Documentary

Book excerpt: 2nd Lt. Peter Bonano (Pete) is awestruck by what lay before him. It was Thursday afternoon, May 24, 1945- sixteen days after Germany surrendered. A fortune in gold and silver (bullion and coins), along with a huge stockpile of currencies from several nations (including US currencies) was arranged on the polished floors of a heavily guarded large gymnasium inside an isolated log building in the vicinity of Bad Tolz, Germany. He had been transported to this place from Erlangen, Germany by two 3rd Army OSS (Office of Strategic Services) officers from General Patton's headquarters in Regensburg. On the 23rd (one day earlier) the two OSS officers had with them a TDY (Temporary Duty) order for Lt. Bonano. The Special Order, dated May 23, 1945, was signed by the Commander of the the Third US Army, Gen. George Patton, Jr. Major Haensel, the OSS officer in charge of the cache, told Pete that he was to make a cursory inventory of the contents of cache, after which he would be in charge of a special convoy to deliver this to safe quarters. He was also told that Pete would be confined to this building until the inventory was completed. The strangeness of this assignment continued to grow with each new day. However, the most startling aspect of this mission was that, after making a cursory inventory of the captured Nazi loot, he was placed in charge of a secret convoy to deliver this treasure to a new location. To Pete's surprise/amazement, the new location turned out to be an isolated castle on the Nekar River which was occupied and guarded by OSS operatives. The author, with whom Pete confided, concluded, after intensive investigation that this was an OSS Sting operation which was clandestinely facilitated by General Patton. This documentary follows America's greatest General, George Patton, Jr., from 1940 to Dec 1945. Patton's triumphs and ordeals from North Africa and Sicily- including infamous slapping incidents which (the author contends) drastically changed world history. It is also a heart warming story about a Los Angeles draftee who rose in rank from Private to 2nd Lieutenant, and who, in the waning days of his five years in the Army, became embroiled in an intriguing OSS Nazi Gold adventure. The story follows Patton from Normandy to the eastern borders of Nazi Germany- covering major events such as: Charles de Gaulle rescuing Paris and France from communism, and a chattel in Roosevelt's New World Order; Montgomery's ill-fated Market Garden; the Battle of Bastogne; Crossing the Rhine; the Hammelburg incident; and the discovery of the Nazi loot hidden in the saltmines at Merkers on the same day that FDR dies at Warm Springs, Georgia. Eighteen days later Hitler commits suicide with the war petering out over the following eight days. However, life remained volatile for Patton as he facilitated a rogue OSS Nazi-gold operation-- an operation which, as intended, would have been a nonevent if Peter Bonano (who was involved at the insistence of Patton, and who maintained a meticulous set of records) had not been included in the operation. The story concludes with the stage being set by Patton's new enemies (the progressive left led by Secretary of Treasury, Henry Morgenthau) which ultimately ended with the firing of Patton as the commander of the Third Army, and shortly thereafter, his death in Heidelberg.