Kraft Suspense Theatre 2.02

Operation Greif

starring Claude Akins, Robert Goulet

written by Jerome Ross

directed by Jack Smight

German commando units infiltrate the allied lines in 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and sow confusion. Five American soldiers who barely know one another but are traveling together by chance start to suspect one another of being German. The paranoia rises to a point until one of them is caught in a lie.

He turns out not to be a German but one of the other soldiers does. The German spy murders a French teenager who catches on to his true identity and almost succeeds in his mission to blow up a US Army fire direction center.

Thoughts

Operation Greif was a real thing but it happened in late December 1944 and early January 1945. The way it is depicted in this episode it seems like it happened during the summer of 1944.

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I really liked the suspense and the tension that was created by the knowledge that one of the five soldiers might be a German spy.

Notes

Claude Akins played the part of Sergeant Henning, one of the five soldiers. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He appeared in an episode of The Darkroom that I watched relatively recently, 1.02.B Uncle George. See my notes for that episode for other movies that he has been in that I have watched and some episodes of television that I have yet to watch.

Robert Goulet played the part of Private LeRoy Brubaker, one of the five soldiers. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. 

Don Dubbins played Corporal Shale, one of the five soldiers. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He was also in one episode each of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Invaders, The Six Million Dollar Man, and the Incredible Hulk.

Linden Chiles played the part of Private Buttel, one of the five soldiers. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959), The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and The Incredible Hulk. He was in two episodes of The Invaders, the first of which was 1.16 Wall of Crystal.

This is the only episode of this show that Jerome Ross wrote. He also wrote one episode of The Outer Limits (1963), 1.04 The Man with the Power.

This is the first of four episodes of this show that Jack Smight directed. He also directed four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959). The first episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) that he directed was 1.07 The Lonely. He also directed Harper (1966) and Fast Break (1979).