November 29, 2025 • 38 mins
Today's Adventure:In a territory the partisans seized from the fascists in Italy, an OSS agent has to sneak out two fascists ready to give vital information to the Allies and finds himself having to overcome his partisan comrades to do so.
Original Radio Broadcast: October 6, 1950
Originating from New York
Starring: Grant Richards; Arnold Moss; Luis Van RootenTo subscribe to this podcast and, go to https://greatadventures.info/
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Original Radio Broadcast: October 6, 1950
Originating from New York
Starring: Grant Richards; Arnold Moss; Luis Van RootenTo subscribe to this podcast and, go to https://greatadventures.info/
Become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net.
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Give us a call at 208-991-4783
Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives
Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio from
Boy Sadah. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment,
we're going to bring you this week's episode of Cloak
and Dagger. But first I do want to encourage you.
If you are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using
(00:27):
your favorite podcast software. And also today's program is brought
you in part by the financial support of our listeners.
You can support the show on a one time basis
by us going to support Dot Great Detectives dot net
or becoming one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as
little as two dollars per month at Patreon, dot Great
(00:50):
Detectives dot net. Well now, from October sixth, nineteen fifty
here is Delay en Route.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the
enemy lines knowing that you may never return alive.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
What you have just heard is the question asked during
the War of agents of the OS s ordinary citizens.
So to this question answered yes, This is Cloak and Dagger,
(01:48):
black warfare, espionage, international intrigue. These are the weapons of
the OSS. Today's adventure Delay Our Route the story of
an American OSS agent who found himself between two fires
and fascists held Italy is suggested by actual incidents recorded
in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services,
(02:09):
a story that can now be told.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
That was a big night in Sturtzer. We liberated the
town that morning, and everybody was drunk, but not on Veno.
Those Italian partisans were drunk on something they hadn't tasted
since Mussolini's Blackshirts marched on Roman freedom. There were only
three fascist officials left in town, and all of them
(02:37):
were down on the village square, hanging from a scaffold.
I should have been celebrating too, after all, that was
why the OSS had sent me into Italy to help
Guido Gordoni and his partisans wipe out fascists. But sitting
(02:59):
there in the turned that night with Rosa widow's sister,
my mind was several thousand miles away.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
So Robert, you're going to leave us tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Huh?
Speaker 6 (03:12):
Oh, what rosa boat comes for you tomorrow night, No, the.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Night after tomorrow night, Rosa, just forty eight hours, it's
going to pick me up below Savona.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
And you are glad?
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Was there ever a guy who wasn't glad to go.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Home home to America. You mean, how can that be?
Speaker 7 (03:34):
The war is not over.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I've got a furlough coming up, a delay en route
to my next oss assignment.
Speaker 7 (03:40):
I see.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
It is nice in America, Arovert.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's nice, Rosa. It'll be audun when I
get back to Vermont. The trees will just be turning.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
I would like to see Vermont.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Maybe you will some day, you know what I.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Mean, Roberto, I would like to see it with you.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Oh sorry, Rosa.
Speaker 8 (04:13):
Here's your brother, Guilo Wino over here, Roberto Morvillo, Wake well,
wait on looking for a fat fascist pig, Alberto Pelitzo.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Palitzo, the big shipyard owner. Why would he be in Sturcher.
Speaker 8 (04:33):
He's got a summer village just above the town though
he might be hiding out there. I took some of
the boys up at the press was empty.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I gotta find him tonight. Why tonight, Roberto?
Speaker 8 (04:44):
Didn't you notice there's still room for one more on
the scaffold in the square. Oh that's right, I forgot.
You haven't been to the square, have you, Roberto? No,
I haven't. You don't like execute.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Executions are all right at clinchings. I don't like those
men were civilians, widow, they were FASCISTI. Nevertheless, they were
entitled to a trial, a trial. If they had caught you, Roberto,
would they have given you a trial?
Speaker 9 (05:18):
That was the difference between Guido Gordoni and me. He
and his partisans caught fire with fire. They'd never heard
of the democratic process, but I had, and I believed
in it.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
That was why Guido and I could fight side by
side and respect each other as soldiers, and yet never
become friends.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
You've not lived under the FASCISTI, Roberto. You've not had
a wife and child murdered as I have. With the
men you hung in the square responsible for that. Every
black shirt is responsible, the men in the square. Alberto
pilats all of them. When Guido gordon He finds them,
they pay for their crime.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
They should pay, of course. But but but but what what?
Speaker 8 (06:02):
What?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Roberto? I don't like men who say yes, but I
don't think they can be trusted.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
You have no right to say that to Roberto.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Forget it, Rosin, I'm leaving all of you. Soon.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
You won't have.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
To trust me much longer. I got up then and
pushed my way through the crowd to the door of
the tavern. I stepped outside. The night was beautiful, but
(06:37):
not as beautiful I thought as an autumn night in
a month h She touched my arm as she said it.
She'd been standing very close to me in the shadows
of the tavern wall. I've never seen her before, but
she was lovely.
Speaker 7 (06:56):
You are, Senor Mercer.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Yes I am.
Speaker 7 (06:59):
I wish to talk to you. Signor will you be
kind enough to come with me?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
I didn't say no. It would have been hard to
say no under any circumstances. Besides, her quick, frightened eyes
told me it was something important. Still, I kept my hand.
Speaker 9 (07:20):
Closed around my revolver as she let me down several dark,
deserted streets.
Speaker 7 (07:27):
This is the house, signor you will please go down
the steps to the basement.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Oh, you go first.
Speaker 7 (07:37):
There is someone inside, but please come in. Do not
be alarmed.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I'm not alarmed. Go ahead what I say, Senor. The
man who rose to greet me wasn't armed, and he
looked old and too tired to be dangerous.
Speaker 10 (07:57):
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alberto Pilizo.
Belisso young. Lady who brought you here is my daughter Maria.
It was good of you to come with her. Signor,
But it wasn't very wise. I've heard to bring me
Why because you might turn us over to the partisan
Because I will turn you over to the Partisans, I.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Think not, Signor. No.
Speaker 10 (08:21):
On the contrary, you will be careful to protect us
from the Partisans. It will take us out of Italy alive.
You will see it. With that we arrive safe and
sound in America.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
What makes you think so?
Speaker 10 (08:35):
Is your government informs sing your mercer of our recent
experiments with radio guided aerial torpedoes. I don't know I
could inform them. These experiments are being conducted in my
own laboratories. I know more about them than any other
man in Italy. I see also a new type of
submarine capable of great underwater speed. All right, Also the
(08:56):
long sought electromagnetic pistol for torpedoes.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
All right, all right, I get the point, Poalizzo, I
thought you would. You'll turn over this information to Allied
intelligence if I get you safely out of Italy precisely.
Speaker 10 (09:13):
Who well, Signor, I'll have to think about it, or
to think too long, Signor, and don't discuss it with
your parties and comrades. I'm quite sure that bloodthirsty Guido
Gordoni would not let my usefulness to the Allies prevent
him from hanging me.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
He was right about that, Not that Guido Gordoni was
blood thirsty. He was simply an angry and bitter man.
