Operation Halyard

Operation Halyard
Part of World War II
Date May 1944 - February 1945 Location Axis-occupied Yugoslavia (within an Axis puppet state, the Nedić regime) Result Successful rescue of US airmen
Belligerents
United States 15th Expeditionary Mobility Task Force Office of Strategic Services Chetniks		Germany

Operation Halyard, also know as the Halyard Mission, was the largest Allied airlift operation behind enemy lines during World War II. A total of 512 allied airmen that had been downed over Nazi-occupied Serbia were rescued by Serbian Chetniks, led by General Draža Mihailović. Most of the rescued airmen had been shot down during bombing runs on oil fields in Romania. Most pilots evaded capture and made contact with the Chetniks.

Having by now lost all Allied support to the Partisans (along with the recognition of the King Peter II), and with the Axis defeat in Europe a certainty, Mihailović was going to great lengths to regain Allied support, and to depict himself in a favorable light to the western Allies. At the time of the operation, the Allies were aware that Mihailović's troops were also rescuing German and Ustaše aviators from the Partisans (as indicated in a Nedić government report of February 1944) and, on other occasions, even hunted down Allied aviators on behalf of the Axis occupation.

Background

After the successful Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy capitulated in the autumn of 1943. The Allies occupied the whole of southern Italy. In late 1943 the Fifteenth Corps of the United States Army Air Forces, under the command of General Nathan Twining, was transferred from Tunisia to an airport near Foggia. This airport became the largest American air base in southern Italy used for attacking targets in southern and Eastern Europe. The Fifteenth Corps of the United States Army Air Forces also used the nearby airports Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Manduria. The Fifteenth Corps bombed targets in Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, German occupied Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. The most important targets were a ball bearing factory in Austria and sources of petroleum and petroleum refineries in Romania. All flights targeting the oil fields and refineries in Romania, near the town of Ploiesti north of Bucharest, went over Serbia. The oil refineries in Romania were the driving force of Hitler's war machine and were one the main targets of the Oil Campaign of World War II.

Bombing of targets in Southern and Eastern Europe

From October 1943 to October 1944 the USAAF Fifteenth Corps conducted about 20,000 sorties with fighters and bombers. During this time it lost almost fifty percent its aircraft but only about ten percent of its personnel. To carry out combat missions the Fifteenth Corps had at its disposal 500 heavy bombers (B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and B-24 "Liberators") and about 100 fighter aircraft to escort the bombers.

The route of flight by aircraft from South Italy to the targets in Romania was repeated every day from the spring of 1944. Over the Adriatic Sea, Montenegro and Serbia, and Bulgaria to Romania. Two-thirds of the flights from airports in Southern Italy were carried out against objectives in Bulgaria, Romania and the German-occupied zone of Serbia. The Germans had at their disposal a limited number of fighter aircraft whose most frequent targets were Allied planes that had already been damaged by Axis anti-aircraft defenses in Bulgaria and Romania, planes that because of damage had to fly slowly at low altitudes.

Rescue of American airmen

File:Commission Report.jpg

Commission Report on July 29th 1944 upon bequest case of deceased American aviator Sergeant Timing Gage.

At the beginning of 1944 the USAAF intensified the bombing of targets in Bulgaria and Romania and therefore American aviators bailed out from damaged aircraft over Serbia in increasing numbers. In other countries, over Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, they left their planes only in emergencies. A small number of crews had the misfortune to fall into the hands of Romanian, Bulgarian, Croat or German troops and were either killed instantly or sent to prison camps in Germany. The first American airmen bailed out over the German-occupied zone of Serbia on 24 January 1944. That day two B-24 "Liberators" were shot down, one of them over Zlatibor, and the other over Toplica. One bomber which was damaged by German fighter planes made an emergency landing between Pločnik and Beloljin. A crew of 9 airmen were rescued by the Chetnik Toplica Corps under the command of Major Milan Stojanović Pilots were placed in the home of local Chetnik leaders in the village of Velika Draguša. Another bomber was shot down on that same day by German fighter planes and the crew jumped out with parachutes over Mount Zlatibor. They were found by members of the Zlatibor Corps. A radiogram report on the rescue of one of the crews was sent by Major Milan Stojanović to General Draža Mihailović on 25 January 1944. Major Stojanović wrote that the previous day about 100 bombers flew from the direction of Niš towards Kosovska Mitrovica, and that they were by followed nine German fighter aircraft. After a half-hour fight, one plane caught fire and was forced to land between the villages of Pločnik and Beloljin, in the river valley of Toplica. Major Stojanović stated:

The plane landed between two groups of Bulgarians from the two hundred Bulgarian troops. I ordered immediately to be with 500 of our soldiers are blocking the Bulgarians. The crew was rescued. All alive and well. Them are nine... The Bulgarians tried to approach the plane, but when they saw our great strength they gave up. We captured four Bulgarian soldiers. The plane was from the 15th Corps U.S. Air Force. Took off with a group from the airport in Cerignola near Foggia - Italy. The pilot was called Haudiromano, no. 07954482. Has the rank of lieutenant. Easily wounded pilots are bandaged and immediately transferred to a safe place. All are much more happy and satisfied because we the rescued them. Today was a lot of Bulgarian and German troops arrived at the railway station in the village of Pločnik, but we keep our allies on the safely place.

The rescue of American and other Allied airmen lasted from January 1944 to February 1945. The German and Bulgarian occupation forces in Serbia, that had spotted the damaged aircraft and open parachutes pursued the airmen. However, members of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland led by General Draža Mihailović had already reached them. The Germans offered a cash prize to the local Serbian population for the capture of Allied airmen but none of them were sold to the Germans. During the rescue the peasants accepted the airmen into their homes, prevented the enemy from capturing them and fed them for months without Allied help. At the beginning of 1944 General Draža Mihailović ordered all his units to cooperate with the people organizing the acceptance and accommodation of American airmen. Based on these orders, more collection centers were set up in Eastern Serbia, Morava and Western Serbia. Later in the village of Pranjani hospitals for sick and wounded airmen were established.

Airstrip construction

In early March 1944 25 rescued pilots were brought to the village of Pranjani. Captain Zvonimir Vučković of the First Ravna Gora Corps was responsible for their security. In a mission directed by American Colonel Albert Seitz, OSS Captain George Musulin parachuted near Čačak on 18 October 1943 to coordinate activities for rescued aircrew. General Draža Mihailović ordered captain Vučković to build an improvised airstrip from which the pilots could be evacuated. Captain Vučković selecting a field in the village Pranjani. Construction of the airstrip was managed by Captain Nikola Verkić. Captain Vučković has stated:

More than a hundred diggers and as many oxen-drawn carts were used to build. Because of the greater secrecy we worked mostly at night. Of the digging, leveling and cutting trees were are was created blisters on hands. In late March I was sent a report to of General Mihailović that the jobs around the airport completed.

British authorities felt the airstrip was too short. Eleven airmen, including John P. Devlin, wanted to go on foot to the Adriatic Sea. General Mihailovic provided supporting units and they started on 19 April, after a ceremonial send-off in Pranjani. Remaining airmen were unable to walk due to injuries and illness. A few dozen more airmen reached Pranjani in late April 1944. Captain Vučković divided them into two groups for safety. The first group from the Takovo district was guided by sergeant Bora Komračević. He had completed the parachute course in Africa and returned to his homeland 1943. The second group from the Dragačevu district was guided by Mihailo Paunović. He did not speak English, but had attended an Air Force school before the war.

Ground combat

Collection of rescued aviators near Pranjani caused a series of conflicts between the Chetniks and German, Bulgarian and Croatian forces. On 14 March 1944 German forces advanced into the village of Oplanić, near Gružа, looking for the crew of a downed "Liberator". Captain Nikola Petković's 4th battalion of the Gruža brigade opened fire on the German armored vehicles to lure them away from the portion of the village where the aviators were hiding. Three Chetniks were killed and two more were captured during the firefight. After the war Communists destroyed the gravestones of the three fallen Chetniks.

