Posted on Aug 26, 2017
George Vojnovich - Halyard Mission WWII
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Operation Halyard: An Airlift Operation that Saved 417 Allied Airmen In The Balkans
Nikola Budanovic
During WWII, the situation in the former country known as Yugoslavia was, to say the least, complicated. On the one hand, there was a partisan communist resistance movement. On the other, a royalist army that declared itself the legitimate successor of the former army Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The communist movement grew significantly during the war, and the royalists were losing ground and international support. In 1943, the British shifted their support to the partisan movement. They considered the communists had a better structure and a developed chain of command which offered more chance of winning the war. The royalists were left stranded.
The supreme leader of the royalist faction, popularly called the Chetniks, was Dragoslav Mihailovic. He was an anti-Hitler Serbian nationalist who considered a communist revolution was as equally, or even more dangerous than a Nazi occupation. It led to constant clashes between the two factions.
By 1944 hundreds of Allied airmen had been shot down somewhere over Yugoslav territory. A consensus was reached between the two sides. They would work together to find, hide and eventually evacuate the airmen back to the Allies.
Operation Halyard had been conceived. The Chetniks retrieved some pilots and placed them in safe houses in central Serbia. An airlift campaign was organized by the Americans to transport the pilots to Italy, which was at that time controlled by the Allies.
The area was strategically significant as it was an important route to the oilfields at Ploesti, Romania, where some of the main oil refineries of the Reich were located. Between October 1943 and October 1944, the 15th Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces conducted over 20,000 bombing missions on targets in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia.
During those flight missions, an estimated 50% of the aircraft involved were shot down by enemy AA defenses. While some pilots died in the crashes or were captured by Axis forces, hundreds of them managed to find shelter among the partisans or the Serbian peasants who were under Chetnik protection.
There already was cooperation between the Allies and Tito, the leader of the communist resistance, who were actively retrieving the fallen airmen. Such cooperation had yet to be established with the Chetniks.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a US wartime intelligence agency, was trying to reach an agreement with the British. The OSS considered the cooperation of the Chetniks to be vital for retrieving the airmen. Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister, was wary of Mihailovic’s plans. He believed the Serbian nationalist was giving more effort to fighting the communist resistance than he was against the Germans.
Finally, an agreement was struck. OSS agents of Serbian descent were sent behind enemy lines, to the mountainous regions of central Serbia. They were to help assemble and organize the pilots so they could be evacuated.
The liaison officer for the operation was Lieutenant George Musulin. As well as rescuing the airmen, he was to gather intelligence on Chetnik-Partisan relations. Verification of the alleged cooperation between the Chetniks and the Germans against the Communist resistance was also sought.
It was concluded Mihailovic could be trusted for the operation and his ground forces were given clearance to provide protection to the evacuation team. His headquarters at the time was at the village of Pranjani where an airstrip was built with the help of several hundred peasants and as many oxen.
Resources were scarce, and Allied financial aid was supplied to the Chetnik safe houses for food and medication. They were instructed to build a reserve airstrip near the town of Dragacevo.
All was secured once Musulin landed in Pranjani in August 1944. In the meantime, the airmen that had been scattered in Chetnik outposts were gathering in Pranjani. They were commanded by Captain Leo C. Brooks, a capable officer who had bailed out from his plane above Serbia a month before the arrival of Lt. Musulin.
On August 10, the operation began. Between ten and fourteen C-47 “Skytrain” transport airplanes were involved in the process, together with an escort of 50 P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning planes. The Germans had a lot less air power and relied heavily on their anti-aircraft batteries which were frequently raided or sabotaged by the partisans.
Over the next eight days, 210 Allied airmen were successfully evacuated to Italy, the majority of them American. After the first part of the operation, Lt. Musulin was replaced by another officer of Serbian descent, Captain Nick Lalich, who organized the evacuation of another 207 airmen.