Nothing in the world would prevent him from hanging Alberto Poalizoh.
I was pretty better myself as I headed back to
my room above the tavern. I didn't like keeping secrets
(09:52):
from Guido, and I didn't like helping fascists. But I
knew already what I had to do. I knew that
when I went aboard that pet boat in forty eight hours,
Palizzo and his daughter would be with me. The OSS
would want it that way.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Hello, Roberto Rosa, you were gone a long time, Roberto?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
What are you doing in my room waiting for you? I? Uh,
I went for a walk.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yes, I know, I saw you.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
What do you mean you saw me?
Speaker 5 (10:28):
I was watching from the window when you walked away
from the tavern?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Boy?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Is she Roberto?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
That's none of your business?
Speaker 6 (10:35):
Was I will make it my business? Is she the
one who is going with you to America? Is that
why you cannot take me? Is it with her that
you will spend the autumn nights in Vermont.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Rosa, you're a fool.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
No, you are a fool, Roberto. You cannot conceal her
from me. I will find her before tomorrow night.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
And when I do, yes, when you do.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
Life is very cheap in Stuartza these days, Roberto.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
She meant it, She didn't make idle threats. She was
like her brother that way. It took me a long
time to fall asleep after she was gone. Getting Alberto
Polizzo and his daughter safely out of Italy was beginning
to look complicated. The next morning, it looked even more complicated.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
Rosa told me what you did last night, Roberto, And
it was very stupid to go along with this strange woman.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
But she was a beautiful woman, Guido.
Speaker 8 (11:41):
She might have led you into a trap. You know
there is still FASCISTI in Stuzza.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
No important ones. I'm sure the mayor, the magistrate and
the prefect of police are all hanging in the square.
Who else could there be? Alberto Pilito? What makes you
think you said his villow was empty?
Speaker 8 (12:00):
It was, but I don't believe he had time to escape.
I think he's hiding out somewhere in town. And I'm
going to search every house, room by room until I
find him.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
And then you'll string him up to oh oh, with leisure.
He might make a valuable prisoner of war. He's a
big wheel in the munitions and shipping industries. He'd have
a lot of information that would be useful to the Allies.
Speaker 8 (12:23):
And who would trust the information of a fascist? Not you,
apparently you're right, not me. His information will not save him.
If if I find him, Roberto, I'll kill him.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And that settled that. There was no question from then
on of letting Guido in on my plans, not if
I hope to save Palizzo's neck and I had to
save it now. The information that Guido scoffed at could
shorten the war by weeks, months, even years. Ten minutes
later I was knocking the cellar door. It was opened immediately,
(13:02):
but not by Palizzo or his daughter. See signor, who
are you, Dominique?
Speaker 7 (13:09):
Signor the owner of this building?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
There was a man and his door here last night.
Speaker 11 (13:14):
They are still here, covin signor, Oh, good morning, signor.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
We have been waiting for you.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
We expected you somewhat earlier than this. Oh so sorry,
I'll try not to disappoint you after this, you already
I presume to take us out of Italy. I'd much
prefer to turn you over to my friends.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
Oh of course, But unfortunately your preference is not what matters.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Unfortunately, when do we leave, signor you live?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Sir?
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Such a night Italy tomorrow night, Signor.
Speaker 7 (13:46):
We are grateful. We knew you would not fail.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I'm not doing this for you, naturally, we understand that.
Don't be mariar.
Speaker 7 (13:54):
Yes, father, still, we will rewards in your No, you
in your way and I mine.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Let's cut the talk, shall we. You've got to get.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Out of here, Get out now, you mean, but you
said to No.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
You can't stay in this cellar till then you'll have
to find a new place to hide. Why, because the
partisans are looking for you. They're covering stirts a house
by house.
Speaker 7 (14:15):
No, they do not know where we are.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
They think you might be. They're not taking any chances
on letting you escape. They want to string you up
where you belong.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
Well, can we go, signor how can we hide?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I don't know yet?
Speaker 10 (14:25):
I thought, maybe right, we are trapped in here unless
there's another way out.
Speaker 11 (14:33):
There is no other ways in your.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Shut up.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Don't let me shut up, Dominic. What's that iron trapped
door on the wall? The shoot? You open? It looks
just big enough. What does it lead to the rear
of the house? All right, all right, let's get going.
You first.
Speaker 7 (14:51):
You want me to climb and field the court? Shoot?
What about my clothes?
Speaker 4 (14:55):
What about your neck? Scramble up the chute and POLICEO
followed her. I went last. I didn't see what happened
to Dominic the landlord, and I didn't much care where mouse.
You've got to lie low, someplace where they won't find
you before tonight. That is not such places. Villa Villa.
(15:17):
They've already looked there. They won't go back.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
Those deeps and murders and sacked down beauty perl Villa.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Neither thieves nor murderers. They're loyal patriots. We have our
name for them your you have yours, and while we're
together when he was mine, now beat it. I arranged
to meet them at the villa at dusk. I watched
them trudge off, smeared with coal from the chute, looking
(15:44):
like the peasants they despised. At least there wasn't much
chance they'd be recognized. But I wasn't exactly recognizable either,
So I washed off in a little stream at the
edge of town. Then I went back to my room.
Where you been, Roberto? It was widow. He was sitting
(16:05):
at the table in the center of the room, and
lying in front of him was his revolver. Where have
you been, Roberto?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Out out where?
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Just out o? Just art? Huh? All right, Rico, what
do you mean? Inside you?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Here's a friend, Roberto.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
He appeared in the doorway, prodded by Rico's carbine. He
was no friend, only an acquaintance of very recent acquaintance.
He was the landlord, dominic You.
Speaker 8 (16:41):
Were hiding a man in the center of your house, Dominique.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Who was he? Who was he?
Speaker 11 (16:48):
Alberto Pelitzoto Bilitza And he had a call it this morning?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
See who was the caller?
Speaker 4 (16:58):
That man?
Speaker 8 (16:59):
Singorl take out the old metoryco Oh, Roberto, Well.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
I want Belitzo. You can't have him. Where is he?
I won't tell you. You are protecting a fascist thing.
I'm doing more than protecting him. I'm taking him out
of Italy to America.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Why why so he can have a pay it time?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
No, so he can turn over information, information yes, you've
seen this information is not on paper, it's in his head.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
And you believe him, yes, and you believe he's going
to give it up once he's got to America.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
It's worth the chance. How much?
Speaker 8 (17:45):
What?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
How much is it worth? Roberto? Do you the whole?
Fifty thousand dollars? Fifty thousand dollars? How much he's got
sold in the landing of his overcoat.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
His landlord told I.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Didn't know it, lying.
Speaker 8 (17:58):
Belit, So he's paying you will, and I shall have
to deal with you as I would with any other traitor.
I give you one more chance, Roberto, where is that fascist?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
His hand moved for his revolver on the table, but
my hand moved too. My fingers caught the edge of
the table and it out, sprawling back in his chair.