The 1st Dragačevo Brigade of the First Ravna Gora Corps engaged German forces attempting to capture an American aircrew bailing out onto the Čačak - Užice road. Captain Zvonimir Vučković reported deaths of a few Chetnik soldiers in the fight. The fallen Chetniks were buried in a cemetery in the village Dljin.

American pilot William Hill was captured in April 1944 by units from the Croatian Legionnaires "Blue" Division. Chetnik scouts observed Hill in the ruins of the village of Gračac. Hill was rescued from the Croats under German command by Chetniks of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, of the Lika Corps of the Dinara division. Chetniks approached the Croatian post in darkness and released the pilot during the confusion caused by throwing a grenade into the Croatian camp kitchen. A later German patrol failed to find the pilot on Hill Cvetković. Hill dressed in the Serbian national costume and stayed with Chetnik's Dinaric Division until he was transferred to an American base in Italy via "secret channels" in December 1944.

Lt. Col. Todor Gogić, commander of the Morava group Corps sent a radiogram report to General Mihailović on 17 April 1944:

On 15 April about 11 hours due to engine failure by conducted the emergency landing by an American crew on the „B-24 Liberator” of 10 airmen near the village of Drenovac south of Paraćin. We managed to rescued nine crew members from the Germans and Bulgarians, and one airmen is captured. The crew is from the 861st Squadron 460th bomber groups.

The first air evacuation

The twenty-member British SOE military mission led by Brigadier-general Charles D. Armstrong was ready for evacuation by late May 1944. In agreement Bari headquarters, three British-operated Douglas Dakota cargo aircraft landed in Pranjani on 29 May. Forty Allied airmen were evacuated to Bari with members of the British and American military missions. With the evacuation, General Draža Mihailović decided to send a political mission to London led by the President of the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia Živko Topalović. Topalović had been a member of the Labour and Socialist International party before the war. Topalović intended to meet with leaders of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin. He then flew to Italy with Captain George Musulin. After completion of the mission Brigadier-General Armstrong was a guest of Prime Minister Winston Churchill at his Chartwell family estate. Topalović hoped to convince Prime Minister Winston Churchill to revoked consent for the Red Army take over Yugoslavia. Topalović′s mission was a failure, and the British did not allow him to leave southern Italy.

The Democratic Yugoslavia news agency bulletin reports

File:Report Telegraph Agency Democratic Yugoslavia.jpg

The Democratic Yugoslavia news bulletin reports on 9 March 1944.

Reports about the rescued airmen were sent to via the News agencies "Democratic Yugoslavia", which belonged to the High Command of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland of General Draža Mihailović. This agency had an office with a radio station in New York City. The agency news bulletin reports sent from the woods and mountains of Yugoslavia (the territory under the control of armed forces General Mihailović) to New York City. This report was received a Embassy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Washington, D.C. Staff headed by an ambassador Konstantin Fotić these a reports forwarded the U.S. Army, so and the families of airmen, especially their mothers, who were in some cases previously a notified that their children are "missing in action". Reports are almost always contained the names and addresses of the airmen.

Mirjana Vujnovich, a employee of the Yugoslav embassy in Washington, D.C. was had a husband who worked in the OSS. It was a lieutenant George Vujnovich who was then in Brindisi in southern Italy. From his wife received a letter in which it was written „There they are hundreds of... Can you do something for them? It would be graet if are evacuated of ther”. That was the turning point and wich were led to the planning and execution of Operation Halyard.

