We will conclude our examination of unit organization with a look at the Allied Special Forces, involved in the campaign.

Today, the United States Army Special Forces have five primary missions: (1) unconventional warfare (the original and most important mission of Special Forces), (2) direct action, (3) special reconnaissance, (4) foreign internal defense, and (5) counter-terrorism. Allied special operations units in 1944 performed the first three of these missions, but primarily unconventional warfare—activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area.

Over the year of 1944, the Allies dispatched over 170 special operations teams into occupied France. These teams provided desperately needed weapons, munitions, communications equipment training and leadership to the resistance bands. There was wide array of special forces organizations dispatched to Southern France, and on August 8^th eleven Jedburgh, five Inter-Allied Missions, ten US Operational Groups and three Counter-Scorch Teams were directed to organize FFI support for the impending allied invasion. Here we will review the composition of the five teams that most directly participated in battle with the 1^st Airborne Task Force (ABTF).

Jedburgh Teams were formed from operators of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and the Free French Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action, Central Bureau of Intelligence and Operations (BCRA). Their primary mission was unconventional warfare—to coordinate airdrops of arms and supplies, and lead FFI bands on hit-and-run attacks. The US, British and Canadian team members were usually fluent in French, and many of the French operatives had previously lived in the area. Each Jedburgh Team had one French officer, one American, British or Canadian officer and a radioman. There were two Jedburgh teams operating in the airborne jump area.

Jedburgh Team Cinnamon: Landed in France at the Fantome Drop Zone, near Barjols, on the night of 13-14 August. It was a three-man team with Capitaine Henri Fonsegreve (BCRA/French Infantry), Captain R. Harcourt (SOE/Royal Armored Corps) and Lieutenant Jacques Morineau (BCRA). Harcourt broke both his legs in the jump, but Fonsegreve and Morineau set up west of the 1^st ABTF drop zones and began organizing FFI in the Brignoles area to prevent German reinforcements from counter-attacking the 1^st ABTF. When the drop of American paratroopers of 1^st Battalion, 517^th Parachute Infantry Regiment (1/517) was scattered to the west, these small groups of GIs were joined by the FFI raised by Team Cinnamon.

Jedburgh Team Sceptre: Jumped into France on the Malay Mountain Drop Zone, on the night of 13-14 August. A three-man team with Lieutenant Francois Franceschi (BCRA/French Colonial Infantry), Lieutenant Walter Hanna (OSS/US Field Artillery) and Master Sergeant Howard Palmer (OSS/US Signal Corps). They landed northeast of the 1^st ABTF drop zones and began organizing FFI in the Mons area to support the 1^st ABTF. The large mis-drop of two battalions of allied paratroopers would be almost on top of this team. Many of the FFI guerrillas raised and armed by Team Sceptre joined small groups of Americans from 3/517, British troopers from A Company, 4^th Parachute Battalion and Scots from the 5^th Parachute Battalion. Small groups of these allied paratroopers and FFI guerrillas waged a little war of ambush and harassment against the Germans attempting to move through the area for the next several days.

Counter-Scorch or Anti-Sabotage Teams were a Naval Para-Commando operation. Their primary mission was unconventional warfare with an unusual focus—to lead and organize FFI elements in preventing the destruction of key port facilities by the Germans. This included de-fusing or dismantling harbor demolitions and detonation mechanisms, and also neutralizing German demolitions personnel. Counter-Scorch Team Lougre jumped into France on the night of 11-12 August. A four-man team with Capitaine de Corvette (Lieutenant Commander) Leon Allain, Petty Officer 2^nd Class Buanic, Petty Officer 2^nd Class Brezellec (all French Navy Para-Commandos) and Captain Geoffrey Jones (Royal Navy Commando), who had spent his youth at Frejus in the invasion area. Their primary mission was to infiltrate Toulon and prevent damage to the harbor. The team landed on Malay Mountain and moved quickly to Mons. Allain, as the senior French officer in the area, called an emergency meeting of all FFI unit and cell leaders from the DRAGOON area. FFI Leaders from every town (except the heavily garrisoned Le Muy) and unit arrived by 3:00 PM on August 14^th to receive orders to support the imminent allied airborne operation with glider field clearing, scout teams and guides, etc. Allain also ordered the immediate destruction of a Luftwaffe radar facility near Fayence. The FFI leaders did not learn that D-Day would be the next day, 15 August, until receiving a coded radio message that evening at 8:14 PM. Allain, Jones and a small group of FFI guerillas then moved down to Drop Zone O to meet the 1^st ABTF Commander, General Frederick, and the British 2^nd Parachute Brigade Commander, Brigadier Pritchard, as soon as they landed.