The gun clattered to the floor, and I kicked it
out of his request. My fist caught him on the
point of the chin. His head snapped back and he
slumped to the floor out. I didn't like to do that, Quido. Sorry,
(18:42):
you should be sorry, Roberto, Rosa.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Maybe you will tell me where the fascist is.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Roberto, I'm not telling anyone, Rosa.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
Then I will do what my brother did not have
the chance to do.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I don't think you will.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Don't come near me, Roberto, if you try to get
this gun. I saw ware antinue.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
But you won't, you know, because you don't believe I'm
a trader. You are and I were. You wouldn't shoot
me because you love me, not anymore I hate And
why don't you pull the trigger? Give me the gun, Rosa.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
They didn't go.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
I went down to the street. The car that Guido
had come and did for his use and stood so
was parked in front of the tavern. I went over
to the driver, Antonio, we don't want you. He is
upstairsing your mer Yes in my room, hurry, it's I
(20:02):
was at Pulico's villa. Twenty minutes later. Maria met me
at the door. The way she was dressed, you'd have
thought she was sailing for America and the Queen Mary Senior.
Speaker 7 (20:12):
Mer How nice that you have come early.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Where's your father in the library?
Speaker 7 (20:17):
This way? We will not expecting you on until tonight.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
My plans have changed.
Speaker 10 (20:23):
Palitzo, Ah, your mercy, you have arrived just in time,
in time for what Maria and I have opened one
last bottle of wine from Marcella.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
We shall be happy to have you share it with
No thanks, Marie, another guy, I said, no thanks.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Now, my dear fellow, we will drink to use in
your our benefactory and then we will drink to the
new world where we are going, a world where these
differences between us can be forgotten, a world where we
can be friends.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
There's no such world, Politzo. There is your glassy or
I don't drink with fascists.
Speaker 10 (21:10):
You have consorted with rabble to long mercer your manners, reflected, My.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Manners are likely to get worse if I can sort
with your kind much longer. So let's get going. You
said we will leave tonight.
Speaker 7 (21:22):
There's been a change of plants.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Father, that's right. We're starting for the coast right away.
Get your things very well, and palzzo. Yes, we'll be
driving through fascist held territory most of the way. You
might be tempted to make a break for it. If
you do, I promise I'll bring you back and personally
hang you from that scaffold. We left. Then I drove
(21:50):
the car Pulzzo Satin back, but not Maria. She was
beside me, very close beside me. Her perfume was heavy and.
Speaker 7 (21:58):
Sweet thoughts are so far away in your very far.
You do not like me, do you? You do not
think I am.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Beautiful, not nearly as beautiful as my thoughts.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
They are of another woman?
Speaker 4 (22:17):
No? What then a place called Vermont. It was night
when we reached the main highway to Savona. Guido's partisans
were far behind us. By them, and I thought it
would be clear sailing. I was wrong. What is the matter?
(22:40):
Why do you slow down? Look up ahead? Road block? Partisan? No,
not partisans, this time it's your friends, Remember Polizzo. I'm
waiting for you to say just one wrong word.
Speaker 11 (22:54):
Let me see your papers. You're in the back seat.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Force here they are. You will find them quite order.
Speaker 11 (23:00):
I will be the judge of that. Alberto Pelitzoy. So
you are, Alberto Pelitzo?
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Are you yes? I am all right?
Speaker 11 (23:14):
Proma with me, all three of you.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
What's why? What is the better?
Speaker 11 (23:18):
This man is lying? Alberto Pelitzo is dead.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
They let us to a small house down the road.
The one with the rifle stayed with us, while the
other one disappeared into a back room. I was still
watching Palizzo. I was still waiting for him to say
that word.
Speaker 11 (23:40):
Here is the man Major, A man who calls himself
Alberto Plito.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Let me see him, so why should they not call
himself Alberto Pelitzo.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
You recognized me that Major, but of course Signor, and
I am delighted to say our information was that you
had been captured by partsans.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I deeply apologize for the inconvenience.
Speaker 10 (24:08):
We may, of course, no, no, no apologies are necessary, Major,
And now may my daughter and I proceed to save.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
On certainly, Senor. And this man who is with.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
You, Oh, this man see you wish him to accompany you?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Senor?
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Well, yes, of course this man is my chauffer. I
didn't get it. I didn't understand why he done it,
not until it started toward the car. The Major who
has called us walk ahead with Maria. I turned back
to have a little private talk with Berlitza. You could
(24:52):
have turned me over to them, but you didn't. It
was not of the kindness of your heart. I'm sure
why else, Mercer, you have been kind to us. We
you no fascist was ever kind for a reason like that.
Can you think of another reason? Maybe you have no
way of leaving Italy without me? You know, the war
was lost if you're still here. When the Allies march
(25:14):
into room, you won't have any way to save your
precious skins.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
You want to get out.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
What you can't.
Speaker 10 (25:21):
You're no fool singer, Mercer. You can understand my reasoning
at your shore, I can understand it. It's an old story.
Rats always desert a sinking ship.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Were you insa watch it?
Speaker 12 (25:35):
I was just telling your charming daughter, Senor Belitio, that
there is really no need for you to go to Savona.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
After tomorrow night. You could return to your village, Stuart.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
The Partisans have taken stored some major.
Speaker 12 (25:47):
And not for long since you're A full division of
our infantry is on its way from Geneva to carry
out a surprise attack on them, and we are going
to deal with this banded Guido Gardone once and for all.
Within forty eight hours, it will be we do GORDONI
himself will be hanging from that scaffold in the village square.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
That gave me something to think about the rest of
the way.
Speaker 9 (26:17):
I kept on thinking about it all the next day,
and I thought of Vermont too, Yes, I thought a
lot about Vermont and how those trees would look in
the fore to anybody who was lucky enough to see them.
The row of the surf against the lonely stretch of
beach below Savon had drowned the noise of the pet
boats motors. We didn't hear it, but we saw it
lying offshore. The dinghy had put over its side, scraped
(26:38):
against the hard sand of the beach.
Speaker 8 (26:42):
Yes, awsin's made, Curtis, sir, Do these people go aboard
to Lieutenant?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Oh? Yes, yes, here's a letter. Give it to your skipper.
It explains who they are. But aren't you cumming sir?
Speaker 7 (26:53):
No, senor Mercer, you're not going with us. I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I think I do.
Speaker 10 (26:57):
Maria, thenoble s he's going back to warn his friends
in Stewarts of the surprise attack.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
That's right, Palito.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
No sor Why should you bother with that rat.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
They happened to be my allies, but you.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
Said they would kill you if they saw you again.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
They will. I am hoping they'll listen to my warning anyway,
But that is foolish.
Speaker 7 (27:15):
To risk your life for them. It does not make sense.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
It wouldn't to you, Maria, not yet. Maybe after you've
been in America. Pro while. It will take them away, Curtis. Yes, sir,
so I didn't go to Vermont. I went back to
Sturtz instead. It was noon the next day when I
walked into the tavern. Guido was there and Rosa, yes,
(27:46):
I've come back.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
Well, great returns. Maybe you didn't believe me when I said.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
I'd kill you. I believe to Guido Rico take his gun.
