First English Airborne Op - Feb 1941.

[tigre]

Hello to all, searching in old readings I've stumbled with this article that awoke my interest......

Function of Parachutists
[From an article in The Aeroplane, (Great Britain), 21 February 1941.]
Condensed by COLONEL F. M BARROWS: Field Artillery.

Parachute troops, as a new factor in warfare, may completely alter the accepted conceptions of offence and defence.

The Germans showed how effective they could be in spreading disorder, particularly when aided by traitors. In the campaign through Holland and into France, the enemy used parachutists as shock troops to be followed up by air-borne infantry and by mechanized forces.

The British parachute troops which were landed in Southern Italy on the night of 10 February had a different purpose. Their aim was to disorganize communications and essential services so that the already tottering Fascist order would be hurried a step nearer its ultimate collapse. Their object was not to prepare the way for the immediate arrival of invading forces and apparently some method was arranged for the evacuation of such troops as could escape when their assigned task was done. No doubt Bristol Bombay bomber transports would be used to deliver these parachutists. The newly captured airdrome at Benghazi is only some 400 miles from the toe of Italy and well within the nonstop return range of the Bombays.

The bravery of the men told off to undertake such a task is splendid. The multitudes of hostages, includiting many generals, now in our hands, doubtless reassured those who planned the exploit that the parachutists who were captured would not fare too hardly. The complete collapse of Italy which may occur in the not far distant future should, ensure but a temporary exile.

Whether used as shock troops in the advance of a great army or as nuisance raiders, more or less unsupported, parachute troops must be faced as a new factor in warfare. As the Italian incident proves, they can be dropped at night even more easily than by day. There is no doubt that the big four-motor aeroplanes now possessed by both sides could transport two or three thousand parachute troops and deliver them on or near an enemy aerodrome at night in a very short time. Their object would be to put out of action all the aeroplanes they found there and to wreck the station before surrendering. Such method, though costly, might be more likely to succeed than the most intense daylight bombing attacks like those in which the Luftwaffe attempted to smash our fighter stations last autumn.

Aerodrome defence is one of the essential items in air supremacy. Our fighters and our bombers are essential to our continued existence. They must be guarded day and night with every device and safeguard at our command.

Just as the bomber has brought the whole of each combatant nation into the front line, ignoring geographical barriers which held up armies in the past, so the development of the parachute arm of the armies of the future will render useless any prepared line of defence of opposing armies. As aeroplanes develop and bigger loads can be carried so will the menace of the parachute troops grow. Already the huge Douglas B-19 in the U.S.A. could accommodate more than 100 fully-armed soldiers. Speed and ranges are increasing so,that the future may present the prospect of 10,000 soldiers landed by night in the heart of enemy territory.

These developments will probably include gliders still further to increase the loads. With them light tanks could be transported. Already this war has become an air war.

So my inquiry: which was the objective/target of the operation (bold type) carried out by the british paratroops, its effects and what happened with those parachutists. The action took place as early as 10 Feb 1941. Was the first airborne operation even accomplished by english parachutists?

TIA. Regards. Tigre.

[Steen Ammentorp]

Though with a different starting point, this is what I got:

The task chosen for the first British airborne operation was the breaching of an aqueduct which crossed a small stream, the Tragino, south-west of Monte Vulture and some thirty miles east-north-east of Salverno in southern Italy. The operation had three objects: to deprive the population, two million Italians in the province of Apulia, of a water supply for a period of time; to test the ability of the Army, the RAF and the Royal Navy to carry out a combined operation; and last, but by no mean least, to maintain the high morale of the men of 11th SAS Battalion who, by January 1941, were becoming restive.
On 7 February, after intensive training, a group of fifty officers and men, commanded by Major T.A.G. Prichard, flew in six Whitley aircraft to Malta. Lieutenant A.J. Deane-Drummond had been sent ahead to make preparations on the island for the assault party. It was from Malta that the operation was to be launched.
On 10 February, at 1830 hours, the party took off for the Tragino aqueduct. The flight took three hours in clear moonlight, but things went wrong from the start. Two aircraft failed to drop their containers due to technical faults and this proved to be unfortunate since they contained arms and explosives. A third aircraft, the most important of all, dropped the main demolition party some way from the objective. Those who did arrive in the area had sufficient explosives to breach a main aqueduct over the River Genestra; but worse was to follow. Having completed their task it was planned that the party would be evacuated by a submarine which would be waiting for them off the mouth of the River Sele. It was fifty miles from the area of the aqueduct to the mouth of the river – an almost impossible distance for such a large party to travel through enemy country without being detected. In the event it mattered little because the submarine, HMS Triumph, received orders not to proceed to the rendezvous.
In consequence all the parachutists fell into enemy hands. A number of the men later escaped, but not an Italian called Picchi, who accompanied the party. Picchi had lived in England for many years and disliked what was happening to his country of origin. He was familiar with the area of operation and volunteered to act as interpreter. He was captured, immediately identified as being of Italian nationality, and shot as a traitor.

Source: Dover, Victor: The Sky Generals. London. 1981, p. 21-22.

Well – not a very successful operation.

Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II

[tigre]

Thank you very much, all clear now. Regards. Tigre.

[Lupo Solitario]

Some little addition - the aqueduct didn't blow and the few damages were repaired in few days. The water supply to Puglie had never been stopped.
The manhunting which leaded to capture the entire commando party was short with the full cohoperation between police, military and civilian population.
Operation Colossus -that's the name of the operation- was substantially a total failure and not casually british had to wait another year before performing a new airborne commando action...

[tigre]

Thank you Lupo. All the best. Tigre.

[phylo_roadking]

Tigre, it wasnt until I got to the third or fourth post on this that it became clear what everyone were talking about, as I knew of the operation, but not that it involved personnel officially referred to as Commandos or SAS. My understanding - and theres been at least one documentary about this - is that it was actually an SOE operation, mounted by the SOE in North Africa as a showpiece as they themselves hadnt actually managed to DO very much in the Med!

[phylo_roadking]

....so while it may have been British, and airborne - it wasn't a British Airborne operation LOL

[tigre]

Hello phylo, glad to greet you.
I neither could understand your doubt and could agree with you, for it was really a military operation when the Paras introduced themselves to the enemy by jumping into Italy looking for blowing up an aqueduct (Tragino Aqueduct) in a daring raid named Operation Colossus. But not for sure one Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) operation to foster resistance among the civil population in Nazi-occupied Europe and to promote sabotage and subversion. It's my point of view. All the best for you. Tigre.

[phylo_roadking]

The mounting of single "flag waving" operations by SOE wasn't unknown in the first days of its operations - similarly they mounted an operation in France to blow a big electric switching yard in the centre of the country controlling power to a number of factories in the area. They were just reacting to protests in Whitehall from the likes of MI6 etc. who believed covert ops were either theirs or the new Combined Operations and that SOE was superfluous and had no role.

[Steen Ammentorp]

Phylo_roadking,

Do you have any sources on this? I very much doubt that SOE played any part in this operation, and while you may be right that their might have been unknown at the time I fail to see why their role should have been omitted by Victor Dover.

I have just checked with Peter Wilkinson and Joan Bright Astley's Gubbins and SOE, and there is no reference to the operation in Italy. There is however reference to operation JOSEPHINE B, the attack on the Pessac power station on the 7th June 1941, which I think is the operation you are referring to. There is also reference to operation SAVANNA, the attack on Kampfgeschwader 100 at Vannes in Brittany in January 1941.

Had SOE played a part in the in the Italian operation I feel confident that it would have been mentioned here.

Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a RAF's point of view...........

Operation "Colossus"

The RAF had provided eight Whitleys for the operation, six carrying six paratroopers each and two to carry out a diversionary raid on Foggia. As it turned out, one man in one of the six troop-carrying aircraft went sick on the runway and was off-loaded, so 35 men took part in the operation.

