14 Men Who Switched Sides in WWII — and What It Cost Each of Them

Franz Weber’s WWII defection began with a parachute drop onto a glacier in the Tyrolean Alps—and no skis. Discover how he got down the mountain, helped two OSS agents reach his village, and what became of the deserter after the war. In February 1945, former German Army officer Franz Weber landed in the Austrian Alps with Fred Mayer and Hans Wijnberg. Their skis had been lost during the drop, leaving the three men to descend through deep snow. Weber knew the region: the village they were heading for was his home. There, his family and fiancée helped shelter the American agents as they gathered intelligence for Operation Greenup. This story opens a countdown of fourteen men who changed sides during the Second World War. Some defected to the Allies, others served the Axis, and some switched allegiance more than once. They are ranked by the personal cost of their choices. Along the way, the list follows a British safecracker turned double agent, a German diplomat who secretly passed intelligence to the Americans, an Indian officer tried at the Red Fort, and the British sergeant whose betrayal destroyed an escape network in occupied France. Weber’s part in Operation Greenup is often overshadowed by Fred Mayer’s better-known role. The episode follows the mission through the evidence and then traces Weber’s postwar career: from interim police chief in Innsbruck to elected office in Austria, including a brief turn as president of the Federal Council. His story raises a striking question: how did a former Wehrmacht officer who defected to the Americans become a respected politician in postwar Austria? The account draws on published histories, archival records, court documents, and reporting about the mission. It also distinguishes what the record establishes from details that remain disputed. Stay for the full list, which ends in Paris in January 1946, when a former British sergeant’s shifting loyalties finally caught up with him. Photo and footage credits: Wikimedia Commons (public domain) U.S. National Archives (public domain) Internet Archive (public domain) "Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B10816, Frankreich, Paris, Judenverfolgung" by Unknown Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... "Bundesarchiv Bild 183-K0108-0501-003, Rudolf Diels" by Unknown Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Fourteen Men Who Switched Sides 7:33 Eddie Chapman Turns Double Agent 14:47 Gisevius and the Double Cross 24:46 Shah Nawaz and Erich Vermehren 35:47 Mohan Singh and George Wood 46:33 Baillie-Stewart and the British Free Corps 57:03 Colditz Informers and Treason Trials 1:06:58 Thummel, Harold Cole, and Betrayal #WWIIHistory #OperationGreenup #FranzWeber #WWIIDocumentary