The OSS had worked with Polish exiles throughout the war, but Project Eagle would mark a new and dramatic chapter in their cooperation. In early 1945, American intelligence recruited thirty-two Poles--a unique group of men who had been forcibly conscripted into the German Wehrmacht, were captured in France and Italy, and were pulled from Allied prisoner of war camps. They were then trained in intelligence gathering as well as espionage to assist the Allies in their invasion of Germany. Not long after--in March 1945--they parachuted behind enemy lines, equipped only with falsified documents and radios. For six weeks, up until Germany's surrender, the Polish spy teams roved Germany, assisting ground commanders and providing counterintelligence assistance.