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Episode #3- Most Daring Rescue of WWII
153 Plays3 years ago
In today's episode we look at the daring rescue operation codenamed, Halyard, in which over 500 downed airmen are airlifted out of Yugoslavia from 1943-1944. We will also take a look at our funny history story of the day in which we see the worst possible outcome of a food fight in World War II.
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Transcript
Exploring a Suppressed WWII Rescue Mission
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of Hooked On History. In today's episode, we're going to take a look at one of the most daring rescue missions of World War II, whose account was suppressed for more than half a century after the war for political reasons. As always, our funny story of the history reveals the worst possible outcome of a food fight. Now let's dive into our story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery, filled with ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Perilous Situations for WWII Airmen
00:00:32
Speaker
Imagine you're part of a bomber crew tasked with the mission of taking out oil refineries used by Nazi Germany in World War II. The mission is going to plan. The pilot of your plane has successfully guided your crew to the refinery, the bombardier has hit the target, and the plane is now headed back to base. It seems like you're going to make it until, in a split second, your world turns upside down.
00:00:54
Speaker
Hit by enemy fire, your plane is going down and the order to jump rings out. You make your way to the door with your shoot ready and leap into the vast openness. And as you fall, you feel the sudden jerk that tells you your shoot has opened. You quickly take assessment of your bearings in the countryside below. You have an idea of what country you're about to land in, but you don't know what awaits you on the ground.
00:01:17
Speaker
This is the reality that many airmen had to face every time they went out on a mission. For the airmen that attacked the oil refineries in Romania from 1943 to 1944, the odds of returning were very slim. The Germans had heavily fortified the complexes and even if a plane made it out of that maelstrom, the rugged mountainscape that faced them on the return home visit proved daunting for many wounded planes. Many airmen were shot down or forced to jump from their planes over Yugoslavia.
00:01:44
Speaker
What awaited them on the ground was one of three fates. Fate one was being picked up by the Germans and taken as a prisoner of war. Fate two was being picked up by partisan fighters under communist Joseph Tito. And fate three was being picked up by partisan fighters under former Yugoslavian general, Draza Mhelovic.
00:02:02
Speaker
Early years of the war, the thought amongst the top brass of the Allies was that Mihhelevich was a trusted ally and had their full support. Airmen were told to seek out his men if they ever had to bail out over the country. But as the war progressed and Communist agents infiltrated more and more of the army and governments of the Allies, support for Mihhelevich dwindled and instead was given to his rival, Tito.
Political Dynamics and Their Impact
00:02:25
Speaker
The Allied High Command liked that Tito was all action. In reality, both men sought out ways to sabotage the Germans. Tito, however, did not care what the retribution might be on the Yugoslavic people, whereas Mihailovic cared about his fellow countrymen and did not want the citizens to suffer. He insisted instead to use delayed sabotage, such as maybe disguising a bomb as a lump of coal and slipping into the coal-carved train, where it would be shoveled into the fire compartment of the locomotive
00:02:54
Speaker
on down the line and detonate. The allies were tricked into believing that Mihhelevich was someone not to be trusted and so stopped sending him resources to him. They even went as far as to tell their airmen that in case of being shot down over the country, seek out Tito's men because Mihhelevich and his men would turn them over to the Germans. Some outlandish claims were even made that Mihhelevich's men would cut their ears off first before turning them over.
00:03:19
Speaker
All of this was in the minds of airmen as they parachuted from Dune Plains into the countryside below. From all over Mihhelevich territory, down airmen began to trickle in in small groups to a small village of Prynyanen. It was there that Mihhelevich had set up his base of operations. Over the course of several months from 1943 to 1944, hundreds of airmen gathered in Prynyanen waiting for rescue. They spent their days idly in the village, offering a helping hand to local farmers in their fields.
00:03:46
Speaker
They worried about being spotted by Germans every day, ready to jump into a haystack or into the woods to mention the Germans. Thanks to the rugged mountainous location and the nearly 10,000 Mihailovic soldiers, the Germans rarely made an appearance. Some of the down airmen even tried to join the fight with the Chechnik fighters. The risk was great, but the thought of sitting idly by and not doing something to stop the Germans from terrorizing the locals was too much to stand.