That won't be necessary, Rico, here's my gun.
Speaker 13 (28:01):
Robert Rossa, you're ready to die greater as soon as
I've given you my report.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
There's a full division of fascist infantry moving up from Genoa.
They're planning to spring a trap tonight. You'd better get
out of Strutcher. I don't believe you.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
The fascists are too busy at Selno to send the
division here.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
All right, I'll tell my best widow. If you don't
believe it, I believe. What are you doing? Get away
from him, Get out of the way.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I'll tell you I'm going to kill him.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
You have to kill me too. Very well. We will
see if you're right about him, Rosa.
Speaker 8 (28:37):
Rico, we're moving out of starts immediately passed you over
the long Roberto, what.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Will you do with him?
Speaker 8 (28:43):
Take Roberto with us. If the fascists do not attack tonight,
there will be no more room on the scaffold tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
The fascists did attack that night, but there wasn't a
partners left and starts out. We had evaporated into the hills, Yes,
I said we. I went on working with Guido GORDONI,
helping to direct the campaign against the black Shirts. We
will never friends, Guido and I, but we did have
a common enemy. A year later I got back to Vermont.
(29:21):
That was a long time to wait, but not as
long as I might have waited if Alberto Palizzo had
not given information concerning secret weapons to the OSS.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
And once again the report of an OSS agent closes
with the.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Words mission accomplished.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Listen again next week for another true adventure from the
files of the OSS on.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Cloak and Dagger.
Speaker 14 (29:58):
Heard in today's Kulkandiger enter as Robert Messa was Grant, Richards,
Hido Arnomas, Alberto Pinzzo, Louis van Rutin. Script was written
by Ken Phield and music was under the direction of
John Guard. Sound effects by Max Russell and al Finelli
engineering Don Evan. Today's OSS adventure was based on the
book pluckandegga by Corey Ford and Alistair McBeth. His program
(30:19):
is produced by Lewis G. Cowen and Alfred Hollande under
the direction and supervision of Shovin Marx.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Three Times Mean Good Times on NBC Sandia Welcome Back.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
This is another great episode and really introduces a unique
conflict where you have an OSS agent having to rescue
a fascist from the Partisans and Grant Richards does a
great job portraying the conflict that remains throughout the episode,
and it raises some fascinating questions because he had sympathy
(30:56):
with the desire of the Partisans, and I think most
listeners would. The idea that collaborators went unpunished or even
seemed to get rewarded with favorable treatment. I think tends
to really stick in people's cause, and I know many
have criticized these sort of deals by the Allies. However,
(31:17):
the episode raises the key argument that it may have
made the difference, if not between defeat and victory, but
between a sooner or a longer end of the war.
Now quickening the end of the war wasn't a matter
of time only, it was a matter of lives safe.
(31:38):
Two hundred and ninety one thousand Americans died in battle,
with another one hundred and thirteen thousand dying to other
causes during the war, such as disease. Cutting months off
the length of the war would mean tens of thousands
of Americans coming home alive, as opposed to dine or
(32:01):
be maimed. Now, there are many moral critiques of certain
actions by the Allies during the war that I think
are legitimate to discuss. Whether you end up saying that
the wrong thing happened or not, it's legitimate to discuss them.
But I think that some of the arguments that are
(32:21):
made can be undermined if you ignore the reality of
the alternative. If you don't deal with the alternative, your
argument is basically an ivory tower statement that you can
only make from a safe distance decades away from the
actual hard choices that had to be made. Now, that
(32:43):
doesn't mean you can't critique these sort of actions, but
any critique has to take these concerns to mind, you know,
And I think there are two obvious things you can say.
Either one, the particular actions didn't actually quicken the end
of the war, and it wasn't reasonable to think it
would or to even if some action actually ended up
(33:07):
saving tens of thousands of American lives, we should have
taken the casualties rather than do something that wrong. You
can make serious arguments that way, but if you ignore
the alternatives, it just comes across failing to engage with
what the real world situation was. The decision for the
(33:31):
escaping fascist leader not to go back, even when he
had an opportunity, really speaks to the opportunistic nature of
many of these sorts of hangers on to dictators. Whatever
the core ideology of a particular dictator or leader, there
(33:56):
are people in the inner circle who are far more
interted in using the situation to get wealth and power,
and that's what they see the ultimate end of this,
not whatever ideological changes are dreamed up by the true believers.
If it starts to look like things are not going
(34:17):
to go that way, these sort of people can switch
sides easily. This gets picked up in a lot of
post war entertainment. I think particularly of some of the
Superman serials dealing with demagogues promoting bigotry and intolerance. And
(34:38):
in these stories you would have the leaders of these
organizations who would put out some sort of hatred against
whatever group they decided to target, but didn't actually believe it,
but rather saw it as an opportunity to advance themselves,
to gain followers by agitating again the minority, and when
(35:02):
that ceases to work for them and they are talented,
their loyalty and their stances might change, even while the
less powerful people who believe them might remain committed to
the cause and ultimately face consequences for it. I also
love that our oss man went back, even at the
risk of his life. It showed that his heart was
(35:25):
with the Partisans, as well as that sense of honor,
despite his disagreements, despite where he thought, in this case
his duty not just to them, but to the United
States and the Allied Command where he thought that duty lie.
At the end of the day, he's looking out for
(35:46):
them and comes back and stands by their side again
at the risk of his own life. So really just
a fascinating overall character study and story. I think that
for most people who listened to old time radio, it
would be safe to say that Cloakendagger is probably the
(36:07):
best drama that you never heard of, and it's been
great to feature it on the podcast. All Right well,
listener comments and feedback now and we go to Spotify
on operations Sellout Mechanic sixty six rides. Pretty much suspected
Marie from the start due to the title, and if
(36:28):
it had been Mueller, the operation wouldn't have made it
to the successful category. Well, I wouldn't underwrite the ability
of the oss to somehow work it out. Even if
Muller had been a spot I tended not to suspect him.
I actually leaned a bit towards the brother at first,
but then he kind of just disappeared from the story,
(36:51):
and I think that the romance and other things, you know,
kind of suggested to the outside observer. Yeah, I think
there's something suspicious about Marie, though it wasn't in a
way that people who were actually there might have noticed,
Particularly when they were so focused on Muller. It kind
(37:13):
of gave them tunnel visions, so you didn't really perceive
the whole situation and where all of your risk might lie.
Had they not been so suspicious of him, they might
have caught on to what she was doing sooner. All right, Well,
thanks so much, appreciate the comment. Now it's time to
thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and I want
(37:34):
to thank Lori, Patreon supporter since April twenty twenty, currently
supporting the podcast at the secret Agent level of four
dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Lourie,
and that we'll do it for today. If you're enjoying
the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software
and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever
(37:56):
you download it from a Great Detectives. We'll be back
tomorrow with the Sunday Encore, and then on Monday, the
normal lineup resumes with Danger with Granger on the Great
Adventurers Podcast. We will be back on Tuesday with Adventure Ahead,
and then next Saturday another episode of Cloak and Dagger.
