Operation Crossbow, George Peppard & Sophia Loren Star

The actual story of this World War Two drama is loosely based on historical fact. It is about the German rocket program, which developed the "buzz bombs" (also called "doodlebugs"), known in German as the "Vergeltungswaffe 1," or simply as the "V-1,"* which were launched against England by the thousands during the summer of 1944. These rockets, often called "flying bombs" (German: Fliegende Bomben), carried an explosive charge, but they were relatively slow, low flying and they made a droning sound, which eventually helped the British to counter them to some extent, by shooting them out of the air before they plunged into English cities. The V-1 was followed by the V-2, the world's first ballistic missile. These far more sophisticated rockets began to be fired into England, and into other parts of western Europe, in the autumn of 1944. The movie is about the British attempt to find out more about German rocket development, including about a long range, intercontinental rocket, which Hitler wanted to reach the east coast areas of the United States.   

The first part of this 1965 movie has much to do with German efforts in developing the V-1. As German rocket development progresses, they seek engineers to help them advance their program further. The British plan to infiltrate the German rocket facility with German and Dutch speaking personnel, who will answer the German call for engineers. The British want to gain more knowledge of the German plans and their facility, with the hopes of attacking or sabotaging the German efforts. The British recruit three men (played by George Peppard, Jeremy Kemp and Tom Courtenay), and these men are given identifications of real people who had recently died. The recruits are taught great details about the lives of the men whose places they are taking. The three are finally parachuted into German held territory, where they are helped along their way by a network of anti-Nazis, including a woman, Frieda (played by Lilli Palmer), who runs the German hotel where they will stay. Unfortunately, things get tricky early on for them, as the British find out that one of the dead men being used for cover, a Dutchman (the identity assumed by Courtenay's character), is wanted by the police for murder. The police check the hotel regularly, where they require Frieda to hold the identification papers of all guests. One of the policemen thinks he recognizes the Dutchman's photo, and after some checking, the police return and arrest the man. During his interrogation, he is seen and recognized by a man (played by Anthony Quayle), who had been interviewed for one of the espionage jobs back in Britain, but who was really a German agent. So we now see how this espionage business is a two way street. The recognition of the Dutchman now tips off the Nazis that there is something going on. When the man insists that he is not a secret agent, he is executed, but he never tells the Nazis about the other two men.

Meanwhile, one of the other men (Peppard's character) is paid a visit by his dead cover's wife (played by Sophia Loren). She naturally knows this is not her husband, but the two work out a deal, which will keep his identity secret; however, Frieda, the hotel manager, kills the woman, fearful that they will all be exposed to the Nazis if the woman is let go. The two survivors go off to work in the rocket facility, which is underground. The Nazis are preparing for a major test launch of a powerful new rocket, to be witnessed by an SS general (played by Helmut Dantine**). The agents receive word that the Allies have a plan to bomb the rocket facility, but that they need the men to help the bombing aircraft locate the facility.

With the bombers approaching, the Nazis get a definite identification on Peppard's character from the Gestapo, and they chase him through the huge underground rocket facility, where the new long range rocket launch is temporarily suspended until he can be captured. He gets a machine gun and holds off the Nazis, but he doesn't know which electrical switch opens the rocket launch doors, where the RAF planes would see the lights, and thus know where to bomb. The Nazis capture the other agent, and over the speaker system, they threaten to kill him if the other man doesn't surrender. With the speaker on, the captured agent yells out the number of the electrical switch for the launch doors. He is immediately killed, but the other man opens the doors. The British pilots see the lights shining out of the underground facility and the bombers move in. The SS general orders the launch to go forward, now that the doors are open anyway. The bombs begin to fall, and as the rocket starts to lift off, the launch opening is hit and the rocket explodes, setting off a huge chain reaction in the facility, which is filled with rocket fuel. All inside, including the Allied agent, are killed.     

NOTE: Trevor Howard, John Mills and Richard Johnson, all prominent British actors of that time, also all starred in the movie, but not in the action scenes.  

* Vergeltungswaffe="retaliation weapon, vengeance weapon, payback weapon." By the way, the base words of the German compound are closely related to English, with "gelten" being a relative of English "yield," which once was spelled "gieldan" in English, and with "Waffe" being a relative of English "weapon."

** Helmut Dantine was a long time anti-Nazi, and indeed, he was arrested by the Nazis after Hitler moved into his native Austria, where Dantine, too, was born (Vienna). After his release by the Nazis in the late 1930s, he emigrated to the United States, where he pursued an acting career; ironically, often playing Nazi roles in Hollywood films. He died in the U.S. in the early 1980s.

Photo is from the 2006 Turner Entertainment/Warner Brothers Home Video DVD

 WORD HISTORY:
Rocket-English has another noun of this spelling as the name for a particular plant, and it has a totally different source. This word goes back to Indo European "rukh," which had the notion of, "to spin threads, to spin materials for cloth." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "rukkon," a noun form meaning, "bobbin," a cylindrical shaped holder for use to spin threads." This was borrowed by Italian (from the Germanic tribe, the Lombards? The Lombards controlled a large part of Italy after the fall of the Roman Empire; thus, the Italian province of Lombardia) as "rocca" (bobbin), the diminutive form of which, "rocchetto," was used for a "rocket, missile," because of its shape. This was borrowed by English in the early 1600s, with likely pronunciation reinforcement by French "roquette," which was also borrowed from Italian.