Behind Hitler's Lines

The True Story of the Only Soldier to Fight for both America and the Soviet Union in World War IIparatrooper Joseph Beyrle did not strive to be a part of history, but history kept visiting him. Hewas the first American paratrooper to land in Normandy and the onlysoldier to fight for both the United States and the Soviet Unionagainst Nazi Germany. Twice before the invasion he parachuted intoNormandy, bearing gold for the French resistance. D-Day resulted inhis capture, when he was mistaken for a German line-crosser-asoldier who had, in fact, died in the attempt. Eventually Joe was heldunder guard at the American embassy in Moscow, suspected ofbeing a Nazi assassin. His fingerprints saved him, confirming thathe’d been wounded five times and that he bore a safe-conduct passwritten by Marshal Zhukov after the Wehrmacht had wrested Joe, atgunpoint, from execution by the Gestapo. In the ruins of Warsaw, hislife was saved again-this time by Polish nuns.Behind Hitler’s Lines is told, in part, in Joe’s own words-a voice thatwill be among the last and best we hear firsthand from World War II.