(38:19):
In the meantime, send your comments to Box thirteen at
Greatdetectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives,
and check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash
Great Detectives From Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam
Graham signing off.
Welcome to the Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio from
Boy Sadah. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment,
we're going to bring you this week's episode of Cloak
and Dagger. But first I do want to encourage you.
If you are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using
(00:27):
your favorite podcast software. And also today's program is brought
you in part by the financial support of our listeners.
You can support the show on a one time basis
by us going to support Dot Great Detectives dot net
or becoming one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as
little as two dollars per month at Patreon, dot Great
(00:50):
Detectives dot net. Well now, from October sixth, nineteen fifty
here is Delay en Route.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the
enemy lines knowing that you may never return alive.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
What you have just heard is the question asked during
the War of agents of the OS s ordinary citizens.
So to this question answered yes, This is Cloak and Dagger,
(01:48):
black warfare, espionage, international intrigue. These are the weapons of
the OSS. Today's adventure Delay Our Route the story of
an American OSS agent who found himself between two fires
and fascists held Italy is suggested by actual incidents recorded
in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services,
(02:09):
a story that can now be told.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
That was a big night in Sturtzer. We liberated the
town that morning, and everybody was drunk, but not on Veno.
Those Italian partisans were drunk on something they hadn't tasted
since Mussolini's Blackshirts marched on Roman freedom. There were only
three fascist officials left in town, and all of them
(02:37):
were down on the village square, hanging from a scaffold.
I should have been celebrating too, after all, that was
why the OSS had sent me into Italy to help
Guido Gordoni and his partisans wipe out fascists. But sitting
(02:59):
there in the turned that night with Rosa widow's sister,
my mind was several thousand miles away.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
So Robert, you're going to leave us tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Huh?
Speaker 6 (03:12):
Oh, what rosa boat comes for you tomorrow night, No, the.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Night after tomorrow night, Rosa, just forty eight hours, it's
going to pick me up below Savona.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
And you are glad?
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Was there ever a guy who wasn't glad to go.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Home home to America. You mean, how can that be?
Speaker 7 (03:34):
The war is not over.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I've got a furlough coming up, a delay en route
to my next oss assignment.
Speaker 7 (03:40):
I see.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
It is nice in America, Arovert.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's nice, Rosa. It'll be audun when I
get back to Vermont. The trees will just be turning.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
I would like to see Vermont.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Maybe you will some day, you know what I.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Mean, Roberto, I would like to see it with you.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Oh sorry, Rosa.
Speaker 8 (04:13):
Here's your brother, Guilo Wino over here, Roberto Morvillo, Wake well,
wait on looking for a fat fascist pig, Alberto Pelitzo.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Palitzo, the big shipyard owner. Why would he be in Sturcher.
Speaker 8 (04:33):
He's got a summer village just above the town though
he might be hiding out there. I took some of
the boys up at the press was empty.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I gotta find him tonight. Why tonight, Roberto?
Speaker 8 (04:44):
Didn't you notice there's still room for one more on
the scaffold in the square. Oh that's right, I forgot.
You haven't been to the square, have you, Roberto? No,
I haven't. You don't like execute.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Executions are all right at clinchings. I don't like those
men were civilians, widow, they were FASCISTI. Nevertheless, they were
entitled to a trial, a trial. If they had caught you, Roberto,
would they have given you a trial?
Speaker 9 (05:18):
That was the difference between Guido Gordoni and me. He
and his partisans caught fire with fire. They'd never heard
of the democratic process, but I had, and I believed
in it.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
That was why Guido and I could fight side by
side and respect each other as soldiers, and yet never
become friends.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
You've not lived under the FASCISTI, Roberto. You've not had
a wife and child murdered as I have. With the
men you hung in the square responsible for that. Every
black shirt is responsible, the men in the square. Alberto
pilats all of them. When Guido gordon He finds them,
they pay for their crime.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
They should pay, of course. But but but but what what?
Speaker 8 (06:02):
What?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Roberto? I don't like men who say yes, but I
don't think they can be trusted.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
You have no right to say that to Roberto.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Forget it, Rosin, I'm leaving all of you. Soon.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
You won't have.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
To trust me much longer. I got up then and
pushed my way through the crowd to the door of
the tavern. I stepped outside. The night was beautiful, but
(06:37):
not as beautiful I thought as an autumn night in
a month h She touched my arm as she said it.
She'd been standing very close to me in the shadows
of the tavern wall. I've never seen her before, but
she was lovely.
Speaker 7 (06:56):
You are, Senor Mercer.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Yes I am.
Speaker 7 (06:59):
I wish to talk to you. Signor will you be
kind enough to come with me?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
I didn't say no. It would have been hard to
say no under any circumstances. Besides, her quick, frightened eyes
told me it was something important. Still, I kept my hand.
Speaker 9 (07:20):
Closed around my revolver as she let me down several dark,
deserted streets.
Speaker 7 (07:27):
This is the house, signor you will please go down
the steps to the basement.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Oh, you go first.
Speaker 7 (07:37):
There is someone inside, but please come in. Do not
be alarmed.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I'm not alarmed. Go ahead what I say, Senor. The
man who rose to greet me wasn't armed, and he
looked old and too tired to be dangerous.
Speaker 10 (07:57):
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alberto Pilizo.
Belisso young. Lady who brought you here is my daughter Maria.
It was good of you to come with her. Signor,
But it wasn't very wise. I've heard to bring me
Why because you might turn us over to the partisan
Because I will turn you over to the Partisans, I.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Think not, Signor. No.
Speaker 10 (08:21):
On the contrary, you will be careful to protect us
from the Partisans. It will take us out of Italy alive.
You will see it. With that we arrive safe and
sound in America.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
What makes you think so?
Speaker 10 (08:35):
Is your government informs sing your mercer of our recent
experiments with radio guided aerial torpedoes. I don't know I
could inform them. These experiments are being conducted in my
own laboratories. I know more about them than any other
man in Italy. I see also a new type of
submarine capable of great underwater speed. All right, Also the
(08:56):
long sought electromagnetic pistol for torpedoes.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
All right, all right, I get the point, Poalizzo, I
thought you would. You'll turn over this information to Allied
intelligence if I get you safely out of Italy precisely.
Speaker 10 (09:13):
Who well, Signor, I'll have to think about it, or
to think too long, Signor, and don't discuss it with
your parties and comrades. I'm quite sure that bloodthirsty Guido
Gordoni would not let my usefulness to the Allies prevent
him from hanging me.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
He was right about that, Not that Guido Gordoni was
blood thirsty. He was simply an angry and bitter man.
Nothing in the world would prevent him from hanging Alberto Poalizoh.
