The Blue Guidon The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
Fall 2015
Frozen Courage in the Italian Alps Perhaps no other Andover graduate has ever suggested such an audacious combat mission. U.S. Army Capt. Roderick S.G. Hall ’34 (“Steve” to his classmates) proposed to the OSS that he could block the Brenner Pass in the Italian Alps with a small band of men and prevent the Germans from getting in and out of Italy. He guided the team through OSS training and parachute school, commanding its members and many others in action. His bravery would cost him his life. This mission would require a parachute drop into the Italian Alps behind German lines, demolition of Nazi communications, blocking supply routes leading to the Brenner Pass, a love affair with a countess, double agents, wounds, frost bite, organizing warring guerrilla bands, ambush, betrayal, capture, his murder, and… retribution. Hall was born in Peking, China, where his father was a businessman and his mother a medical doctor. At Andover, he was easygoing and friendly. After graduation, he traveled the world as a sailor on a coastal steamer and later worked in the Texas oil fields. He became a skilled outdoorsman, skier, and rock climber. Hall attended Harvard briefly before leaving to ski the 1937–1938 season in Cortina, Italy. On his return, he entered Yale, dropped out in 1941, and enlisted in the Army, quickly qualifying for Officer Candidate School (OCS) and receiving his commission. He was convinced that his skills could be put to better use. Based on his knowledge of the Italian Alps and the importance of the Brenner Pass, Hall outlined a plan to sabotage that key corridor in a letter to the OSS. His proposal attracted the attention of the OSS’s Special Operations branch. The Allies had a firm toehold in Salerno, and with the campaign under way to drive the Germans out of Italy, Hall’s plan gained traction. Disrupting the arteries leading to
the Brenner Pass and then blowing it up would strand the German forces in Italy and force them to surrender. On the night of July 2, 1944, Hall and four other OSS agents parachuted into northern Italy. They linked up with partisans and began blowing up bridges, creating rockslides, ambushing German patrols, and disrupting communications. The Germans captured a partisan who disclosed Hall’s plans, leading to his capture, torture, and murder on February 17, 1945. In a final letter to his father, Hall wrote: “I’ll be saying goodbye and thanks for giving me life. I’ve made mistakes and haven’t got very far as standards usually go, but no one can say I haven’t done a lot of things with that life, or enjoyed it.” A second OSS team parachuted in to offer assistance, led by Hall’s CO, Howard Chappell, and Mission Operation Officer Albert Materazzi. After learning of Hall’s murder by the Gestapo, they continued his mission while searching for clues to his death. They discovered his death certificate and shallow grave, which led to the capture, trial, and hanging of the three murderers. The partisan who turned Hall in died in custody, reportedly “shot trying to escape,” likely by Chappell, completing the vendetta. Hall kept a detailed diary and wrote three letters to his family that he secreted in sealed bottles and buried deep in the snow of his mountain safe house in Andrich. These letters became key exhibits in the trial of his killers. Chappell stopped in Washington, D.C., on his way home from the war and delivered the letters to Hall’s father. Capt. Roderick S.G. Hall was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. A detailed account of Hall’s mission can be found in The Brenner Assignment, by Patrick K. O’Donnell. —George S.K. Rider ’51