The second part of the operation, codenamed Ranger, took place in September, on the eve of the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia. German forces were looking for the airmen too. The Chetnik HQ retreated from Pranjani northwest to the village of Koceljeva, in the province of Macva.
As the Red Army was progressing through Serbia, with the help of the partisan resistance, Mihailovic and his already shattered army were retreating with haste, establishing a temporary headquarters, in October 1944 in Boljanic in eastern Bosnia.
During that time, other people apart from the airmen flew to Allied-controlled zone. They included a double agent who worked for the Gestapo, Ivan Popov, codenamed Dreadnought.
The operation ended on December 27 when the last of the Allied personnel left Serbia.
As the Allied landings in Normandy took place around the same time, along with the French campaign, the rescue went largely unnoticed by the public.
Yugoslav territories came under the rule of Marshall Tito, President of the newly formed socialist state. One of the largest airlift operations of the war went unreported in the media due to political reasons.
Dragoslav Mihailovic was put on trial and executed for war crimes against partisans, their sympathizers, and the non-Serb population. However, due to his actions towards helping the Allies, the leader of the Chetniks was posthumously awarded the US Legion of Merit by President Harry Truman. The award remained confidential until 2005.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/operation-halyard-large-airlift-operation-saved-417-allied-airmen-balkans.html
http://www.historynet.com/rescue-behind-enemy-lines.htm
http://www.teslasociety.com/arthur_photos.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Halyard
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/q8cd3ZiqP8s
https://youtu.be/1uCYuMs_Hzk
https://youtu.be/SfKiua9s52g
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ ltc bill LTC Bill Koski @ maj william Maj William W. "Bill" Price @ maj stephen LTC (Join to see) @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ sfc joe SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL @ sfc mary SFC (Join to see) @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey
Nikola Budanovic
During WWII, the situation in the former country known as Yugoslavia was, to say the least, complicated. On the one hand, there was a partisan communist resistance movement. On the other, a royalist army that declared itself the legitimate successor of the former army Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The communist movement grew significantly during the war, and the royalists were losing ground and international support. In 1943, the British shifted their support to the partisan movement. They considered the communists had a better structure and a developed chain of command which offered more chance of winning the war. The royalists were left stranded.
The supreme leader of the royalist faction, popularly called the Chetniks, was Dragoslav Mihailovic. He was an anti-Hitler Serbian nationalist who considered a communist revolution was as equally, or even more dangerous than a Nazi occupation. It led to constant clashes between the two factions.
By 1944 hundreds of Allied airmen had been shot down somewhere over Yugoslav territory. A consensus was reached between the two sides. They would work together to find, hide and eventually evacuate the airmen back to the Allies.
Operation Halyard had been conceived. The Chetniks retrieved some pilots and placed them in safe houses in central Serbia. An airlift campaign was organized by the Americans to transport the pilots to Italy, which was at that time controlled by the Allies.
The area was strategically significant as it was an important route to the oilfields at Ploesti, Romania, where some of the main oil refineries of the Reich were located. Between October 1943 and October 1944, the 15th Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces conducted over 20,000 bombing missions on targets in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia.
During those flight missions, an estimated 50% of the aircraft involved were shot down by enemy AA defenses. While some pilots died in the crashes or were captured by Axis forces, hundreds of them managed to find shelter among the partisans or the Serbian peasants who were under Chetnik protection.
There already was cooperation between the Allies and Tito, the leader of the communist resistance, who were actively retrieving the fallen airmen. Such cooperation had yet to be established with the Chetniks.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a US wartime intelligence agency, was trying to reach an agreement with the British. The OSS considered the cooperation of the Chetniks to be vital for retrieving the airmen. Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister, was wary of Mihailovic’s plans. He believed the Serbian nationalist was giving more effort to fighting the communist resistance than he was against the Germans.
Finally, an agreement was struck. OSS agents of Serbian descent were sent behind enemy lines, to the mountainous regions of central Serbia. They were to help assemble and organize the pilots so they could be evacuated.
