Operation Crossword
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During World War II, Operation Crossword or Operation Sunrise was a series of secret negotiations conducted in March 1945 in Switzerland between representatives of the Nazi Germany and the USA to arrange a local surrender of German forces in northern Italy. One of the most notable parts of the operation were secret negotiations between Waffen-SS General Karl Wolff and Allen Dulles on March 8, 1945 in Zurich. Wolff offered the following plan: Army Group C gets a possibility to go into Germany, while Allied Forces Commander Harold Alexander advances in Southern Alps direction. Subsequently, on March 15 and March 19, Wolff conducted further secret negotiations on the surrender with American general Lyman Lemnitzer and British general Terence Airey.
Although being an ally of the British and American Forces, the Soviet Union was not informed by them of the negotiations, but received information from Soviet agents and accused western powers of trying to reach a separate peace. Among Soviet intelligence officers, who uncovered the operation, was Kim Philby.
On March 12 the USA ambassador in the USSR, W. Averell Harriman, notified Vyacheslav Molotov of the possibility of Wolff's arrival in Lugano to conduct negotiations on the German Forces surrender in Italy. On the same day Molotov replied that the Soviet government would not object to negotiations between American and British officers and Wolff, provided that representatives of Soviet Military Command could also take part in them. However, on March 16 the Soviet side was informed that its representatives should not be allowed to take part in negotiations with Wolff in any case.
On March 22 Molotov, in his letter to the American ambassador, wrote that "for two weeks, in Bern, behind the back of the Soviet Union, negotiations between representatives of the German Military Command on one side and representatives of American and British Command on the other side are conducted. The Soviet government considers this absolutely inadmissible." This led to Roosevelt's letter to Stalin on March 25 and Stalin's reply on March 29. The actual surrender in Italy occurred on April 29, 1945.
Operation Crossword was depicted in the Soviet film Seventeen Moments of Spring, named "Operation Sunrise Crossword" in the film.
[edit] Sources and references
- Bradley F. Smith and Elena Agarossi, Operation Sunrise: The Secret Surrender. New York, 1979
- Analysis of the Name File of Guido Zimmer. Records of the Central Intelligence Agency - Records of the Directorate of Operations. Retrieved on September 10, 2006.
- Insidious Moments of the Victorious War (Russian). Soviet Russia (newspaper). Retrieved on September 10, 2006.
- "They Are Honest and Modest People..." (Russian). SVR. Retrieved on September 10, 2006.
