12-03  Marte Previti

mp-contribution:

FINDING AND INTERROGATING GERMAN PHYSICISTS PERFORMING ATOMIC RESEARCH. CAPTURING THE RESEARCH DOCUMENTS OF THE PROGRAM AND TWO ATOMIC PILES WHICH WERE NEVER SUCCESSFULLY OPERATED. CAPTURING STOCKPILES OF PURE URANIUM AND HEAVY WATER AT SEVERAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES. I PERSONALLY TRANSPORTED ALL THE ACCUMULATED LOTS OF THESE STRATEGIC MATERIALS INCLUDING MORE THAN TEN TONS OF PURE URANIUM FABRICATED INTO BLOCKS AND SHEETS FOR INSTALLATION AS THE CORES OF ATOMIC PILES, FROM HEIDELBERG TO ALSOS HEADQUARTERS IN PARIS.

mp-experience:

AS WE CAPTURED THE SCIENTISTS THEY WERE INVITED TO COME TO THE UNITED STATES AFTER THE WAR TO CONTINUE THEIR RESEARCH WITH WELL PAYING JOBS. ONE OF THEM, DR. KURT DIEBNER AGREED TO JOIN US BUT HAS WIFE AND YOUNG SON WERE THEN LIVING IN A SMALL TOWN WHICH WAS WITHIN THE RUSSIAN ZONE OF OCCUPATION. I WAS GIVEN SECRET ORDERS TO TO FIND THEM AND BRING THEM BACK THROUGH THE LINES TO SAFETY. I LOCATED THEM AND TOLD MRS. DIEBNER IN HALTING GERMAN THAT SHE WAS TO COME WITH ME AND GAVE HER ONE HOUR TO PACK. I COULD NOT TELL HER WHERE SHE WAS GOING AND AM CERTAIN THAT SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS HEADED FOR A CONCENTRATION CAMP BECAUSE HER HUSBAND HAD WORKED FOR HITLER. WE GOT THROUGH SAFELY AND SHE WAS OVERJOYED TO BE REUNITED WITH HER HUSBAND.

FOR SUCCEEDING IN THIS ASSIGNMENT I RECEIVED A COMMENDATION FROM THE COMMANDER OF ALSOS AND WAS AWARDED THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL BY THE KING OF ENGLAND.

mp-stories:

DURING OUR SEARCHES FOR GERMAN SCIENTISTS I HAD AN UNUSUAL INCIDENT WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN DANGEROUS FOR ME BUT TURNED OUT WELL. IN MUNICH, GERMANY WE WERE LOOKING FOR A PROFESSOR WALTHER GERLACH, CHIEF OF THE ATOMIC RESEARCH PROGRAM. WE HAD OBTAINED HIS ADDRESS FROM ANOTHER SCIENTIST. IT WAS IN A HALF BOMBED OUT APARTMENT BUILDING. OUR TEAM KNOCKED ON THE DOOR AND IT WAS OPENED A CRACK BY A LITTLE QUAVERING OLD LADY WHO SAID THE PROFESSOR WAS NOT IN AND QUICKLY SHUT THE DOOR. MY COMPANIONS STARTED TO LEAVE BUT I WAS SUSPICIOUS AT HER BEHAVIOR AND WENT BACK TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER. SEARCHING THE APARTMENT I ENTERED A BEDROOM AND WAS SUDDENLY CONFRONTED BY A TALL OFFICER IN FULL UNIFORM INCLUDING A PISTOL. MY CARBINE WAS SLUNG OVER MY SHOULDER SO IF I HAD MADE ANY SUDDEN ATTEMPT TO USE IT I MIGHT HAVE BEEN A DEAD SOLDIER. I LOOKED AT HIM AND MOTIONED WITH MY HEAD TO LEAVE THE ROOM THEN I RELIEVED HIM OF THE PISTOL AND A NICE PAIR OF BINOCULARS. MY TEAMMATES WERE INCREDULOUS AND THEN ANNOYED BECAUSE WE WERE NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE A PRISONER OF WAR. tHE PROBLEM WAS SOLVED WHEN WE LOCATED AN ARMY COMBAT UNIT WHO TOOK THE LUFTWAFFE MAJOR OFF OUR HANDS. IT SEEMS THAT MY CAPTIVE WAS A PILOT WHO WAS EITHER A RELATIVE OR A STUDENT OF DR. GERLACH WHO HAD GONE AWOL AND WAS HIDING OUT UNTIL HE COULD GET AWAY TO SAFETY. BY THAT TIME THEIR AIR FORCE HAD NO PLANES OR FUEL AND HE WAS JUST TRYING TO AVOID BECOMING A POW. UNFORTUNATELY FOR HIM I SPOILED HIS PLAN.

biography:

MARTE PREVITI WAS BORN IN 1911 IN HELL'S KITCHEN ON THE WEST SIDE OF NEW YORK OF IMMIGRANT SICILIAN PARENTS. HE RECEIVED A DEGREE IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING FROM THE COOPER UNION IN 1932. HE WORKED IN SOUTH AMERICA FROM 1934 TILL 1943 WHEN HE RETURNED TO THE U.S. TO JOIN THE ARMY AND SERVED AS A SPECIAL AGENT OF THE U.S. COUNTER INTELLIGENCE CORPS WITH THE ALSOS MISSION, PART OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT. FOR EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE HE RECEIVED THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL FROM THE KING OF ENGLAND. HE IS NOW A MUCH EXHIBITED PHOTOGRAPHER AND A WRITER OF ESSAYS.