The liaison officer for the operation was Lieutenant George Musulin. As well as rescuing the airmen, he was to gather intelligence on Chetnik-Partisan relations. Verification of the alleged cooperation between the Chetniks and the Germans against the Communist resistance was also sought.
It was concluded Mihailovic could be trusted for the operation and his ground forces were given clearance to provide protection to the evacuation team. His headquarters at the time was at the village of Pranjani where an airstrip was built with the help of several hundred peasants and as many oxen.
Resources were scarce, and Allied financial aid was supplied to the Chetnik safe houses for food and medication. They were instructed to build a reserve airstrip near the town of Dragacevo.
All was secured once Musulin landed in Pranjani in August 1944. In the meantime, the airmen that had been scattered in Chetnik outposts were gathering in Pranjani. They were commanded by Captain Leo C. Brooks, a capable officer who had bailed out from his plane above Serbia a month before the arrival of Lt. Musulin.
On August 10, the operation began. Between ten and fourteen C-47 “Skytrain” transport airplanes were involved in the process, together with an escort of 50 P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning planes. The Germans had a lot less air power and relied heavily on their anti-aircraft batteries which were frequently raided or sabotaged by the partisans.
Over the next eight days, 210 Allied airmen were successfully evacuated to Italy, the majority of them American. After the first part of the operation, Lt. Musulin was replaced by another officer of Serbian descent, Captain Nick Lalich, who organized the evacuation of another 207 airmen.
The second part of the operation, codenamed Ranger, took place in September, on the eve of the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia. German forces were looking for the airmen too. The Chetnik HQ retreated from Pranjani northwest to the village of Koceljeva, in the province of Macva.
As the Red Army was progressing through Serbia, with the help of the partisan resistance, Mihailovic and his already shattered army were retreating with haste, establishing a temporary headquarters, in October 1944 in Boljanic in eastern Bosnia.
During that time, other people apart from the airmen flew to Allied-controlled zone. They included a double agent who worked for the Gestapo, Ivan Popov, codenamed Dreadnought.
The operation ended on December 27 when the last of the Allied personnel left Serbia.
As the Allied landings in Normandy took place around the same time, along with the French campaign, the rescue went largely unnoticed by the public.
Yugoslav territories came under the rule of Marshall Tito, President of the newly formed socialist state. One of the largest airlift operations of the war went unreported in the media due to political reasons.
Dragoslav Mihailovic was put on trial and executed for war crimes against partisans, their sympathizers, and the non-Serb population. However, due to his actions towards helping the Allies, the leader of the Chetniks was posthumously awarded the US Legion of Merit by President Harry Truman. The award remained confidential until 2005.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/operation-halyard-large-airlift-operation-saved-417-allied-airmen-balkans.html
http://www.historynet.com/rescue-behind-enemy-lines.htm
http://www.teslasociety.com/arthur_photos.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Halyard
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/q8cd3ZiqP8s
https://youtu.be/1uCYuMs_Hzk
https://youtu.be/SfKiua9s52g
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ ltc bill LTC Bill Koski @ maj william Maj William W. "Bill" Price @ maj stephen LTC (Join to see) @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ sfc joe SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL @ sfc mary SFC (Join to see) @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey
WWII World War Two
Military History
Mission
World History
Serbia
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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Thanks for informing us about Operation Halyard and sharing the video and background SGT John " Mac " McConnell. Helicopters were possible at the end of WWII but it wasn't until the interwar years that helicopters became viable.
Since the Korean war we have become accustomed to helicopters picking up stranded air crews behind enemy lines.
In WWII, resources were scarce and dire needs existed in each theater. Thanks to the partisans in the rugged territory of Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia, allied pilots who survived their aircraft being shot down were generally shielded from the Germans and their allies.
It took courage and daring as well as immense coordination to safely bring the downed pilots to remote airstrips suitable for landing Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft.