00:04:12
Speaker
Some were able to go out with the sabotage parties and help exact some action against the Germans. Days, weeks, and months went by as the hopes of the airmen to be rescued dwindled each day. Mihhelevich sent a steady stream of messages by short radio to the allies about the downed airmen. The British replied back that an officer would be sent to coordinate the evacuation, but none was sent. Mihhelevich reached out to the American War Department through the Yugoslavian ambassador in DC.
00:04:41
Speaker
The information was dutifully received and recorded, but nothing else was done. With the war department making no effort to rescue them, the fate of the airmen fell to the hands of the wife of an OSS control agent in Bari, Italy.
Uncovering the Rescue Mission
00:04:56
Speaker
Mariana Wushnevik was a Yugoslav national who married the all-American son of immigrants, George Wushnevik. Both were in Yugoslavia when the Germans invaded.
00:05:06
Speaker
Through a very harrowing escape in which at times it looked like they might be separated, both were able to make it out. Being a Yugoslav national, Mayant was able to secure a job in the Yugoslav embassy in Washington, DC. Through her position, the information about the downed airman came to her attention. Her husband worked as a control agent in the OSS. She wrote him a letter and included this information in it.
00:05:30
Speaker
She didn't expect him to reveal anything about what was being done to rescue the airman, but she wanted to make sure that something was being done. George received this letter and was troubled by the included information. He looked into the matter and discovered that no one had been informed of any group as large as the hunted airman his wife had referenced. If the information proved true, this would have been a surprise. This would have been surprising to him, but not shocking.
00:05:54
Speaker
It was possible for that many airmen to be in Milvik's territory without George knowing. Countless times, the military bureaucrats, politics, or communist moles in the OSS had gotten in the way of his agents. George felt a connection to these down airmen knowing that feeling of wanting to get out and go home. He and his wife had faced a similar situation when they tried to leave the country at the start of the German occupation.
00:06:17
Speaker
George started looking into rescue options but realized any attempt would be a challenge on many fronts. For starters, all of the political maneuvering over the Balkans became more complicated as the days went by.
00:06:28
Speaker
The tangled mess of alliances, pseudo alliances, outright opposition, and competing loyalties caused the relationship between the Allies and Mihailovic to take a dramatic turn for the worse. This was the primary reason for the inactivity by the OSS in regards to these messages. The British had labeled Mihailovic as a person non grata, someone who's not to be trusted and should receive no support that might give him an advantage over his internal rival Tito, and the Americans went along with that position.
00:06:55
Speaker
This meant that by the time George could get a rescue plan in place, the political posturing and propaganda spewed by many parties with different agendas would be as much of a challenge as the Germans in Yugoslavia. The first hurdle to get over was getting approval for a rescue mission from very high up. Wushnevig worked with other OSS leaders in Bari and the commanding general of the 15th Air Force to draft up a plan to present.
00:07:20
Speaker
All sides were in agreement that they wanted to go ahead with the rescue mission, but response was the same every time the request came across another bureaucrats desk. We'd love to rescue these men, but how can we do that now that we have written off Milvik as a Nazi collaborator? How can we trust that he truly does have a hundred airmen waiting and is not tricking us, they would say. George and the group kept pushing and pushing. The British and Russians were vehemently opposed to any rescue mission going into Milvik's territory.
00:07:50
Speaker
On July 4th, 1944, the creator of the OSS, William Donovan wrote to President Roosevelt a letter asking for permission to send in a team of agents to conduct the rescue.
00:08:02
Speaker
He made sure to acknowledge the delicate dance that had to take place between the British and Americans, but stressed the importance of gathering more intelligence from the region with the front of the war changing. This, plus a more direct in-person meeting between the two, led the president to agree with Donovan. An order was issued creating the Air Crew Rescue Unit, or ACRU, and that the 15th Air Force was to provide any air resources this newly formed unit needed.
00:08:27
Speaker
The order also gave the OSS complete control of the unit and that missions would be conducted from Bari. In command of the unit was an old friend of George from the Pan American Company.