Inter-Allied Missions (IAM) were focused on coordination of the FFI with overall Allied objectives.These teams generally included officers from both allied nations with a political as well as military portfolio. The members of IAM Michel arrived in France piecemeal from March to June, 1944. The initial group was a nine-man team including team leader Capitaine Henri Chanay (BCRA/French Colonial Infantry), an adjutant Lieutenant Marcel Lancesseur (BCRA), Lieutenant Muthular d’Errecalde (BRCA), Captain Alistar Hay (SOE/Royal Artillery), an American OSS officer and four French BCRA agents. The FFI provided a liaison to work with the IAM, Sous-Lieutenant Granier. Their mission was to coordinate FFI activity across all of Area R2 and the southern departments of Area R1. IAM Michel’s first task was to adjudicate a dispute between Sapin, the Area R2 FFI commander and Robert Rossi, the Mouvements Unis de Resistance (MUR) chief, representing the communist FTP guerrillas. To support the allied invasion, Sapin planned to seize control of the Ubaye Valley, cutting German lines of communication to the south. Rossi preferred to hold his forces in reserve, in order to launch urban uprisings in major cities such as Marseilles and Toulon when the allies landed. Chanay threw his support behind Sapin, temporarily resolving the issue. After D-Day in Normandy, IAM Michel became drawn into direct action. Hay was offended when the FFI claimed the British PIAT anti-tank weapons didn’t work. On June 13^th he joined an ambush and scored a direct hit on a German armored vehicle with his PIAT. In the ensuing firefight Hay and Granier were both killed. The Germans now hunted down the group—Chanay was captured on 16 June and executed on the 18^th. IAM Michelle continued to operate, but the Abwehr, Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) and Sicherheitspolizei (security police) were still on their trail. On August 12^th, d’Errecalde was also captured and executed. 

Operational Groups (OG) were unusual in two ways from the other special operations teams. First, they were manned entirely by Americans. Second, the OG’s primary mission was direct action—demolition, sabotage and ambush. The OGs were overt, operating entirely in uniform. The Jedburgh, Counter-Scorch and IAM teams were covert—usually disguised as civilians or French gendarmes—only displaying their national colors when actually engaged in combat. Each OG was composed of fifteen GIs, mostly drawn from infantry and engineer units, with a communications and medical specialist. Most members of the OGs spoke at least some French. The OGs were designed to operate independently, but once on the ground often linked up with FFI units in a secondary unconventional warfare role. OG Ruth landed on the Malay Mountain Drop Zone, on the night of 3-4 August. The 15-man team was led by two First Lieutenants—Mills Brandes and Carl Strand, Jr. They were met by an FTP unit on the drop zone, and then moved northeast to join the Sainte-Jurs FFI, midway between Digne and Draguignan. Their mission was to paralyze all German movement south to Draguignan and the planned invasion area. They were assigned four railroad and highway bridges to destroy, but found that the FFI had already brought these targets down. Instead, they joined with the Sainte-Jurs FFI, cut telephone and telegraph lines and set up multiple ambushes north of Draguignan to prevent the Germans from counter-attacking the 1^st ABTF on D-Day. OG Ruth and the FFI also provided assistance to some 1^st Battalion, 517^th Parachute Infantry Regiment (1/517) paratroopers who had been scattered far to the north of Drop Zone A.

A Conventional Unit’s Unconventional D-Day Mission

Resistance espionage reporting indicated a German vulnerability the allies were keen to exploit on D-Day. A capture or kill mission was launched against General Ferdinand Neuling, Commander of the German LXII Corps, which controlled all German troops in the invasion area. A very brave and clever middle-aged French woman (who happened to be a clandestine agent of the resistance) had befriended Neuling and learned his habits in great detail. It seems he had his breakfast (two fried eggs, one slice of bacon and a piece of toast) every morning at exactly 6:00 AM in the courtyard of his residence, the Villa Gladys, near the LXII Corps headquarters in Draguignan.

This mission was not assigned to elite commandos or rangers—instead Infantry Lieutenant James A. Reith, 2^nd Platoon Leader, A Company, 1^st Battalion, 517^th Parachute Infantry Regiment received the task. Besides Neuling’s daily routine, the resistance had provided detailed street maps and even the architectural plans to the villa. Intelligence officers had a sand table of the villa and surrounding buildings constructed for Reith and his men to study. The plan was simple: Reith and the 15 troopers of his stick would jump at 4:31 AM and land just outside Draguignan. Using the cover of darkness, they would slip into the city, avoid German sentries and sneak past the guards to arrive at the Villa Gladys in time to surprise Neuling as he sat down for breakfast. They would seize the old man, and if that proved impossible, kill him. What could go wrong?

On D-Day Reith and his men jumped on time, but into a dense fog bank. Reith landed in a water-filled drainage ditch and struggled to pull himself out and remove his parachute harness. Suddenly a German appeared pointing his MP-5 machine pistol right at the prone paratrooper. Reith rolled and fired his Colt .45, barely avoiding the German’s stream of bullets and striking and killing his opponent with a single .45 slug to the chest. As Reith moved out in the foggy darkness, he saw the silhouette of a paratrooper by a parachute bundle and approached quietly. As he was about to speak, Reith smelled fish. He suddenly remembered from his intelligence briefing that the Germans here ate mostly dried fish. Again, Reith beat his foe to the draw, and emptied a few rounds from his .45 into the German’s stomach. It looked like the allied planners had picked the right man for the job! However, Reith still didn’t know where he was and stumbled in the fog and darkness until he found a road junction, hoping to gain his bearings. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was already 5:35 AM—at most half an hour remained to accomplish his mission. Reith found his mortar sergeant, Joseph Blackwell, at the intersection. Blackwell nonchalantly informed his platoon leader that they were at least 30 kilometers from Draguignan! Reith could only curse fate and dejectedly abandon his special operations mission.

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Previous Articles:

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization – Part 1: Infantry Units from Squad to Battalion Level

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization – Part 2: Regiments and Brigades

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization of Units – Part 3: The 1st Airborne Task Force (ABTF)

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization of Units – Part 4: German Army, Corps, Division, and Kampfgruppe

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization of Units – Part 5: The French Resistance and Paratroopers