I was pretty better myself as I headed back to
my room above the tavern. I didn't like keeping secrets
(09:52):
from Guido, and I didn't like helping fascists. But I
knew already what I had to do. I knew that
when I went aboard that pet boat in forty eight hours,
Palizzo and his daughter would be with me. The OSS
would want it that way.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Hello, Roberto Rosa, you were gone a long time, Roberto?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
What are you doing in my room waiting for you? I? Uh,
I went for a walk.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yes, I know, I saw you.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
What do you mean you saw me?
Speaker 5 (10:28):
I was watching from the window when you walked away
from the tavern?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Boy?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Is she Roberto?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
That's none of your business?
Speaker 6 (10:35):
Was I will make it my business? Is she the
one who is going with you to America? Is that
why you cannot take me? Is it with her that
you will spend the autumn nights in Vermont.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Rosa, you're a fool.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
No, you are a fool, Roberto. You cannot conceal her
from me. I will find her before tomorrow night.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
And when I do, yes, when you do.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
Life is very cheap in Stuartza these days, Roberto.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
She meant it, She didn't make idle threats. She was
like her brother that way. It took me a long
time to fall asleep after she was gone. Getting Alberto
Polizzo and his daughter safely out of Italy was beginning
to look complicated. The next morning, it looked even more complicated.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
Rosa told me what you did last night, Roberto, And
it was very stupid to go along with this strange woman.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
But she was a beautiful woman, Guido.
Speaker 8 (11:41):
She might have led you into a trap. You know
there is still FASCISTI in Stuzza.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
No important ones. I'm sure the mayor, the magistrate and
the prefect of police are all hanging in the square.
Who else could there be? Alberto Pilito? What makes you
think you said his villow was empty?
Speaker 8 (12:00):
It was, but I don't believe he had time to escape.
I think he's hiding out somewhere in town. And I'm
going to search every house, room by room until I
find him.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
And then you'll string him up to oh oh, with leisure.
He might make a valuable prisoner of war. He's a
big wheel in the munitions and shipping industries. He'd have
a lot of information that would be useful to the Allies.
Speaker 8 (12:23):
And who would trust the information of a fascist? Not you,
apparently you're right, not me. His information will not save him.
If if I find him, Roberto, I'll kill him.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And that settled that. There was no question from then
on of letting Guido in on my plans, not if
I hope to save Palizzo's neck and I had to
save it now. The information that Guido scoffed at could
shorten the war by weeks, months, even years. Ten minutes
later I was knocking the cellar door. It was opened immediately,
(13:02):
but not by Palizzo or his daughter. See signor, who
are you, Dominique?
Speaker 7 (13:09):
Signor the owner of this building?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
There was a man and his door here last night.
Speaker 11 (13:14):
They are still here, covin signor, Oh, good morning, signor.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
We have been waiting for you.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
We expected you somewhat earlier than this. Oh so sorry,
I'll try not to disappoint you after this, you already
I presume to take us out of Italy. I'd much
prefer to turn you over to my friends.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
Oh of course, But unfortunately your preference is not what matters.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Unfortunately, when do we leave, signor you live?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Sir?
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Such a night Italy tomorrow night, Signor.
Speaker 7 (13:46):
We are grateful. We knew you would not fail.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I'm not doing this for you, naturally, we understand that.
Don't be mariar.
Speaker 7 (13:54):
Yes, father, still, we will rewards in your No, you
in your way and I mine.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Let's cut the talk, shall we. You've got to get.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Out of here, Get out now, you mean, but you
said to No.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
You can't stay in this cellar till then you'll have
to find a new place to hide. Why, because the
partisans are looking for you. They're covering stirts a house
by house.
Speaker 7 (14:15):
No, they do not know where we are.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
They think you might be. They're not taking any chances
on letting you escape. They want to string you up
where you belong.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
Well, can we go, signor how can we hide?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I don't know yet?
Speaker 10 (14:25):
I thought, maybe right, we are trapped in here unless
there's another way out.
Speaker 11 (14:33):
There is no other ways in your.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Shut up.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Don't let me shut up, Dominic. What's that iron trapped
door on the wall? The shoot? You open? It looks
just big enough. What does it lead to the rear
of the house? All right, all right, let's get going.
You first.
Speaker 7 (14:51):
You want me to climb and field the court? Shoot?
What about my clothes?
Speaker 4 (14:55):
What about your neck? Scramble up the chute and POLICEO
followed her. I went last. I didn't see what happened
to Dominic the landlord, and I didn't much care where mouse.
You've got to lie low, someplace where they won't find
you before tonight. That is not such places. Villa Villa.
(15:17):
They've already looked there. They won't go back.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
Those deeps and murders and sacked down beauty perl Villa.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Neither thieves nor murderers. They're loyal patriots. We have our
name for them your you have yours, and while we're
together when he was mine, now beat it. I arranged
to meet them at the villa at dusk. I watched
them trudge off, smeared with coal from the chute, looking
(15:44):
like the peasants they despised. At least there wasn't much
chance they'd be recognized. But I wasn't exactly recognizable either,
So I washed off in a little stream at the
edge of town. Then I went back to my room.
Where you been, Roberto? It was widow. He was sitting
(16:05):
at the table in the center of the room, and
lying in front of him was his revolver. Where have
you been, Roberto?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Out out where?
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Just out o? Just art? Huh? All right, Rico, what
do you mean? Inside you?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Here's a friend, Roberto.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
He appeared in the doorway, prodded by Rico's carbine. He
was no friend, only an acquaintance of very recent acquaintance.
He was the landlord, dominic You.
Speaker 8 (16:41):
Were hiding a man in the center of your house, Dominique.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Who was he? Who was he?
Speaker 11 (16:48):
Alberto Pelitzoto Bilitza And he had a call it this morning?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
See who was the caller?
Speaker 4 (16:58):
That man?
Speaker 8 (16:59):
Singorl take out the old metoryco Oh, Roberto, Well.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
I want Belitzo. You can't have him. Where is he?
I won't tell you. You are protecting a fascist thing.
I'm doing more than protecting him. I'm taking him out
of Italy to America.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Why why so he can have a pay it time?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
No, so he can turn over information, information yes, you've
seen this information is not on paper, it's in his head.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
And you believe him, yes, and you believe he's going
to give it up once he's got to America.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
It's worth the chance. How much?
Speaker 8 (17:45):
What?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
How much is it worth? Roberto? Do you the whole?
Fifty thousand dollars? Fifty thousand dollars? How much he's got
sold in the landing of his overcoat.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
His landlord told I.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Didn't know it, lying.
Speaker 8 (17:58):
Belit, So he's paying you will, and I shall have
to deal with you as I would with any other traitor.
I give you one more chance, Roberto, where is that fascist?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
His hand moved for his revolver on the table, but
my hand moved too. My fingers caught the edge of
the table and it out, sprawling back in his chair.
