FROM: LT COL OLSEN, OSS/DET66
TO: MAJ MUZETTI,OSS/DET66
DATE: 18 August 1943
RE:"Operation Turncoat"

I'm putting you in charge of a covert-action team for an operation in the European theater. An agent on the inside has arranged for the defection of several principle operatives of the Reich's "Abteilung des speziellen Auftretens", or Department of Special Occurrences. You'll be going into Rome, quietly, to get them out.

You'll be shipping out to our new base in Messina ASAP, to stand by until word comes down from the top. The timing on this will be tricky. "Operation Avalanche" is tentatively scheduled to launch Sept. 3rd, and it will hopefully give us a beachhead in Southern Italy. DET66's "Special Group" will be there to help with the effort. In addition, there are already secret negotiations underway with King Victor Emmanuel III to undermine Mussolini and take Italy out of the fight.

Once the Italians announce their surrender, we expect it will be a matter of a day or two at most before the Germans take Rome. You'll need to be in and out long before that happens, but the negotiations might not leave you with a very large window of opportunity. This mission is of the utmost importance, gentlemen. The intelligence that these operatives can provide should be significant, to say the least.

I've included several agency dossiers, from which I recommend you choose your team carefully. As a final note, keep in mind that DET66's agents are as valuable in the hands of the enemy as their agents are to us. Under no circumstances are any of your people to be captured.

Best of luck,