The men of four section stood there, watching. A bunch of what appeared to be old Mustang fighters droned back and forth, the South Vietnamese Air Force taking their turn at pounding the slopes. There was a conclusion to be drawn that was all too obvious, and I was invariably the fuckwit who drew such conclusions.
 “Nothing could live up there.”
 “Yeah,” Nigel said, “I know.”
 “So what’s it all about really?”
 “Fucked if I know,” Nigel said.
   And still it continued unabated. The Phantoms and F111’s, the B52’s and warships, the choppers and artillery, and even old propeller driven fighters and trundling Canberra bombers on low level runs, maintained the barrage ceaselessly. But the time of procrastination was ended.

The incredible yarn of the deal done between Hitler and the Vatican is told in Death in Rome by Robert Katz, and very persuasive it is. It mostly chronicles the facts surrounding an incident in which 350 Romans were executed by the SS in reprisal for a partisan attack on a German column. And Pope Pius XII, having received appeals to call a halt to the executions, not only by all prominent members of the Italian community, but also by an array of German commanders, allowed the matter to pass with only the following public comment, published on the very day of the massacre.
We recall that on other occasions we have addressed ourselves to the grave times through which the country is passing. Now in these anxious hours we turn specifically to Rome.
    Our appeal is made directly to the conscience of the population, who have so admirably demonstrated their spirit of sacrifice and profound sense of dignity. Do not with violent urges shatter this attitude, which is so worthy of the of the virtues of our people. Every ill-considered act would have no other result than to end by injuring many innocent people, already too tried by anguish and privation.
All those upon whom it is incumbent to maintain public order have the task of assuring that it is not disturbed by any attitude whatsoever that can be, of itself, a reason for reactions which would give rise to an indefinable series of painful conflicts; those who can and know how to effectively influence the minds of the citizenry—above all the clergy—have the high mission of persuasion, pacification, and giving comfort…
    Fascinating. Interestingly, it was made into a movie that never saw the light of day. Did someone stop its release? You can’t help but suspect a Catholic plot but the film was buried and to this day it is very hard to find.
    It is not unreasonable that Richard Burton, playing the Nazi given the task of making up the list of people to be shot and the difficulties of finding 350 people who, at least in German eyes, deserved to die, might have been a theme too strong for most tastes. The film was finally released quietly to DVD in the 1990s, thirty years after it was made.