so they will not be found. The first person to the tree line is to mark the rendezvous spot with their flashlight, so everyone else can form up on them. Any questions so far?

While either looking at the map or directly at Paul, each man replied that they did not have any questions thus far, so Paul continued with his brief.

Once we make our way into the trees, we will take cover for a few moments to let everything settle down, take stock of the situation, and check for any jump injuries. After a few minutes, we will head out through the stand of trees to this ditch here, Paul said as he pointed to a long straight ditch on the map.

We will follow the ditch for as long as we possibly can until it dead-ends at this road. While Paul spoke, the entire time he traced the route, they will take on the map with his finger so each person would know the exact way to take to the factory just in case someone should get separated from the group.

Once we are at the end of the ditch beside the road, we will cross the road one at a time until we are all assembled on the other side of the road. There should be very little traffic on the road since it’s mostly farmland, and it will be the middle of the night. Once we leapfrog the road, we should stay out of sight since the factory has trees on three sides. After assembling on the other side of the road, we will stay together until we enter the factory grounds, then we will split up into two teams looking for a foreman’s office or something like a safe once inside the main factory building. As you can see, the main factory building is L-shaped with two smaller buildings surrounded by fencing. Our target is the large L-shaped building. Any questions so far?

Each man sat there deep in thought, going over the mission in their heads, and since there were no questions, Paul continued with the briefing. We will all enter the grounds on the Southwestern corner of the facility, which is the furthest place from the main entrance of the facility. As soon as we get on the grounds, Allen and Butch, you two will gain access to the main factory building on the Southern side while Oscar and I will skirt around the back of the main building and make our entry on the Northern side. We have no plans or pictures of the factory inside, so we will have to improvise once inside. Once we find what we are looking for, we will make our escape somewhere near the Northwest corner of the facility, and it will be a straight shot through the woods for a mile until we meet up with the resistance who will escort us from there. Questions anyone?

Butch raised his hand and said, It’s not a question as much as it is a statement. I haven’t used dog drags before, and you said you would teach me about them.

Oh yes, I hadn’t forgotten, said Paul with a smile. A dog drag is a simple item to use; it is a small protective metal casing, like a tube, which surrounds a glass ampule of a strong scent that disguises an agent’s trail so search dogs cannot follow him. A longer cloth material covers the metal casing, and all you do is pull the safety pin, screw in the screw, which crushes the glass ampule inside, and then the liquefied scent wicks out onto the cloth. As you have already seen, the whole thing is only six inches long and a few ounces in weight. The whole thing is attached to a piece of thick string six feet long, and it just trails behind you while you walk, thereby masking your trail to dogs, hypothetically."

Oscar piped up and said, I have a question.

Ok, let’s hear it, replied Paul.

Do we know how many guards there are, and are we free to engage them if necessary?

Paul hesitated for a moment and said, Intelligence reports show that there are between three and five guards. Some of those guards have dogs; hence the reason for the dog drags. It is a fairly large facility, so hopefully, we will not even see a guard, but if we do, you are only free to engage if you or a team member is in immediate danger. If there are no more questions, let’s finish up and get out of here.

Once the men finished with the operation's last run-down, they moved to another room where the specialists were again waiting for them. Lastly,