Office of Strategic Services Operational Groups

Mission:
To strengthen the resistance movement and to operate against the enemy communication system on the Franco-Italian border in the region of Montgenevre Pass.

Summary:
12 August. Sterling bomber left Blida at 2045 hours for DZ "Armature" near St. Christol, about 15 mi. northeast of APT. Flying was excellent. Terrain was uneven with rockpiles at frequent intervals. Men sustained cuts and bruises, none completely incapacitating. Few Maquis were there with no provision for moving equipment. Most of the rations disappeared. Section with added American airmen established themselves in the woods.

15 Aug. Section started 250 mi. trip northeast to area of operation in a wood-burning truck.

16 Aug. Section was joined by 30 gendarmes who had deserted the German garrison at Briancon.

17/18 Aug. Reconnaissance showed two good targets on the Briancon-Montgenevre road. A 2-ft. thick wall supporting a sharp curve was blown with 1200 pounds of plastic explosive. The wall tumbled down the mountainside and the curved road caved in. The second target, below the first, a reinforced concrete bridge 30 ft. wide and 60 ft. long was blown with 300 pounds of plastic.

21 Aug. The 80-man German garrison at Guillestre surrendered to the Section and some British officers with assurance of POW status.

22 Aug. Two bridges near St. Paul and Ste Marie, the larger a double concrete span 40 by 120 ft., were destroyed with 1500 pounds of plastic.

23 Aug. Lt. Viviani contacted an American Tank Destroyer unit which reached the outskirts of Guillestre and furnished the CO with maps and intelligence of the region.

24 Aug. Section provided maps and data to 180th Infantry protecting the right flank of the 7th Army advancing toward Grenoble. Reconnoitering the Guilestra area in the Larche Pass with British and American officers the party encountered fire near Meyronnes. On leaving the valley the Section blew a small bridge.

26-29 Aug. Section moved to Col de la Mayt near the border and found some old Italian Army barracks in good position defensively, but in miserable sanitary condition, occupied by 150 poorly clad and equipped Italian Partisans. A 3-man OG detail moved to a well-organized resistance group and in the several days with them observed a large highly productive ball bearing plant which they reported back and it was subsequently bombed by British planes.

3 September. In a break in traffic on a much used road at Fenestrelle a detail under Capt. Lorbeer applied demolitions to a bridge and booby-trapped the surrounding area. Reconnaissance the next day showed complete destruction of the bridge and repair crews stopped at a distance by fragmentation grenades and time pencils as fuse assemblies.

8 Sept. Germans took Col de la Mayt. Two days earlier Section had gathered at Abries.

10 Sept. Lt. Weeks' and Capt. Vanoncini's Sections had arrived and members of the three Sections went back into Italy through Col St. Veran.

12-16 Sept. OGs returned to Italy searching for possible operations in conjunction with partisans. Contact near Col St. Veran with the largest German group judged to number about 30 who fired from a distance resulted in partisan break-up. Germans returned to the hills. Further plans were interrupted by orders to return to Grenoble.

Summary compiled by John Hamblet.