Book Description

THE LAST WALTZ Vienna May 1945 THE LAST WALTZ - Vienna May 1945 - is the uncompromising story of a United States O.S.S. four man, secret mission into Russian occupied Vienna in the uncertain days following the unconditional surrender of the German Armed Forces, and of a small, U.S. Army patrol sent to rendezvous with the four men on their return from Vienna in territory still being held by German SS troops who have not surrendered. As the war had progressed there was mounting alarm in Washington at the extent of Russian Intelligence activities in the U.S.A. and the lack of knowledge available to the U.S. Secret Service on their Russian counterparts. The Last Waltz was part of the process to redress that situation. On April 13th, 1945, the German garrison surrenders Vienna to the Russian troops and Vienna is to endure many days of terror and anarchy. Doctor Anna Holtz, a Swiss national and the daughter in law of an eminent Austrian scientist, fears for her life, and she has valuable information that was given to her by her father in law before he died. On the same night, four Austrian Officers and a Sergeant of the German Wehrmacht make plans for one of the officers, a Captain, and the Sergeant, who have both worked for German Military Intelligence, to surrender themselves to the U.S. Army and offer to return to Vienna with a U.S. agent to retrieve certain documented, secret information that will be valuable to the U.S. which is being safeguarded in Vienna, and also to help Doctor Holtz escape from Vienna. In another part of the city, John Spencer, a British secret agent, is preparing to leave the city and make his way through the German lines and return to London. Two days later, the Wehrmacht Captain and Sergeant surrender to a forward unit of the U.S. Third Army and are interrogated by Captain Maddox, a U.S. Intelligence Officer who sends the two prisoners direct to a Major Keller, a U.S. staff officer at Army Headquarters. The U.S. High Command recognises the importance of the information offered by the Captain and the need to get Doctor Holtz out of Vienna before the Russians become aware that she holds such valuable information. The High Command is also aware of the delicacy of the situation. The Americans seek the help of British Intelligence who have had Spencer operating in Vienna from before the war. Spencer is a maverick British agent recruited from the criminal underworld and during his period in Vienna as a British spy, he has continued to operate his own interests in the criminal, network. It is known that many members of the Austrian Resistance Movement are communist sympathisers, so British Intelligence decide to cash in on Spencer's other activities and contacts. Spencer is cajoled and blackmailed into agreeing to return to Vienna and joins up with Major Keller of the O.S.S. who has been assigned to head the operation into Vienna with the Austrian Captain and Sergeant. The operation has no official recognition and has been unofficially titled THE LAST WALTZ. Spencer makes arrangements for their return to Vienna through his underworld contacts. Captain Maddox, who had first interrogated the Austrian Captain, is ordered to take some of his men behind Russian held lines to rendezvous with Major Keller's party on their return from Vienna. This does not please Captain Maddox, or his men, because the rendezvous is in an area where German SS troops are still fighting their way West. In bo