The 70th CIC detachment, while officially a part of Division G-2, it actually reported to its headquarters in Paris. The following account was written by James Olsen, a veteran of the 70th CIC. It first appeared in the Fall 1992 issue of the "Trailblazer", pps 8-9.

One episode involving "stay behinds" was played out in the Saarbrucken area in March 1945. The city of Forbach had been taken in early March and Saarbrucken later that month. Special Agents Hank Hoebel and Jim Olsen of the 70th CIC Detachment went to Dudweiler (about 61 kilometers east of Saarbrucken) to set up informants and gather data.

At about 2:20pm on March 24, the two agents were approached by a Richard Simon, already known to be a reliable informant. With him was a German named Fritz Muche who said he had been approached that same morning by a Wehrmacht lieutenant in civilian clothes. He asked Muche to meet at a roadblock between Dudweiler and Saarbrucken that same afternoon. The two were to attend a secret meeting of SS men and others at an undisclosed point near the roadblock.

On the left: Boys as young as as these were thrown into the war by Hitler in a last desperate attempt to halt the Allies' relentless drive into the German homeland. This trio was among the Nazi behind-the-lines saboteurs captured by the 70th CIC.

Muche was told to attend the meeting as planned. The two CIC agents followed him and when he met the German lieutenant, one Eduard Wahlster, arrested them both. A detail of eight men from the 274th Cannon Company had accompanied the two agents on the mission as security against possible opposition in force.

The secret meeting place was then unknown; however after prodding (with drawn weapons at the head) Wahlster led the two agents to a concealed entry leading to an elaborate underground cave.

The original entrance to the cave, which had been a civilian air raid shelter, had been demolished and two new, well-camouflaged entrances had been constructed. A ladder of 14 steps in a manhole-type entryway led down from the trap door entrance. Wahlster was put in the lead, to absorb any booby traps, and the two agents followed.

The cave consisted of seven rooms leading off a central corridor and was equipped with medical supplies, water storage tanks, German army rations, bunk beds, cooking facilities, SS uniforms, civilian clothing, arms, munitions and demolition material. There were three Sten guns, a Luger pistol, a German automatic rifle and 10 Panzerfausts. Munitions included rounds of rifle ammunition and rounds for the Sten gun and Luger. There were several boxes estimated at 100 pounds of demolition materials.

The cave had been well-built into a hillside; it had concrete floors, brick or heavily timbered walls and electric lights.

After searching the cave, a guard detail from the Cannon Company was placed at the cave entrance. Wahlster was taken to CIC CP at Merlebach for interrogation to develop additional leads. Muche was re- turned to Dudweiler and placed under house arrest. All of the weaponry was sent to Ordnance for disposition.

Wahlster's apprehension and interrogation provided that slim first lead which confirmed the existence of the rumored movement (dubbed "Werewolf " by Americans) which was to pop up in occupied territory to commit sabotage and harassment as the front lines stalled at the Rhine river and the war developed into a stalemate. Of course that event did not occur, but at the time of Wahlster's arrest, the apparatus was still in place to wreak the havoc for which it had been created and trained.

Wahlster told of the make-up of the organization and gave names of others. After locating, arresting and interrogating these persons, the full scope of the apparatus set up by the German SS to commit acts of sabotage and destruction among the American armies was exposed.

Full reports made at the time gave the story: In late 1944, the concept of a sabotage apparatus was developed by the SS. Personnel were to be selected from known Nazi hard-liners, SS, Hitler Jugend, and some Wehrmacht. They were sent to a school established at Thiefenthal, an old monastery north of the Rhine river, above Eltville and west of Wiesbaden.

Classes consisted of 30 or so men who spent three or four weeks at the school. They were instructed in the use of all weapons of war and sabotage: pistol, French M-3, English Sten gun, US Thompson submachine gun, Schnellfeuergewehr, Russian sub-machine gun, blasting caps and powder, prima cords, Donorit, timing devices, dynamite, booby traps, plastic explosives, hand grenades and panzerfaust.

The region of the Rhineland was divided into 10-kilometer squares in each of which was located a "cell". After graduation from the school, the men were assigned in groups of four to a cell area and directed to find in that square, a safe, secure, concealed place where weapons of sabotage could be hidden and stored. Locating such a spot was left to the ingenuity of the men but recommended sites were a mine, a cave, a quarry or other well camouflaged place which could be a hideout for the personnel as well as the supplies.

The cells were to remain inactive until Allied troops had advanced and occupied the area west of a German resistance line expected to be established along the Rhine. After the cell was dormant for a time and that occupied area had become quiet, the men were to begin their work, hindering and disrupting Allied armies in any way possible, concentrating on the sabotage of bridges, railroads, highways and command posts. This last target involved the systematic infiltration in the CPs of Allied armies as civilian employees, carpenters, painters, laborers, etc. Once inside, and having ingratiated themselves, they could commit their sabotage at opportune times.

Each cell reported only to one higher echelon, a regional leader. The organization was simple and direct (most unusual for the Germans who usually created highly structured plans). Supplies came from SS headquarters in Berlin or from depots elsewhere such as Hannover.

As a result of Wahlster's apprehension, the Trailblazer CIC had begun following leads throughout the Saarland as the division moved forward to Landstuhl, Bad Kreuznach, Bingen, Mainz and, eventually, Frankfurt. Nearly every 70th CIC agent became involved: George McDonald, the CO; Kiern Brown; Jack Kalish; Harvey Gutman; Roy Lassiter; Primetivo Colombo; Henry Hoebel and James Olsen.