The gun clattered to the floor, and I kicked it
out of his request. My fist caught him on the
point of the chin. His head snapped back and he
slumped to the floor out. I didn't like to do that, Quido. Sorry,
(18:42):
you should be sorry, Roberto, Rosa.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Maybe you will tell me where the fascist is.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Roberto, I'm not telling anyone, Rosa.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
Then I will do what my brother did not have
the chance to do.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I don't think you will.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Don't come near me, Roberto, if you try to get
this gun. I saw ware antinue.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
But you won't, you know, because you don't believe I'm
a trader. You are and I were. You wouldn't shoot
me because you love me, not anymore I hate And
why don't you pull the trigger? Give me the gun, Rosa.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
They didn't go.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
I went down to the street. The car that Guido
had come and did for his use and stood so
was parked in front of the tavern. I went over
to the driver, Antonio, we don't want you. He is
upstairsing your mer Yes in my room, hurry, it's I
(20:02):
was at Pulico's villa. Twenty minutes later. Maria met me
at the door. The way she was dressed, you'd have
thought she was sailing for America and the Queen Mary Senior.
Speaker 7 (20:12):
Mer How nice that you have come early.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Where's your father in the library?
Speaker 7 (20:17):
This way? We will not expecting you on until tonight.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
My plans have changed.
Speaker 10 (20:23):
Palitzo, Ah, your mercy, you have arrived just in time,
in time for what Maria and I have opened one
last bottle of wine from Marcella.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
We shall be happy to have you share it with
No thanks, Marie, another guy, I said, no thanks.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Now, my dear fellow, we will drink to use in
your our benefactory and then we will drink to the
new world where we are going, a world where these
differences between us can be forgotten, a world where we
can be friends.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
There's no such world, Politzo. There is your glassy or
I don't drink with fascists.
Speaker 10 (21:10):
You have consorted with rabble to long mercer your manners, reflected, My.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Manners are likely to get worse if I can sort
with your kind much longer. So let's get going. You
said we will leave tonight.
Speaker 7 (21:22):
There's been a change of plants.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Father, that's right. We're starting for the coast right away.
Get your things very well, and palzzo. Yes, we'll be
driving through fascist held territory most of the way. You
might be tempted to make a break for it. If
you do, I promise I'll bring you back and personally
hang you from that scaffold. We left. Then I drove
(21:50):
the car Pulzzo Satin back, but not Maria. She was
beside me, very close beside me. Her perfume was heavy and.
Speaker 7 (21:58):
Sweet thoughts are so far away in your very far.
You do not like me, do you? You do not
think I am.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Beautiful, not nearly as beautiful as my thoughts.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
They are of another woman?
Speaker 4 (22:17):
No? What then a place called Vermont. It was night
when we reached the main highway to Savona. Guido's partisans
were far behind us. By them, and I thought it
would be clear sailing. I was wrong. What is the matter?
(22:40):
Why do you slow down? Look up ahead? Road block? Partisan? No,
not partisans, this time it's your friends, Remember Polizzo. I'm
waiting for you to say just one wrong word.
Speaker 11 (22:54):
Let me see your papers. You're in the back seat.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Force here they are. You will find them quite order.
Speaker 11 (23:00):
I will be the judge of that. Alberto Pelitzoy. So
you are, Alberto Pelitzo?
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Are you yes? I am all right?
Speaker 11 (23:14):
Proma with me, all three of you.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
What's why? What is the better?
Speaker 11 (23:18):
This man is lying? Alberto Pelitzo is dead.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
They let us to a small house down the road.
The one with the rifle stayed with us, while the
other one disappeared into a back room. I was still
watching Palizzo. I was still waiting for him to say
that word.
Speaker 11 (23:40):
Here is the man Major, A man who calls himself
Alberto Plito.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Let me see him, so why should they not call
himself Alberto Pelitzo.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
You recognized me that Major, but of course Signor, and
I am delighted to say our information was that you
had been captured by partsans.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I deeply apologize for the inconvenience.
Speaker 10 (24:08):
We may, of course, no, no, no apologies are necessary, Major,
And now may my daughter and I proceed to save.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
On certainly, Senor. And this man who is with.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
You, Oh, this man see you wish him to accompany you?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Senor?
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Well, yes, of course this man is my chauffer. I
didn't get it. I didn't understand why he done it,
not until it started toward the car. The Major who
has called us walk ahead with Maria. I turned back
to have a little private talk with Berlitza. You could
(24:52):
have turned me over to them, but you didn't. It
was not of the kindness of your heart. I'm sure
why else, Mercer, you have been kind to us. We
you no fascist was ever kind for a reason like that.
Can you think of another reason? Maybe you have no
way of leaving Italy without me? You know, the war
was lost if you're still here. When the Allies march
(25:14):
into room, you won't have any way to save your
precious skins.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
You want to get out.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
What you can't.
Speaker 10 (25:21):
You're no fool singer, Mercer. You can understand my reasoning
at your shore, I can understand it. It's an old story.
Rats always desert a sinking ship.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Were you insa watch it?
Speaker 12 (25:35):
I was just telling your charming daughter, Senor Belitio, that
there is really no need for you to go to Savona.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
After tomorrow night. You could return to your village, Stuart.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
The Partisans have taken stored some major.
Speaker 12 (25:47):
And not for long since you're A full division of
our infantry is on its way from Geneva to carry
out a surprise attack on them, and we are going
to deal with this banded Guido Gardone once and for all.
Within forty eight hours, it will be we do GORDONI
himself will be hanging from that scaffold in the village square.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
That gave me something to think about the rest of
the way.
Speaker 9 (26:17):
I kept on thinking about it all the next day,
and I thought of Vermont too, Yes, I thought a
lot about Vermont and how those trees would look in
the fore to anybody who was lucky enough to see them.
The row of the surf against the lonely stretch of
beach below Savon had drowned the noise of the pet
boats motors. We didn't hear it, but we saw it
lying offshore. The dinghy had put over its side, scraped
(26:38):
against the hard sand of the beach.
Speaker 8 (26:42):
Yes, awsin's made, Curtis, sir, Do these people go aboard
to Lieutenant?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Oh? Yes, yes, here's a letter. Give it to your skipper.
It explains who they are. But aren't you cumming sir?
Speaker 7 (26:53):
No, senor Mercer, you're not going with us. I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I think I do.
Speaker 10 (26:57):
Maria, thenoble s he's going back to warn his friends
in Stewarts of the surprise attack.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
That's right, Palito.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
No sor Why should you bother with that rat.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
They happened to be my allies, but you.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
Said they would kill you if they saw you again.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
They will. I am hoping they'll listen to my warning anyway,
But that is foolish.
Speaker 7 (27:15):
To risk your life for them. It does not make sense.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
It wouldn't to you, Maria, not yet. Maybe after you've
been in America. Pro while. It will take them away, Curtis. Yes, sir,
so I didn't go to Vermont. I went back to
Sturtz instead. It was noon the next day when I
walked into the tavern. Guido was there and Rosa, yes,
(27:46):
I've come back.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
Well, great returns. Maybe you didn't believe me when I said.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
I'd kill you. I believe to Guido Rico take his gun.
That won't be necessary, Rico, here's my gun.
Speaker 13 (28:01):
Robert Rossa, you're ready to die greater as soon as
I've given you my report.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
There's a full division of fascist infantry moving up from Genoa.