As related by Flight Lieutenant Denis Hornsey, 'on our second day at Ringway we were all assembled in the C.O's office and were told that the object of our mission was now to be disclosed'. The target was Tragino Aqueduct in Southern Italy, six hand-picked Whitley crews being charged with delivering the men and equipment of X Troop by parachute, and two others assigned to diversionary attacks over Foggia. The C.O. added:

"I need hardly say that this is a mission in which the greatest secrecy is necessary. All operations are top secret but this one is more than top secret. In fact, it is my unpleasant task to mention to you that anybody found guilty of disclosing details of this operation, whether by carelessness or intent, will be instantly shot. Some clues have already leaked out through injudicious talking. It will go ill with those responsible when we find out who they are."

'We did our "live" dropping practice at Tatton Park. On the first day there was a 40 m.p.h. wind blowing and a consultation was held with the Army as to whether the exercise should go ahead. The leader of the detachment, a tough Scotsman with the rank of Major, expressed the view that a little wind would add reality to the proceedings. It did. The Major was dragged across a field by his parachute and through a pond, ending up in a hedge. His second-in-command lodged up in a tree, and one of his men struck a post with sufficient force to break two ribs and an ankle. Nothing daunted the Army pronounced it "a very good day" and, to our respect, turned up next morning in readiness for some more of the same punishment.

Sources: https://www.spink.com/lot/17001000254

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Richard Sands]

This was the first mission for the British airborne forces during WW2. It was little more than a test by the military to see if these so called 'Paratroopers' had any REAL potencial for missions behind enemy lines. Never the less it was an important mission as it showed the grit and expertise of the paratroopers. Lets start from the begining...

The men of 11 SAS Bn. had joined up to see some action, and by the end of 1940 they were getting bored. So bored that they were requesting transfers back to their old units. In early January 1941 a rumour ran around Ringway (the units base), saying that a mission was currently being planned. The CO, Lt. Col. C.I.A. Jackson paraded his men and called for volunteers for a 'Deep Penetration' raid behind enemy lines.

Every man present volunteered; and 7 officers and 31 men were selected for 'X Troop, 11 SAS'.

The target was the Tragino Aqueduct in Italy. The offical reason given was that if this aqueduct could be destroyed it would be disastrous for the water supplies in Southen Italy. This would in turn hamper the war effort of Italy and would cause 'Alarm and despondency' amony the Italians. The real aim was, of course, to see what the airborne troops were made of; perfectly aware of this, the men of X Troop trained hard at Tatton Park, Ringways training DZ, where a full scale modal of the aqueduct was built.

On the night of February 7th 1941 X Troop, commanded by Maj. T.A.G. Pritchard, took off from Mildenhall in Suffolk for an epic fight across occupied France in six Whitley bombers of No. 91 Sqn. RAF, led by Wg. Cdr. J.B. Tate. In Malta final plans ware laid for the submarine HMS Triumph to lie off the mouth of the River Sele to pick up the troops after the raid.

After taking off from Malta the paratroopers arrived over the DZ only 12 minutes late. Unfortunately, one aircraft got lost and dropped it's stick some two miles North. Inevitably this stick consisted of the sappers who were actually supposed to blow the aqueduct. They eventually arrived two hours late. Moreover, icing caused two of the explosives containers to 'hang up'.

Since Pritchard still had some 1,000 lbs. of assorted explosives he decided to press on. On examining the aqueduct it was found the structure was made of concrete and not brick as intelligence had expected. The seniour surviving sapper, 2nd Lt. A. Patterson, RE, placed all heavy explosives available around one of the side piers and anything remaining to a small bridge over the nearby Ginestra stream, to hamper repairs, (though an officer later stated that “just for the hell of it” was part of the equation).

With the mission accomplished, came the problem of getting home. The submarine lay some 50 mountainous miles to the west. With four days and nights to make the journey, the paras split up into 3 groups and began the to make their seperate ways to the RV.