00:08:39
Speaker
With the political obstacle removed, the next big obstacle to tackle was the actual rescue mission itself.
Executing the Secret Evacuation
00:08:44
Speaker
Previous rescue tips had been successful but included joint efforts by the British and Americans and were usually in the quest of getting down airmen to safe extraction points by the Yugoslavian Underground Railroad before pulling them out. These previous missions had only been to rescue a few dozen airmen. The task in front of George was daunting.
00:09:03
Speaker
The amount of men they needed to rescue was too many for any attempt to bring out a few at a time in small planes, and they could not sneak them past the Germans to the border for potential crossing. This left only one option. They had to pick them up from Prenniana.
00:09:18
Speaker
For this mission to work, a number of problems had to be solved. First, the number of men needing rescue was daunting. A hundred men needed to be airlifted out, meant repeat trips in and out without being caught by the Germans. The second problem was needing a place to land in Prenniana. There was no naturally flat spot in the region, and so those on the ground had to build an airstrip with whatever tools they could get their hands on and without the Germans noticing from their reconnaissance flights in the air.
00:09:45
Speaker
The third problem was that secrecy was paramount, which meant that only a handful of planes could go in at a time without fire protection. The fourth problem was the pilots could have to make the landings on the rough little airstrip built under the cover of pitch black darkness. This was a daunting task even for the most experienced pilots. Any part of this plan going wrong meant certain capture of the airmen by the Germans and harsh repercussions for the villagers.
00:10:14
Speaker
Step one of the plan was to get a team on the ground to start coordinating the Herculean task at hand. For this team, George picked George Muslin to lead. Muslin had already been in Yugoslavia before with Mihailovik's gathering intel for the OSS, before being recalled back to Bari when the position of the allies on Mihailovik had turned. To round out the team, Mike Rajic and Nick Lechlik were chosen because they spoke the language and Arthur Jiblin, who was the radio operator.
00:10:44
Speaker
When all were informed of the mission, now given the name Operation Halyard, none of them batted an eye and were eager to sign up. The only question they had was if the British were to be involved or if they got to work on their own. The answer was that it was to be a joint operation. The British were responsible for getting American agents into enemy territory.
00:11:06
Speaker
All men were briefed to not interfere with international relations by promising any support or supplies from the allies. The plan to drop the team into the region was given the go ahead and contact with Mihailovic was made informing him of this drop. After five different attempts to which the combination of either weather or passive sabotage by the British, one of which included trying to drop them over an ongoing battle, Muslin demanded that the next attempt to be made was going to be made by an all American crew.
00:11:35
Speaker
On August 2nd, 1944, an all American crew took off with the team and dropped them off in the correct spot. The first step was complete, but now the next step would be even harder. With the team on the ground, the next phase of the operation required those on the ground to start constructing a runway.
00:11:52
Speaker
With the number of men now waiting for rescue climbing to 250 and counting, any able-bodied man was pressed into work. Tasks were turning a field that was 50 yards wide and 700 yards long into a runway, the men set about removing rocks and dirt to level out as best they could. With little to no tools, most of the rock and dirt was dug up by hand and the ground was tamped down by feet. The flyers knew the importance of making sure no soft spot or rock was left to cause an accident.
00:12:20
Speaker
At the shout of a German plane, the workers would scatter to the woods so they wouldn't be spotted. Their hope was that the German pilots would look down and see what looked like a farmer's field. Trees were cut down at one end of the runway and stumps ripped up in order to extend the runway an additional 75 yards. Each day, new arrivals turned up and immediately joined in on the work. By the 8th of August, the airstrip was complete and the message was sent. We're ready to start the evacuation tomorrow night.
00:12:48
Speaker
With phase two completed, phase three, the hardest phase yet began. Six C-47s were sent in the first wave.
00:12:57
Speaker
Knowing that not all could go on the first trip, a system was put in place to determine the order in which the men would be evacuated. The wounded were first on the list, followed by the rest, starting with the ones who were there the longest, no matter if they were an officer or an enlisted man. 72 men were given the good news. Knowing how short the runway was, the planes were told to carry enough fuel to get there and back, as well as only 12 men were to be loaded into each plane, even though the plane could carry a lot more.