They're planning to spring a trap tonight. You'd better get
out of Strutcher. I don't believe you.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
The fascists are too busy at Selno to send the
division here.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
All right, I'll tell my best widow. If you don't
believe it, I believe. What are you doing? Get away
from him, Get out of the way.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I'll tell you I'm going to kill him.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
You have to kill me too. Very well. We will
see if you're right about him, Rosa.
Speaker 8 (28:37):
Rico, we're moving out of starts immediately passed you over
the long Roberto, what.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Will you do with him?
Speaker 8 (28:43):
Take Roberto with us. If the fascists do not attack tonight,
there will be no more room on the scaffold tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
The fascists did attack that night, but there wasn't a
partners left and starts out. We had evaporated into the hills, Yes,
I said we. I went on working with Guido GORDONI,
helping to direct the campaign against the black Shirts. We
will never friends, Guido and I, but we did have
a common enemy. A year later I got back to Vermont.
(29:21):
That was a long time to wait, but not as
long as I might have waited if Alberto Palizzo had
not given information concerning secret weapons to the OSS.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
And once again the report of an OSS agent closes
with the.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Words mission accomplished.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Listen again next week for another true adventure from the
files of the OSS on.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Cloak and Dagger.
Speaker 14 (29:58):
Heard in today's Kulkandiger enter as Robert Messa was Grant, Richards,
Hido Arnomas, Alberto Pinzzo, Louis van Rutin. Script was written
by Ken Phield and music was under the direction of
John Guard. Sound effects by Max Russell and al Finelli
engineering Don Evan. Today's OSS adventure was based on the
book pluckandegga by Corey Ford and Alistair McBeth. His program
(30:19):
is produced by Lewis G. Cowen and Alfred Hollande under
the direction and supervision of Shovin Marx.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Three Times Mean Good Times on NBC Sandia Welcome Back.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
This is another great episode and really introduces a unique
conflict where you have an OSS agent having to rescue
a fascist from the Partisans and Grant Richards does a
great job portraying the conflict that remains throughout the episode,
and it raises some fascinating questions because he had sympathy
(30:56):
with the desire of the Partisans, and I think most
listeners would. The idea that collaborators went unpunished or even
seemed to get rewarded with favorable treatment. I think tends
to really stick in people's cause, and I know many
have criticized these sort of deals by the Allies. However,
(31:17):
the episode raises the key argument that it may have
made the difference, if not between defeat and victory, but
between a sooner or a longer end of the war.
Now quickening the end of the war wasn't a matter
of time only, it was a matter of lives safe.
(31:38):
Two hundred and ninety one thousand Americans died in battle,
with another one hundred and thirteen thousand dying to other
causes during the war, such as disease. Cutting months off
the length of the war would mean tens of thousands
of Americans coming home alive, as opposed to dine or
(32:01):
be maimed. Now, there are many moral critiques of certain
actions by the Allies during the war that I think
are legitimate to discuss. Whether you end up saying that
the wrong thing happened or not, it's legitimate to discuss them.
But I think that some of the arguments that are
(32:21):
made can be undermined if you ignore the reality of
the alternative. If you don't deal with the alternative, your
argument is basically an ivory tower statement that you can
only make from a safe distance decades away from the
actual hard choices that had to be made. Now, that
(32:43):
doesn't mean you can't critique these sort of actions, but
any critique has to take these concerns to mind, you know,
And I think there are two obvious things you can say.
Either one, the particular actions didn't actually quicken the end
of the war, and it wasn't reasonable to think it
would or to even if some action actually ended up
(33:07):
saving tens of thousands of American lives, we should have
taken the casualties rather than do something that wrong. You
can make serious arguments that way, but if you ignore
the alternatives, it just comes across failing to engage with
what the real world situation was. The decision for the
(33:31):
escaping fascist leader not to go back, even when he
had an opportunity, really speaks to the opportunistic nature of
many of these sorts of hangers on to dictators. Whatever
the core ideology of a particular dictator or leader, there
(33:56):
are people in the inner circle who are far more
interted in using the situation to get wealth and power,
and that's what they see the ultimate end of this,
not whatever ideological changes are dreamed up by the true believers.
If it starts to look like things are not going
(34:17):
to go that way, these sort of people can switch
sides easily. This gets picked up in a lot of
post war entertainment. I think particularly of some of the
Superman serials dealing with demagogues promoting bigotry and intolerance. And
(34:38):
in these stories you would have the leaders of these
organizations who would put out some sort of hatred against
whatever group they decided to target, but didn't actually believe it,
but rather saw it as an opportunity to advance themselves,
to gain followers by agitating again the minority, and when
(35:02):
that ceases to work for them and they are talented,
their loyalty and their stances might change, even while the
less powerful people who believe them might remain committed to
the cause and ultimately face consequences for it. I also
love that our oss man went back, even at the
risk of his life. It showed that his heart was
(35:25):
with the Partisans, as well as that sense of honor,
despite his disagreements, despite where he thought, in this case
his duty not just to them, but to the United
States and the Allied Command where he thought that duty lie.
At the end of the day, he's looking out for
(35:46):
them and comes back and stands by their side again
at the risk of his own life. So really just
a fascinating overall character study and story. I think that
for most people who listened to old time radio, it
would be safe to say that Cloakendagger is probably the
(36:07):
best drama that you never heard of, and it's been
great to feature it on the podcast. All Right well,
listener comments and feedback now and we go to Spotify
on operations Sellout Mechanic sixty six rides. Pretty much suspected
Marie from the start due to the title, and if
(36:28):
it had been Mueller, the operation wouldn't have made it
to the successful category. Well, I wouldn't underwrite the ability
of the oss to somehow work it out. Even if
Muller had been a spot I tended not to suspect him.
I actually leaned a bit towards the brother at first,
but then he kind of just disappeared from the story,
(36:51):
and I think that the romance and other things, you know,
kind of suggested to the outside observer. Yeah, I think
there's something suspicious about Marie, though it wasn't in a
way that people who were actually there might have noticed,
Particularly when they were so focused on Muller. It kind
(37:13):
of gave them tunnel visions, so you didn't really perceive
the whole situation and where all of your risk might lie.
Had they not been so suspicious of him, they might
have caught on to what she was doing sooner. All right, Well,
thanks so much, appreciate the comment. Now it's time to
thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and I want
(37:34):
to thank Lori, Patreon supporter since April twenty twenty, currently
supporting the podcast at the secret Agent level of four
dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Lourie,
and that we'll do it for today. If you're enjoying
the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software
and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever
(37:56):
you download it from a Great Detectives. We'll be back
tomorrow with the Sunday Encore, and then on Monday, the
normal lineup resumes with Danger with Granger on the Great
Adventurers Podcast. We will be back on Tuesday with Adventure Ahead,
and then next Saturday another episode of Cloak and Dagger.
(38:19):
In the meantime, send your comments to Box thirteen at
Greatdetectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives,
and check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash
Great Detectives From Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam
Graham signing off.
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