Operation Halyard

Airlift Pranjani — Bari

At exactly midnight on 2 August 1944 an American plane flew over Pranjani, where the fire burned at before the agreed signal. From the plane at the designated area were jumped the three paratroopers. They were: Captain George Musulin, Lieutenant Michael Rayachich, radio operator Sergeant Arthur Jibilian. Captain Musulin asked General Mihailović that all the rescued airmen be gathered in the area for the forthcoming evacuation. He once again assured that the Chetniks have done everything possible to the airmen to ease the situation, and that are get the best possible medical care. They had armed escorts so none fell into enemy hands. In the meantime, due to possible German attack on Pranjani, General Mihailović was ordered to build one spare airport in Dragačevo.

General Draža Mihailović decided to send a military-political mission to the Western allies during the upcoming evacuation. At the head of the mission there was a president of Independent Democratic Party Adam Pribićević, a second member was a captain Zvonimir Vučković, the third member was Dr. Vladimir Belajčić, who was before the war a head of the sports organization of "Falcon" and president Appeal of Court, and held high position in Masonic organizations and the fourth member of the was Ivan Kovač, a Slovene.

Meanwhile on Sunday, 6 August 1944 The New York Times published an interview of General Draže Mihailović with famous journalist Cyrus Leo Sulzberger.

In the vicinity of Pranjana the Chetniks watchmen they arrested a civilian. One the Chetnik soldier, this civilian seemed suspicious that he the German agent. He was convinced that it was previously seen in Belgrade as he leaves the building which housed the Gestapo command. Then he wore a German officers uniform. For all these reasons, the captain Vučković ordered to person a execute. However, the civilian was at the last moment the showed captain Vučković written permission, which was signed by General Mihailović. This whole case has been reported to General Mihailović, who was ordered to immediately this person implement in his Hoadquartor. That person name was Ivan Popov and was Yugoslav and British spy in the Gestapo course the war. Ivan Popov was the brother of Dušan Popov. Double agent Ivan Popov (codenamed Dreadnought) was evacuated along with the American airmen to Italy. A young American aviators they had no idea that in the plane with them is a former senior officer of the Gestapo. It knew only OSS officers.

To the largest evacuation in Pranjani comes in three hours after midnight on 10 August 1944 and in the morning around 7 pm on the same day. At night they landed four transport aircraft C-47, and another 6 in the morning. These large transport plane are protect 50 U.S. fighter jets (P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning). On land, for the security operation took care Morava group Corps captain Aleksandar Milošević. Throughout the night and morning of 10 August 1944 from Pranjani evacuated 237 airmen.

The operation was then repeated on 12, 15 and 18 August 1944. Then he evacuated another 210 airmen. Captain Musulin flew from Pranjani 29th August 1944. By the same transport aircraft arrived in Pranjani new U.S. OSS military mission Ranger led by Colonel Robert H. McDowell. After 29 August 1944 operation evacuation aviators led the OSS Captain Nick Lalich, who to flew in Pranjani on 10 August.

Evacuation from Koceljeva

On the eve of the invasion the Red Army September 1944. The supreme command of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, along with U.S. military missions Halyard and Ranger, left the Pranjani and transferred to Mačva. In place Koceljeva created a new improvised airport for the evacuation of Allied airmen. The airport has been a long 400 meters and work on the construction lasted from 15 to 17 September 1944. 20 airmen, a Frenchman, a few Italians and two U.S. medical officers evacuated with the U.S. transport plane C-47 on 17 September 1944 from Koceljeva.

Evacuation from Boljanić

The Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland exceeds on 27 September 1944 in eastern Bosnia, where he built a third improvised airport for the evacuation of allied airmen, in a village Boljanić near Doboj. Construction of the airport lasted from 22 October to 1 November 1944. On that day, accompanied by four fighter aircraft landing here two U.S. transport aircraft C-47, accompanied by seven fighter jets, who drove to Bari OSS chief U.S. military mission Ranger Colonel Robert H. McDowell and 15 rescued airmen. With them went OSS captain John Milodragovich and OSS Lieutenant Michael Rajachich.Then the Colonel McDowell called General Mihailović to accompany him to Italy, but he refused, and said:

I prefer to lose my life in his country, than to live as an outcast in a strange. I'll stay with my soldiers and the people to the end, in order to fulfill the duty to the king that he left me. For King and Fatherland - Freedom or Death!