All were spotted and captured, including the engineers, although many escaped and returned to England, including Tony Deane Drummond, who would also be captured at Arnhem, but would once again escape and return to England.

34 men of X Troop were on the run......one had been found at the aqueduct with a broken ankle......Remembering these brave men.... Towards the end of 1940 at a meeting in London, a decision was taken based on information from a civil engineering firm (George Kent and Sons), that if an aqueduct in Italy could be destroyed it would severely damage the Italian war effort. The contractor had originally built this aqueduct near a place called Tragino near Naples in southern Italy. The water supply for three major ports crossed a valley here. Various options were looked at and finally a request to help went to Britain’s only parachute unit. This was the 11th Special Air Service Battalion who had been formed from No 2 Commando in the middle of 1940.
Volunteers were called for and the whole unit stepped forward. Command of the operation (later known as Colossus) was given to Major T Pritchard. After much training in the UK the volunteers, known as X Troop, moved to an advanced operating base in Malta. As well as the men from 11th SAS Battalion, two others went on the operation as interpreters. One was an RAF officer Flight lieutenant Lucky and other an Italian national Fortunato Picchi, although he was briefed as a Free French soldier by the name of Dupont.
The RAF had provided eight Whitleys for the operation, six carrying six paratroopers each and two to carry out a diversionary raid on Foggia. As it turned out, one man in one of the six troop-carrying aircraft went sick on the runway and was off-loaded, so 35 men took part in the operation.
The six aircraft eventually all made it to the general area of the target, but not all the stores were dropped and one aircraft dropped its stick in the wrong valley and they never made it to the objective. However, enough explosives were collected to blow up the aqueduct although the damage was repaired within a few days. The men of X Troop were now meant to walk a distance of around 60 miles to meet a submarine, HMS Triumph, which would take them back to Malta. Regretfully the submarine was recalled but there was no way of getting this information to the men in Italy. Travelling in four separate groups they were all recaptured over the course of the next few days.
News reached England of the success of the raid through reports in Italian newspapers and the US Military Attaché who visited the captured men in prison camp in Italy. On Palm Sunday 1941 Fortunato Picchi was executed for his part in the operation, becoming the only casualty of Colossus.
The first eyewitness account of the raid came from Lieutenant Deane-Drummond after his successful escape from an Italian PoW camp in 1942.
Whilst a strategic failure the raid showed in dark days that Britain was prepared to strike back and diverted Italian soldiers to guard dams, power stations and bridges the length and breadth of Italy, when they could have been better employed at the front. It also gave valuable lessons in the planning and execution of an airborne operation.

Personnel involved in Operation Colossus:
Major Pritchard, Captain Lea, Captain Daly, Lieutenant Deane-Drummond, Second Lieutenant Jowett, Second Lieutenant Paterson and Flight Lieutenant Lucky.
Sergeant Clements, Sergeant Durie, Sergeant Lawley, Sergeant Shutt and Sergeant Walker.
Corporal Fletcher, Corporal Grice, Corporal Julian and Corporal O’Brien.
L/Corporal Boulter, L/Corporal Henderson, L/Corporal Jones, L/Corporal Maher, L/Corporal Pexton, L/Corporal Tomlin and L/Corporal Watson.
Private Humphrey, Private Nastri/Tristan, Private Parker and Private Samuels.
Sapper Davidson, Sapper Parker, Sapper Phillips, Sapper Pryor, Sapper Ross and Sapper Struthers.
Driver Crawford.
Fortunato Picchi