00:13:24
Speaker
The night of the first attempt arrived and at the predetermined time of 10 p.m., the sounds of plane engines were heard. To the dismay of Muslim, only four of the six planes made it. The other two had to turn back due to engine trouble. The first plane in to land, hit the runway, but had to throttle back up and take off. The worry quickly spread amongst those on the ground that the runway was just too short.
00:13:47
Speaker
The worry was short lived though, when the second plane came in for their attempt. The pilot came in at a steep angle and slammed down on the runway, cut the power on the ground, held their breath as the plane approached the end of the runway. A wild cheer erupted as the plane came to a stop with room to spare. The plane was then pushed to the side so that the next plane could come in. Every plane, including the first one, successfully made it to the ground with only one hitting a haystack at the end of the runway, denting the wing.
00:14:16
Speaker
The crews of the planes were met with the same over the top hospitality that the down airmen had experienced in their time. While the celebration occurred, Muslin was worried about the Germans in the valley below. He wondered how long they had before the Germans came up and investigated the air show that had just occurred. I mean, four American planes circling an area, burning haystacks, and Muslin had fired a green flare to signal the go ahead. In his mind, that was more than enough to invite a look by the Germans.
00:14:45
Speaker
Muslin met with the pilots for a debrief. He wanted to know if the field was suitable for more rescues and if they could count on more of the men going out in the next few days. The pilots reassured him that the runway was good and that the first plane had just overshot the entry. With this information, Muslin wasted no time in getting the planes ready for takeoff. He called for the 72 predetermined men to the planes. He divided them up into groups of 12 and assigned each to a plane.
00:15:11
Speaker
He did have to break the news to the last 24 that due to two planes not making it, they'd have to go out the next day. With the planes loaded with men, all eyes were on the takeoff about to occur. This was the last big hurdle for the operation to clear. Before taking off though, the airmen gave a gift to the local Serbs who had done so much for them.
00:15:30
Speaker
Airmen began throwing their boots, socks, flight jackets, shirts, anything else they thought would be helpful to the Serbs. Many of them were wearing, many of those Serbs were wearing just traditional felt slippers, even if the weather was snowy or cold. With that, Muslin gave the order for takeoff and the first plane began to move. All around the airfield, not a person dared breathe. The plane picked up speed as the tail end rose off the ground, making the plane horizontal. And finally, the big wheels of the plane left the runway.
00:15:59
Speaker
The trees at the end were getting close and the plane seemed to not want to gain altitude. But at the last second, the plane roared over the tree chops with inches to spare. The rest of the planes followed soon as they begin to circle over the airfield to gain altitude. All four planes would make it back to Italy safely.
00:16:16
Speaker
Back on the ground, Muslim conferred with his team and ultimately made the decision to push for dawn landings instead of nighttime ones as those were on the knife's edge. News of the cancellation of night landings disheartened those who were left on the field. Many sat around the field not wanting to leave thinking about how close they were to getting out yet so far away. 8 a.m. the next day, the sound of plane engines could be heard. The worry quickly spread that last night's landings and takeoffs had tipped the Germans off to what was going on and they were coming to put it into
Success of Operation Halyard
00:16:43
Speaker
it.
00:16:43
Speaker
To the relief of those on the ground, the sight of American planes could be seen. They weren't the C-47s though, as the squadron of P-51 Mustangs and P-38 Lightning fighter planes flying overhead occurred. Then the greatest sight the airmen could have hoped to see came into view, C-47s. In total, six C-47s and 30 fighters circled above. Back in Italy, the message to move from night missions to dawn missions sparked the addition of fighter escorts to ensure maximum protection.
00:17:12
Speaker
While the C-47s prepared to land, the fighters attacked anything within a 50-mile radius of the airfield in order to occupy the Germans. In a repeat of the night before, pilot after pilot made the dangerous landing. With all six on the ground, the loading process went faster than the previous night. What didn't change was the airmen who were on the plane giving everything they could, including the shirt off their back, to the peasants who had risked and done so much for them.