1. Begin the operation on August 10, with between ten and fourteen C-47 “Skytrain” transport airplanes being escortedf 50 P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning planes. The Germans had a lot less air power and relied heavily on their anti-aircraft batteries which were frequently raided or sabotaged by the partisans.
2. Over the next eight days, 210 Allied airmen were successfully evacuated to Italy, the majority of them American. After the first part of the operation, Lt. Musulin was replaced by another officer of Serbian descent, Captain Nick Lalich, who organized the evacuation of another 207 airmen.
3. The second part of the operation, codenamed Ranger, took place in September, on the eve of the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia. German forces were looking for the airmen too. The Chetnik HQ retreated from Pranjani northwest to the village of Koceljeva, in the province of Macva.(4) American planes waiting for American airmen to transport to Italy in Kochevo, Serbia. Two of this airplanes are damaged during landing because of a short landing stripe
Images: American airmen together with Serbs, last day in Yugoslavia before departing to Bari, Italy. Jibilian is the second from the left standing. Captain Lalich is located in the middle of the first row (behind the machine gun). OSS agent Nick Lalich (center) with some of the last fliers to be taken out in Operation Halyard, on December 27, 1944. (2) Americans with a nurse changing locations to hide from Germans. On the far right is a American with binoculars looking for enemy troops.; (3) Commander Musilin is located third from the left standing. Captain Lalich is standing on the far right of this photo. Jibilian is located in the middle of the first row.
Background:
"Initially Josip Broz Tito attempted to garner support from these groups in order to enlarge the resistance force to the Nazi. On September 19, 1941 Tito met with Draza Mihailovic, the commander in chief of Chetniks, to discuss active fight against the Nazis but Mihalovic turned the offer down, but accepted the suggestion not to attack Tito’s partisan forces. Again in October 26th another meeting took place with Tito offering twelve points proposal to Mihalovic which ended with the same conclusion as the previous meeting of promise not to attack partisan forces. That turned out to be untrue on November 2nd as the Chetnik forces attacked partisan formations in Uzice, which was successfully repelled. With the establishment of Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia in June 27th 1941, Tito was elected as marshal or the supreme commanders of the armed forces of Yugoslav National Liberation Army, and on November 29th and 30th he reached a decision on future establishment of federative nation of equal peoples of equal nationality of Yugoslavs. Thus Tito declared on December 4, 1943 a provisional democratic Yugoslav government, despite the current occupation of Nazis. With establishment of the new federation of Yugoslavia Tito was able to seek a formidable support from the Allies during the WWII, with a enormous success through military support and supplies. In his meeting with Winston Churchill in August 12-13, 1944 Tito firmly fought for the international recognition of the newly established Yugoslavia which was later officially recognized after the war. On October 23, 1944 Tito arrived with his forces to the freed capital of Belgrade(Serbia) and a year later establishes on November 29, 1945 The Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia with WWII and German occupation officially ending on May 15, 1945 in Yugoslav territories."
https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/HIS135/Events/Tito80/Tito80.html
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Margaret Higgins SSG William Wall MSgt Jason McClish AN Christopher Crayne LTC Bill Koski Sgt Trevor Barrett SPC Tom DeSmet SGT Charles H. Hawes LTC Wayne Brandon SGT (Join to see)
Since the Korean war we have become accustomed to helicopters picking up stranded air crews behind enemy lines.
In WWII, resources were scarce and dire needs existed in each theater. Thanks to the partisans in the rugged territory of Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia, allied pilots who survived their aircraft being shot down were generally shielded from the Germans and their allies.
It took courage and daring as well as immense coordination to safely bring the downed pilots to remote airstrips suitable for landing Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft.
1. Begin the operation on August 10, with between ten and fourteen C-47 “Skytrain” transport airplanes being escortedf 50 P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning planes. The Germans had a lot less air power and relied heavily on their anti-aircraft batteries which were frequently raided or sabotaged by the partisans.
