Operation Tombola Roy Farran

after return, farran took brief journey greece locate greek civilians had helped him escape prisoner of war camp in 1941; successful in doing so, , witnessed beginnings of greek civil war german forces retreated country. in middle of december, farran dispatched italy 3 squadron, 2 sas. squadron had been formed , composed of volunteers british 1st , 6th airborne divisions; farran believed well-trained , highly disciplined. squadron came under command of general mark clark s 15th army group, , between december , february 1945 conducted several small-scale operations in la spezia , brenner pass. these operations small in scale, however, , farran began devise plan deploying larger formation; deployed behind german lines, still close enough 15th army group aid allied ground forces in own operations. focused planning on 3 departments of emilia romagna: parma, reggio emilia , modena; italian partisan brigades operated in each department, controlled headquarters or comando unico , supported allied liaison officer supervised supply drops , tried persuade them fight german forces in area. department liaison officer ready accept arrival of sas forces reggio emilia, suited farran s plan forward-most point of 15th army group 12 miles (19 km) department.

farran wanted command operation, known tombola, himself, forbidden staff officers @ 15th army group s headquarters; did, however, manage permission accompany transport aircraft sas troopers used parachute area. when operation began on 4 march, farran accidentally fell out of aircraft watching parachute drop, although fortunate enough have parachute on @ time , personal kit him. of troopers landed safely, (although 1 officer dislocated shoulder on landing , had left in care of several italian civilians,) , met soe liaison officer, michael lees. lees took farran , men meet commander of local comando unico, formed of 4 brigades – 3 communist , 1 christian democrat. when arrived, farran proposed unico new battalion known battaglione alleato created, core sas company; fleshed out company of right-wing partisans , of russian deserters wehrmacht. although agreed to, farran not enamoured state of partisans when first inspected them, stating of them had physical defect. improve fitness , training, farran arranged several instructors , italian interpreter parachuted in, large quantity of supplies. within few days sas company, strength of 40 men, had arrived form core of battalion, 1 officer , 4 men attached each of other companies in supervisory capacity.

villa rossi & villa calvi

the battalion s first target, proposed both farran , lees, headquarters of german 51 mountain corps (li gebirgs korps) of general valentin feurstein , leaded general friedrich-wilhelm hauck, stationed in area of albinea, 20 miles landed. army group headquarters agreed proposal , supplied aerial photography of headquarters. @ same time, discovered local german forces beginning anti-partisan drive mountains battalion stationed. despite however, farran decided continue attack, , en route headquarters battalion when contacted army group headquarters, withdrew permission attack take place. farran took decision ignore injunction , continue on towards target, on grounds might lose credibility partisans if first operation cancelled. farran had conducted personal reconnaissance of headquarters on 23 march, , battalion arrived in 3 columns @ farm 10 miles (16 km) target on 26 march. there rested until nightfall, , @ 02:00 on 27 march attack on headquarters began.

the headquarters consisted of number of buildings centered around 2 villas: villa rossi, inhabited corps commander himself, , villa calvi, occupied chief of staff. entire garrison consisted of around 300 german soldiers. assault see british sas company , number of italians force way 2 villas, while russian company place between villas , other buildings, preventing rest of garrison intervening. partisans able approach villas without being spotted, quietly eliminating several sentries in process. however, plan use bazooka gain entry villa trashed when misfired. able reach interior of villa force, fierce german resistance meant unable move upstairs , kill chief of staff; therefore used explosives, petrol , looted furniture set villa on fire, ensuring remaining germans stayed inside bursts of machine gun fire. although effective, conflagration meant germans in villa rossi alerted attack before group of partisans attacking villa begin assault; in other villa, occupants put stiff resistance , stymied attempts partisans reach top floor. number of germans killed in firefight, however, , there possibility 1 of these corps commander. under heavy fire, partisans retreated after setting fire villa s kitchen.

the rest of german garrison reacted swiftly attack, , brought russian screen force under machine-gun fire. on farran s signal of red light, entire force retreated area, carrying had been wounded. after day marching through mountains, obscured german search parties mist , rain, battalion arrived in partisan-controlled village. efforts, battalion had 3 british soldiers killed, 8 british , italians wounded; included lees, suffered injuries crippled him permanently – taken light aircraft hospital in florence. 6 russians covering force captured, , thompson states executed on spot . (it has been discovered 6 russian missing, safe @ resistance headquarters days later). 60 germans had been killed partisans, including chief of staff. in aftermath of raid, local german forces undertook drive mountains goal of eliminating partisans. between 28 march , 12 april, aided sas , using heavy weapons, included 75-mm pack howitzer , 3-inch mortars, partisans openly fought germans. battalion attacked 3 times in prepared positions, each time repelling attacks , inflicting heavy german casualties; in 1 attack on 10 april, partisans counted 51 german bodies. after heavy fighting , suffering several local reverses, russian company conducted counter-attack forced germans retreat , end drive.

aftermath

at beginning of april, farran informed united states fifth army planning launch offensive in area in , partisans operating. army s axis of advance lead through modena, farran took decision, approval of army group headquarters, move battalion modena , support local partisans operating there. equipped jeeps, battalion launch attacks on route 12, primary florence-modena route, intention of harassing german troops using it. on 5 april farran received word offensive beginning, , led battalion new area of operations. when arrived, discovered terrain lacked cover partisans; road ran along open valley, force jeeps drive right convoys before opening fire. farran therefore decided target german troops on , around road 75-mm howitzer, , send in jeeps after had been bombarded. initial attack on village of sassuolo, near modena, extremely successful, , partisans launched number of similar raids against route 12.

after series of raids, on 20 april, farran informed fifth army had broken through german lines, , took decision have battalion assault city of reggio emilia, straddled route 12. howitzer used bombard main square of town, , farran later discovered local german , italian fascist garrison believed attack coming vanguard of american armoured division; result, town abandoned 2 hours after shelling had begun. on 22 april, discovered american troops had penetrated near city of bologna, causing german forces retreat down route 12. positioning partisan battalion near sassuolo bridge, farran used howitzer, mortars , machine gun open fire on traffic using bridge, destroying number of vehicles. attack attracted attention of flight of supermarine spitfires, strafed area , inflicted more casualties. after fighting day, farran withdrew battalion area, , after harassing more german transport columns further day, moved battalion modena mop remaining resistance. afterwards, orders came operation cease , british troops travel florence. during time operating, battalion had killed estimated 300 german soldiers , destroyed twenty vehicles, taking 158 prisoners of war, , had suffered 24 casualties in return.

when returned florence , reported army group headquarters, farran informed of reason why headquarters had wanted delay raid on corps headquarters; major attack 15th army group against corps had been scheduled take place 10 days after raid, , feared farran s assault on headquarters alert germans attack. attack had been cancelled, , result of farran believed court-martialled disobeying orders. did not occur, however, , in fact awarded american legion of merit actions during tombola.