These aviators have jumped from two damaged aircraft in June 1944 in the area Milino Selo, in eastern Bosnia. They were accommodated in the house Luke Panić and several prominent farmer in the village Boljanić, and rescued a kept them the Chetniks Ozren Corps major Cvijetin Todić.

From this airport was evacuated a group of 20 Allied airmen on 27 December 1944. Two C-47s, one piloted by Colonel George Kraigher (he was a pioneer in the development of Pan American World Airways) and the other 1st Lt. John L. Dunn, left Italy at 11,00 hours. Escorted by six-teen P-38, they reached an emergency lending field at Boljanić at 12,55 hours. Spotting a hole in the overcast, Kraigher led the way to land on a 1,700-foot strip that was frozen just enough to support the weight of a C-47. The airmen were met by Capt. Nick Lalich, an OSS officer who had replaced Musulin as head of the Halyard mission in August 1944. The transoprts were quickly loaded with twenty American airmen, one U. S. citizen, two Yugoslavian (Chetnics) officers, four Franch and four Italian army personnel, and two remaining Halyard team members (Captain Nick Lalich and his radio midfielder Arthur Jibilian). Captain Nick Lalich was again invited General Mihailović to accompany them to Italy. But General Mihailović remained consistent in his intention to stay with his soldiers. The aircraft took off at 13,15 hours.

Two U.S. transport aircraft C-47 landed once again in Boljanić in late February 1945 on a very cold winter weather. Then evacuated the last group of 25 U.S. airmen who were rescued by the Chetniks.

The number of rescued airmen

By groups with Chetnik territory under the control of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland of General Mihailović were evacuated 593 Allied airmen, including:

• 11 airmen who are 19 April 1944 went on foot from the village Pranjani to the Adriatic Sea.

• 40 airmen who a British planes evacuated from the Pranjani to Bari 29th May 1944

• 237 airmen evacuated from Pranjani 9 and 10 August 1944

• 210 airmen evacuated from Pranjani 12, 15 and 18 August 1944

• 20 airmen evacuated from Koceljeva 17th September 1944

• 15 airmen evacuated by boats from the Bay of Kotor to Bari in September and October 1944

• 15 airmen evacuated from the village Boljanić 1 November 1944

• 20 airmen evacuated from the village Boljanić 27 December 1944

• 25 airmen evacuated from the village Boljanić end of February 1945

There is a likelihood that a group of rescued airmen evacuated when leaving captain George Musulin from Pranjani to Bari from 29 August 1944. The largest rescue of Allied airmen from behind enemy lines, not only in the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but in general during the Second World War, was that in Pranjani, when 9 to 18 August 1944, 447 airmen evacuated.

Members of the Mission Halyard

• Captain George Musulin (Head of Mission from 2 to 29 August 1944) - Legion of Merit.

• Lieutenant Michael "Mike" Rayachich (member mission from 2 to 29 August then a member of the mission Renger to 1 November 1944) - Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster.

• Radio operator Sergeant Arthur Jibilian (member mission from 2 August to 27 December 1944) - Silver Star

• Captain Nick Lalich (member of a mission of 10 August, the head of the mission from 29 August to 27 December 1944) - Legion of Merit.

• Captain and a doctor Jack Mitrani with two medical assistants (Captain Mitrani headed the medical team mission of Halyard of 10 August to 17 September 1944)

Mission

This operation took place between August and December 1944 from a crudely constructed forest airfield created by Serbian peasants in Pranjani. It is little known today, and largely unknown to most Americans. It is the subject of the 2007 book The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II, by author Gregory A. Freeman. In his book, he describes it as one of the greatest rescue stories ever told. It tells the story of how the airmen were downed in a country they knew nothing about, and how the Serbian villagers were willing to sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of the air crews.

