On 14 June 1944, an unidentified Soviet human intelligence agent in Washington intercepted information that Allen Dulles, at the time the Swiss Director of the Office of Strategic Services, had been approached by German General Walther von Brauchitsch in Switzerland to meet at the US Embassy in Bern to discuss a peace proposal. The German, still licking his wounds after having been dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army the previous December for the failed offensive in Russia, was interested in meeting with the Allies – with the exception of the Soviets – to lay out the details of the proposal. The details were captured in a ciphertelegram dispatched to the 5th Department of the People’s Commissariat for State Security, to the codenamed addressee “VIKTOR”.
Brauchitsch was representing an unspecified group of Germans interested in seeing Hitler overthrown, the withdrawal of German troops from western Europe, and continued fighting against the Soviets. The group was said to consist of industrialists, right-wing social democrats, and prominent military men – including Generaloberst Kurt Zeitzler, at the time possibly Chief of the General Staff of the German Army High Command – possibly, because while the telegram was received on 14 June, it does not state how old the information regarding Dulles was. Zeitzler resigned his position on 10 June, having lost faith in Hitler’s strategic vision for his troops.
In spite of the telegram’s age, there are still a small number of curious redactions that leave some of the players in doubt. We do know (per the Soviet agent) that Dulles was told in no uncertain terms that no further conversations would take place with the Germans without the other allies present, thus quietly shutting down Brauchitsch’s efforts. We can assume that the only person with the authority over Dulles to offer such direction would be OSS Director Bill Donovan.
The one-page English translation of the Russian cable:
Translating History 