Office of Strategic Services Operational Groups

Mission:
To assist the Maquis in the Department of Haute Vienne in Central France.

Summary:
1 August 1944. Group left Harrington in four planes but only one found the DZ and dropped its load. Two made successful drops the following night, and the last on 5 Aug. On landing the firsr group was scattered in creeks and woods with reassembly taking hours. Tha Maquis who greeted them had just battled a German unit passing through and it took several days to reorganize. When the full complement of 18 OGs was assembled it moved 50 miles to Sussac, the center of Maquis activities.

10 August. It was learned a German armored train was moving from Limoges to repair railway cut by Maquis. The group located the train stopped at St. Germaine and planted demolitions ahead of it.

11 Aug. The following morning the train approached but stopped before reaching the demolitions. Firing started prematurely and Bren gun fire threw the Germans off guard. The OGs blew the track and withdrew. In the exchange of fire Capt. Larson was fatally wounded. The Germans returned to Limoges and never attempted to open the railway again.

12-13 Aug. In the next few days the Group learned that 2000 Germans were moving out of Limoges. The Group went ahead to a bridge at St. Leonard and found it guarded by four Frenchmen who agreed to leave town with their families. There were no Germans in town, but a garrison was one mille away. Bridge was constructed with railroad ties to which charges were applied in an hour and a half and the bridge was blown down. Maquis harassed Germans escaping elsewhere, capturing some.

14 Aug. Group moved out of St. Leonard to the National Road south of Limoges anticipating North-bound Germans. Group blasted the highway 35K south of Limoges, made a tank ditch aided by the locals, mined and booby trapped the area and blew a railroad bridge. Group and Maquis entered Limoges and celebrated the liberation. There were 5000 well-trained Maquis in the area, believed to be the best armed Maquis in France.

27 Aug. Group moved west to hinder the German movement out of Bordeaux. South of LaRochefoucauld on the National Highway they ambushed a 10-truck convoy with troops packed in the trucks. The first truck was sprayed with gunfire which elicited nearby machine gun fire forcing the Group to retreat with no casualties.

Near Le Blanc the Group attacked an unguarded chateau capturing 6 Germans and killing 2 others.

When about to carry out another ambush and American plane flew in and strafed the highway. It caught return fire and crashed. As Germans headed toward the wreck the Group fired on them, killing several.

Continuing east the Group met Operational Group Patrick which, under Lt. Col. Obolensky was battling many Germans in the vicinity. The aroused area precluded further operations and orders were received to return to London where they arrived via LeBlanc where a C-47 picked them up.

Summary compiled by John Hamblet.