More fun with Operation Northwoods

[Drew Phipps]

Here's an interesting bit: Lemnitzer was accompanied to Switzerland by an English Major General named Terrence Airey, to meet with Dulles, as part of Operation Sunrise. Only it wasn't called Operation Sunrise, it was called Operation Fritzel. Lemnitzer and Airey had a cover story of two Irish businessmen going to Switzerland to buy a German Dachsund (named Fritzel). The Soviets found out about the meeting and complained about being cut out. (Our pal Averell Harriman was the guy that notified the Soviets that they were being left out.) The mission failed, Airey claimed that HE didn't get a meeting with SS Gen. Karl Wolff. However, Dulles and Lemnitzer might have cut the Brits out too. It became known as Operation Sunshine, and Wolff did in fact surrender the German forces in Italy 6 days before the rest of the Nazis. Apparently Wolff wound up with friends in high places, receiving light sentences at Nuremberg and later war crimes trials, and also was persuaded to testify against his fellow Nazis. (After the war, Maj. Gen. Airey was a known member of the CFR, and also the chairman of the European Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.)

You gotta wonder if Dulles and Lemniter actually did find a German dog to buy.