Office of Strategic Services Operational Groups

Mission:
To assist Maquis in preventing destruction of fixed installations by retreating Germans in the Indre Department. Protection of the hydroelectric power station at Eguson vital to the power system of France was specified. Attacks on rail, road and communication targets should continue, especially where these could be used by withdrawing German troops.

Summary:
14/15 and 15/16 August. On two nights five Liberator bombers from Harrington dropped the Group in the Mouhet area. Maquis received and cared for the Group. Injuries were minor.

16 Aug. Group moved close to Paris-Limoges road. Camp was set up in a wooded area and food was supplied through FTP. The main highway had been cut so ambushes were made on alternative roads in a 10-mile radius from camp. Through an FTP agent Lt. Col. Obolensky contacted the CO, Capt. Clavel, of a French unit in Eguson sent there by the Petain government to hold Eguson in cooperation with the Germans. A meeting was arranged, at which Capt. Clavel informed Lt. Col. Obolensky that he had orders to hold Eguson and defend it from attack. Lt. Col. Obolensky replied he had orders from Gen. Koenig of the FFI to take possession of and hold Eguson for France. He added he was ready to attack with paratroopers. The Captain agreed their objectives were identical. Lt. Col. Obolensky made the point that no attack would be made if the Germans withdrew and left the installation intact. Meanwhile about 200 Maquis and the OGs moved to within a mile of Eguson and set up a position to attack.

17 Aug. German trucks began moving out of Eguson in early morning and Capt. Clavel said the Germans had left for Chateauroux. No attempt was made to molest them. Capt. Cook and a detail blocked the road between Eguson and Argenton by felling trees and blowing a bridge to prevent Germans from returning in case they were attacked before reaching Chateauroux.

20 Aug. To isolate Eguson two bridges were blown south of Eguson at Crozant. One was a triple-span of stone and steel-reinforced concrete. Roads were blocked with felled trees. Eguson was the first town to be liberated by the Group, and the Mayor and French population held a celebration.

21 Aug. OG headquarters moved to the power station.

28 Aug. By this time defenses for the power plant were strengthened and extended for miles around. The OGs continued ambushing Germans outside the perimeter of defenses in the St. Benoit area. Chateauroux was liberated and French troops and OGs paraded through.

Great celebration was interrupted when a message came that Germans, moving from Bordeaux, were at Tournon and west of Poitiers. Group went to an ambush site a mile west of Lureil. Capt. Cook was placed on the left side of the road, Lt. Col. Obolensky and the CO of the Maquis on the road itself, and Lt. Dumont and Maquis on the right flank. The Germans, having previously been given the opportunity to surrender which they refused, attacked at midnight, striking Capt. Cook's and Lt. Col. Obolensky's elements. After an hour of steady fighting the signal came to withdraw. Rain helped to cover the noise of the withdrawal. Lt. Col. Obolensky had designated a village for reassembly which some reached, and all but two reached LeBlanc by noon, and Eguson later, where the missing two who had been surrounded arrived two days later. The German unit which the Maquis had reported as 100 proved to be the vanguard of two divisions.

In the first two weeks of September the Group reconnoitered the routes taken by the retreating Germans from Poitiers through Chateauroux and Vendoeuvre, in this time coming in contact with Lt. Grunseth's "Percy Red." Parties of Germans were reported but no major operations materialized. When it was believed the last of the Germans had left the area the Group was directed to return to London. This they did in a C-47 leaving LeBlanc and arriving in London 13 September, a month after their dispatch.

		Personal recollections:
		Ellsworth Johnson: manuscript "One Small Part"

Summary compiled by John Hamblet.