2. Over the next eight days, 210 Allied airmen were successfully evacuated to Italy, the majority of them American. After the first part of the operation, Lt. Musulin was replaced by another officer of Serbian descent, Captain Nick Lalich, who organized the evacuation of another 207 airmen.
3. The second part of the operation, codenamed Ranger, took place in September, on the eve of the Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia. German forces were looking for the airmen too. The Chetnik HQ retreated from Pranjani northwest to the village of Koceljeva, in the province of Macva.(4) American planes waiting for American airmen to transport to Italy in Kochevo, Serbia. Two of this airplanes are damaged during landing because of a short landing stripe
Images: American airmen together with Serbs, last day in Yugoslavia before departing to Bari, Italy. Jibilian is the second from the left standing. Captain Lalich is located in the middle of the first row (behind the machine gun). OSS agent Nick Lalich (center) with some of the last fliers to be taken out in Operation Halyard, on December 27, 1944. (2) Americans with a nurse changing locations to hide from Germans. On the far right is a American with binoculars looking for enemy troops.; (3) Commander Musilin is located third from the left standing. Captain Lalich is standing on the far right of this photo. Jibilian is located in the middle of the first row.
Background:
"Initially Josip Broz Tito attempted to garner support from these groups in order to enlarge the resistance force to the Nazi. On September 19, 1941 Tito met with Draza Mihailovic, the commander in chief of Chetniks, to discuss active fight against the Nazis but Mihalovic turned the offer down, but accepted the suggestion not to attack Tito’s partisan forces. Again in October 26th another meeting took place with Tito offering twelve points proposal to Mihalovic which ended with the same conclusion as the previous meeting of promise not to attack partisan forces. That turned out to be untrue on November 2nd as the Chetnik forces attacked partisan formations in Uzice, which was successfully repelled. With the establishment of Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia in June 27th 1941, Tito was elected as marshal or the supreme commanders of the armed forces of Yugoslav National Liberation Army, and on November 29th and 30th he reached a decision on future establishment of federative nation of equal peoples of equal nationality of Yugoslavs. Thus Tito declared on December 4, 1943 a provisional democratic Yugoslav government, despite the current occupation of Nazis. With establishment of the new federation of Yugoslavia Tito was able to seek a formidable support from the Allies during the WWII, with a enormous success through military support and supplies. In his meeting with Winston Churchill in August 12-13, 1944 Tito firmly fought for the international recognition of the newly established Yugoslavia which was later officially recognized after the war. On October 23, 1944 Tito arrived with his forces to the freed capital of Belgrade(Serbia) and a year later establishes on November 29, 1945 The Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia with WWII and German occupation officially ending on May 15, 1945 in Yugoslav territories."
https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/HIS135/Events/Tito80/Tito80.html
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Margaret Higgins SSG William Wall MSgt Jason McClish AN Christopher Crayne LTC Bill Koski Sgt Trevor Barrett SPC Tom DeSmet SGT Charles H. Hawes LTC Wayne Brandon SGT (Join to see)
Josip Broz Tito was an enigmatic figure of personal and social character who captured the political and social respect on a global basis through his revolutionary contributions during his lifetime to the country of Yugoslavia and the world. He was born to a multi-ethnic peasant family in the village of Kumrovac on May 7th, 1892 in province of Zagorje in Croatia, which at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. By nationality his...
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
LTC Stephen F. awesome response my friend. Of the most astute and informational with purpose and meaning my friend! I always learn something new with your powerful reads/shares. Well said and profoundly conveyed!
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
Thanks for the addition to the mission LTC Stephen F. . Have a great day my friend.
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Excellent history lesson! SGT John " Mac " McConnell . I find this corner of the world intriguing, where one can find a blond haired, blued, slavic, muslim. Religions meet, some folks get along, some don't. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire was really no different than the expansion of Catholicism via Romance Empire, Crusades or Spanish colonialism. Pockets of the various religions remain in isolated areas, remarkably still. Examples are Copic Christians, Jewish communities in Muslim states, Muslim communities in Israel, etc.
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