Decorations Awarded to The Men of X Troop:
Distinguished Service Order
25th November 1941 Captain (temporary Major) T A G Pritchard Royal Welch Fusiliers
Military Cross
29th September 1942 Lieutenant A J Deane-Drummond Royal Corps of Signals
Date unknown Captain C Lea Lancashire Fusiliers
Date unknown Second Lieutenant G R Paterson Royal Corps of Engineers
Date unknown Second Lieutenant A G Jowett Highland Light Infantry
Military Medal
20th June 1946 Sergeant P P Clements Leicestershire Regiment
20th June 1946 WOII A W A Lawley 11th SAS Regiment AAC
Date unknown Sergeant E W Durie
Date unknown L/Corporal R B Watson
Date unknown L/Corporal H Boulter North Staffordshire Regiment (this award was for actions with the partisans after his escape from Italian captivity in 1943)
Mentioned in despatches
Date unknown but probably 1946
Captain G F K Daly
L/Corporal J E Maher
Private N Nastri

[tigre]

Thanks for shedding light on this Richard . Cheers. Raúl M .

[MikeMeech]

Hello to all, searching in old readings I've stumbled with this article that awoke my interest......

Function of Parachutists
[From an article in The Aeroplane, (Great Britain), 21 February 1941.]
Condensed by COLONEL F. M BARROWS: Field Artillery.

Parachute troops, as a new factor in warfare, may completely alter the accepted conceptions of offence and defence.

The Germans showed how effective they could be in spreading disorder, particularly when aided by traitors. In the campaign through Holland and into France, the enemy used parachutists as shock troops to be followed up by air-borne infantry and by mechanized forces.

The British parachute troops which were landed in Southern Italy on the night of 10 February had a different purpose. Their aim was to disorganize communications and essential services so that the already tottering Fascist order would be hurried a step nearer its ultimate collapse. Their object was not to prepare the way for the immediate arrival of invading forces and apparently some method was arranged for the evacuation of such troops as could escape when their assigned task was done. No doubt Bristol Bombay bomber transports would be used to deliver these parachutists. The newly captured airdrome at Benghazi is only some 400 miles from the toe of Italy and well within the nonstop return range of the Bombays.

The bravery of the men told off to undertake such a task is splendid. The multitudes of hostages, includiting many generals, now in our hands, doubtless reassured those who planned the exploit that the parachutists who were captured would not fare too hardly. The complete collapse of Italy which may occur in the not far distant future should, ensure but a temporary exile.

Whether used as shock troops in the advance of a great army or as nuisance raiders, more or less unsupported, parachute troops must be faced as a new factor in warfare. As the Italian incident proves, they can be dropped at night even more easily than by day. There is no doubt that the big four-motor aeroplanes now possessed by both sides could transport two or three thousand parachute troops and deliver them on or near an enemy aerodrome at night in a very short time. Their object would be to put out of action all the aeroplanes they found there and to wreck the station before surrendering. Such method, though costly, might be more likely to succeed than the most intense daylight bombing attacks like those in which the Luftwaffe attempted to smash our fighter stations last autumn.

Aerodrome defence is one of the essential items in air supremacy. Our fighters and our bombers are essential to our continued existence. They must be guarded day and night with every device and safeguard at our command.

Just as the bomber has brought the whole of each combatant nation into the front line, ignoring geographical barriers which held up armies in the past, so the development of the parachute arm of the armies of the future will render useless any prepared line of defence of opposing armies. As aeroplanes develop and bigger loads can be carried so will the menace of the parachute troops grow. Already the huge Douglas B-19 in the U.S.A. could accommodate more than 100 fully-armed soldiers. Speed and ranges are increasing so,that the future may present the prospect of 10,000 soldiers landed by night in the heart of enemy territory.

These developments will probably include gliders still further to increase the loads. With them light tanks could be transported. Already this war has become an air war.

So my inquiry: which was the objective/target of the operation (bold type) carried out by the british paratroops, its effects and what happened with those parachutists. The action took place as early as 10 Feb 1941. Was the first airborne operation even accomplished by english parachutists?

TIA. Regards. Tigre.

Hi

The OH 'Airborne Forces' by Lt.-Col. Otway has the following:

Mike

[tigre]

Much appreciated Mike . Cheers. Raúl M .