Operation Stop Thief

 was an effort by Italian partisans in the Italian theatre of World War II to rescue a number of priceless paintings and treasures from looting by the Germans in the summer of 1944. The operation also saw the behind-the-scenes involvement of the Time Lords, who sent the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith to aid the partisans. The Doctor planned the operation and gave it its name. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

Axis fractured
In 1943, following the defeat of the Axis in the North Africa Campaign, the forces of the United States (PROSE: Autumn Mist) and the United Kingdom launched the invasion of Italy. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) The Italians subsequently rebelled against their leader, Benito Mussolini. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

Nazi Germany, hitherto Italy's ally, occupied territories previously controlled by Italy, such as Albania, (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) and led the defence of Italy in the place of their crumbling ally. The Germans came into confrontation with the Italians (COMIC: Treasure Trail) who effectively switched sides and made peace with the Allies. Italian prisoners of war ended up in Germany captivity alongside Britons, Poles and Russians. (PROSE: The Turing Test)

By the time of the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, Italy was effectively split in two, with the Allies controlling southern Italy and the Germans holding on in the north. Anti-German partisan groups operated against the occupying forces to undermine their hold on their country, though their effectiveness was limited by the fear of German retaliation and the risks it posed to the villagers living in the region. The Wehrmacht patrolled the north with tanks and armoured vehicles while Luftwaffe reconnaissance flights took place in the air, with fighter crafts such as the Me 109. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

German looting
The Germans came to view the Italians with contempt and treated them no better than any other area under German occupation. With many Italian peasants unwilling to resist, the Germans regularly helped themselves to precious Italian treasures and works of art. Thousands were stolen during the German occupation. (COMIC: Treasure Trail) Similar scenes had taken place in France after the conquest of Paris in 1940, and again just ahead of the liberation in 1944. (PROSE: City of Death) The Amber Room from the Palace Museum in Leningrad was also transported to Germany during the Siege. (PROSE: Cabinets of Curiosities)

Through such acts of theft and looting, Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering accumulated a priceless art collection, half of which was never recovered after the war. In Italy, the Special Service Division operated under Goering's instructions. The commanding officer of the division, Major Lunz, claimed that the Italians were unable to appreciate fine art and expressed, "It is better that such works of art should go to Germany for real appreciation." Lieutenant Schuler claimed that because the Italians had proved themselves unable to defend their homeland, they deserved to have their treasures taken away. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

The Doctor's involvement
In 1943, the Third Doctor became involved in Operation Hellfire at the behest of the Time Lords, an internal British wartime operation the outcome of which could disrupt the flow of time. Although the Doctor refused to return the Amulet of the Wastelands to Gallifrey afterwards, the Time Lords begrudging acknowledged his mission as a success. (AUDIO: Operation: Hellfire)

Later, during the Doctor's fourth incarnation, the TARDIS was intercepted by the Time Lords who sent the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith on a series of missions, including one against the Daleks (COMIC: The Dalek Revenge) and another to stop the threat of a virus. (COMIC: Virus)

After the latter mission, the TARDIS landed on Earth in northern Italy in the summer of 1944, during the Second World War once more, approximately one month after the end of the fighting at Monte Cassino. Detected by the Germans, the Doctor hid the TARDIS in a nearby church in the village of Borosini. Partisans under Giovanni's leadership believed the Doctor and Sarah to be German spies, but they convinced Father Antonio to hide them in the church as a German column arrived at the village in search of the TARDIS.

The Germans failed to find the Doctor but Lieutenant Schuler's attention was drawn to an authentic original painting by Raphael, which Schuler thought was unsuited to grace the walls of the old church. Antonio noted Schuler's interest in the Raphael and was certain German looters would return to acquire the painting for themselves. The Doctor and Sarah surmised that the Time Lords intended for them to save the Raphael from the Germans as well as other Italian treasures. (COMIC: Treasure Trail) As the Fifth Doctor would later acknowledge, Raphael's works were a fixed point in time. (AUDIO: Fallen Angels)

Italian fightback
After gaining Antonio's trust by taking him forward in time in the TARDIS, showing him the rebuilt monastery at Monte Cassino in 1976, the Doctor offered to help the partisans defend and recover their endangered treasures.

That night, as the Doctor and the partisans tried to devise a plan, a German raiding party sneaked into the church and stole the Raphael after murdering Paolo, who had been instructed to watch over the painting. The raiders escaped undetected and the partisans later found Paolo dead.

A partisan spy named Maria, who worked in the Special Service Division headquarters at Villa Ranuchi, confirmed that much of the stolen art had been moved there. She also reported that the Germans intended to transport the whole collection through the mountains to Berlin via train in one day. With this vital intelligence, the Doctor proposed a plan which he named Operation Stop Thief.

The partisans arrived at a section of railway ahead of the departure of the German train and tampered with it. After the Germans loaded the collection onto the train, it set off from with Major Lunz on board. When the train reached the tampered section, it was derailed and the partisans launched an attack. The surprised Germans were all overcome and the treasures fell back into Italian hands.

The success granted the partisans only a small window of time before the Germans realised something had gone wrong with the train. The crates were loaded onto mules and hurried back to Borosini. At Villa Ranuchi, Schuler received a report about the ambush. The Germans determined that the most likely destination for the treasures was back at Borosini which lay only seven kilometres from the crash site. Schuler left the HQ with another column, hoping to retrieve the treasures once again, leaving the partisans in Borosini with only twenty-five minutes to spare.

The crated treasures were brought into the church and all loaded inside the TARDIS. With the Doctor and Sarah onboard with them, the Time Lords caused the TARDIS to dematerialise just before Schuler and his men entered the church. With the treasures nowhere to be found, Antonio and the villagers were able to fain ignorance about the ambush and the art theft without fear of German reprisals. Schuler ordered every inch of the area searched but nothing turned up and the division was ultimately forced to abandon the mission. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

Recovery of the treasures
After departing from 1944, the TARDIS was directed to April 1948, where the Doctor and Sarah returned the treasures to Antonio and Giovanni. Their safe return after four years made the news, but Antonio and Giovanni were sworn to secrecy regarding the role of the time travellers.

The Doctor and Sarah's series of missions on behalf of the Time Lords ended with the success of Operation Stop Thief. (COMIC: Treasure Trail) The TARDIS's next landing was done without the Time Lord's interference, affording the Doctor and Sarah what they initially hoped would be a well-needed break. (COMIC: Hubert's Folly)

Behind the scenes

 * Treasure Trail never explains why the Time Lords consider the safety of the paintings so important. Yet stories released much later offer some more context. Operation: Hellfire, a story which was reminiscent of TV Action and TV Comic stories, (BFX: Operation: Hellfire) shows that the Time Lords sending the Doctor on a wartime mission was not unprecedented. Fallen Angels mentions the works of Raphael constitute a fixed point in time.