The OSS planned an elaborate rescue involving C-47 cargo planes landing in enemy territory. It was an extremely risky operation, involving the planes not only entering enemy territory without being shot down themselves, but also landing, retrieving the downed airmen, then taking off and flying out of that same territory, again without being shot down themselves. The rescue was a complete success, but received little to no publicity. Part of this was due to the timing, and the world being focused on the D-Day operations in France.

Because of this operation, and due to the efforts of Major Richard Felman, U.S. President Harry S. Truman posthumously awarded General Mihailović the Legion of Merit award for his contribution to the Allied victory during World War II. The award was presented to Mihailović's daughter Gordana Mihajlovic by the U.S. State Department on May 9, 2005.

For the first time in history, this high award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the U.S. State Department so as not to offend the then Communist government of Yugoslavia. Such a display of appreciation for the Chetniks would not have been welcome as the Allies, who had once supported the Chetniks early in World War II, switched sides to Josip Broz Tito's Partisans for the latter part of the war.

On September 12, 2004, five years after the NATO armed conflict against Yugoslavia, four American veterans, Clare Musgrove, Arthur Jibilian, George Vujnovich, and Robert Wilson, visited Pranjani again for the unveiling of a commemorative plaque. A bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by Bob Latta on July 31, 2009, requested that Jibilian be awarded the Medal of Honor for his part in Operation Halyard. On October 17, 2010, George Vujnovich was awarded the Bronze Star in a ceremony in New York City for his role in the operation. Vujnovich trained the volunteers who carried out the rescue, teaching them how to blend in with other Serbians, by mastering mundane tasks conforming to local custom, such as tying and tucking their shoelaces and pushing food onto their forks with their knives during meals.

External links

• Galovića field Airport in Pranjani at Panoramio
• Rescue Behind Enemy Lines by Kevin Morrow, World War II Magazine, March 20, 2008
• U.S. Marines at the Halyard Mission memorial at USMC by Army Sgt. Sean Mathis, Headquarters Marine Corps, February 9, 2009
• Trying to right a wrong WWII airmen honored for role in rescue operation by Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 31, 2009
• Canton man a big part of greatest untold story of WWII by Jay Turner Citizen Staff (Canton Citizen), November 11, 2010
• The Great Escape by Phil Scott; Air & Space Magazine, January 01, 2011
• Great Rescues of WORLD WAR II by Thomas J. Craughwell
• Bronze Star Awarded to Unsung WWII Hero CBS NEWS, October 17, 2010
• Halyard Mission - Interviews with US airmen
• [5][6] A Luftwaffe gun camera records an attack on a B-17 and B-24.
• [7][8] The original film from WW2 where the see of Chetniks Timok Corps under the command of Major Ljuba Jovanović. This units was rescued 25 American airmen in June and July 1944, in Eastern Serbia. The pilots were then evacuated to Italy.

References

• Karchmar, Lucien. Draža Mihailović and the Rise of the Četnik Movement, 1941-1942. New York: Garland Pub., 1987.
• Lees, Michael. The Rape of Serbia: The British Role in Tito's Grab for Power, 1943-1944. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991.
• Martin, David. Ally Betrayed: The Uncensored Story of Tito and Mihailović. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1946.
• Martin, David. Patriot or Traitor: The Case of General Mihailović: Proceedings and Report of the Commission of Inquiry of the Committee for a Fair Trial for Draja Mihailović. Hoover Archival Documentaries. Hoover Institution Publication, volume 191. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1978.
• Martin, David. The Web of Disinformation: Churchill’s Yugoslav Blunder. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
• Roberts, Walter R. Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973.
• Trew, Simon. Britain, Mihailović, and the Chetniks, 1941–42. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s Press in association with King’s College, London, 1998.
• U.S. Embassy Press Release
• Freeman, Gregory A. "The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II" NAL Hardcover 2007, ISBN 0-451-22212-1
• Gregory A. Freeman