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Personnel. 20 OGs under Capt. Robert E. Eichler; Lt. Paul B. Pope, second in command. Sept. 7, 1944. Group IV, flown from Italy in two DC-3s, parachuted into Droma area NE of Salonica. to operate against Bulgarians who held the region. Reception was by four British and 50 Andartes. Sept. 11. OGs, 2 British sapper officers and 12 Andartes destroyed a 2-span steel-girder RR bridge at Mesokhavan. Sept. 12 - Nov. 9. No further operations. On Sept. 13 the Bulgarians capitulated to the Allies. Military objectives for which the OGs could be used were not part of the political turmoil created by the multiple rival factions which preceded the Greek civil war. Capt. Eichler considered operations against the Germans west of the Stryman River but the Andarties would not assist against the Security Battalion there, a group formed from the native population by the Germans who armed and led them. Nov. 2. Capt. Houlihan arrived by plane at Droma for final discussion of the situation. Nov. 9. OGs evacuated to Bari via Athens.
This summary of the Balkan Operational Groups was extracted from records of the National Archives provided through the courtesy of Lt. Col. Ian D. W. Sutherland. Attorney Sutherland is the compiler of the encyclopedic "Special Forces of the United States Army, 1952-1982" |
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