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There were two mainland operations and both had the mission to harass enemy troops and destroy oil and gasoline supplies. "Chilblain." August and September, 1944 After several attempts to transport the advance party to the Biokov area of the Yugoslavian mainland, the unit under Capt. Prus got as far as the mainland shore when a German gun-boat opened fire and forced the Partisan craft to withdraw. T/5 Radac was left, found Partisan HQ, and was returned to Vis 12 September. Further consideration of the operation was lost in the political policies of the Partisan High Command. Permanent removal of the last OSS unit from Vis occurred September 22, 1944. "Adairville." September 2-October 6, 1944. On night of 2 September Lt. McConnell with S/Sgt. Spiroff as interpreter left Italy and parachuted into the area east of Zara. Two weeks later, on night of 16 September, Lt. Ward and 6 men made the jump but the rest of the personnel, in two other planes, were prevented from jumping because of a turn in the weather and they returned to Italy. When it became apparent that the Partisans opposed activity in the area the operation was cancelled. The Partisans assisted the party to the coast and it returned to Torre a Mare via Vis by 6 October.
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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