00:17:38
Speaker
Takeoff was the same, with more than one plane brushing the treetops with their wheels. As the six planes circled to gain height before forming a V formation to head home, the fighter planes rejoined the group to provide escort. But it wasn't over. Around 9am, another group of C-47s and fighters appeared to gather the last of the airmen.
00:17:58
Speaker
One plane got stuck in the mud, and fearing that it would be a glaring sign to the Germans who would take it out on the... take it out on Preannian, Muslin organized a hundred Serbs to help get the plane out. With the plane free of the mud, the last of the airmen were flown out. Included on one of the planes were two Serbs who needed urgent medical attention. Muslin found it hard to turn them away after all the locals had done to save the airmen. Little did he know this would step on some toes back in Italy, as the Serbs were seen as Nazi collaborators.
00:18:28
Speaker
Muslim would be ordered to return and answer for this, but fearing a German attack, Muslim pulled his team 10 miles into the mountains and watched the village. They were brought five airmen during that time who had been just a few hours too late for rescue.
00:18:42
Speaker
After several days in the mountains and no German attack occurring, the team moved back to the village. Muselon finally obeyed the order to leave and returned to Italy. Initial calls for his court-martial for offering aid to Mihheleviks and soon died down. The rest of the team stayed behind to continue collecting and rescue down Airmen. Operation Halliard, meant to last a couple of weeks, lasted for six months. On the night of August 9th and morning of August 10th, 272 down Airmen were rescued.
00:19:11
Speaker
Over the span of his existence, 512 men were rescued without the loss of a single life. This audacious response to a desperate radio call for help, picked up by a curious young woman in the States whose husband worked for the OSS in Italy, ended up becoming the most successful rescue ever of downed airmen behind enemy lines and one of the largest rescue missions of any kind in World War II and beyond. Unfortunately, due to political reasons, the escape itself and the role that Mihailovic played in it was kept classified.
00:19:41
Speaker
Tito was given control of Yugoslavia at the end of the war due to the allies backing him. Breaking promises he gave to the allies about holding free elections and not letting Stalin control him and the country as a puppet state, Tito will sign an agreement with Russia allowing for the temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslavia territory.
00:19:59
Speaker
With this, Tito was able to gain control and immediately set about trying to arrest Mihhelevich for treason. For 17 months, Mihhelevich remained on the run. Not wanting to abandon his country, he refused offers and requests to leave the country. He was eventually captured, and on July 17, 1946, Mihhelevich was executed after a show trial conducted by Tito found him guilty of betraying Yugoslavia to the Germans.
00:20:22
Speaker
Many of the down airmen that his men had rescued tried everything they could to save Mihilevik from his fate, but it was all in vain. The US did not want to provoke the Soviet Union who backed Tito into a war. In the end, politics both in Yugoslavia and between the allies doomed this great Yugoslavian general to his death. As the years went on, more and more of the story was revealed. Mihilevik would be posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit Medal, which is the highest award a foreign person can receive from the US.
00:20:51
Speaker
In the end, so much is owed to Milovic and his men. The risk they took in helping down Airmen, while the countries of these Airmen were not only spreading rumors, but actively working to not send him supplies, the group of Airmen who owed their lives to his men could not believe their own government had turned its back on him. They continued to fight until as little by little, they were able to not only get the story out, but also the recognition by the government for the actions that Milovic had taken.
00:21:20
Speaker
As the years go by and the story is told again and again, the actions and memory of Milovic will live on and reach more people.
Humorous WWII Incident: Potatoes as Weapons
00:21:36
Speaker
Today's funny story from history comes from World War II and is the worst outcome of a food fight ever. It's April 1943 and the US destroyer O'Bannon is steaming home after assisting in the shelling of the Solomon Islands when at night they spotted a Japanese sub on the surface. Despite the overwhelming amount of firepower capable of dooming that sub, the captain of the O'Bannon makes the call to ram it.
00:22:02
Speaker
But at the last second, fears of the possibility of it being a mind-laying sub, the ship will turn and end up side by side with the now surprised, awakened, scrambling enemy. The problem for the O'Bannon, though, was that they were now too close to traverse their guns down and shoot the sub. The crew of the sub, half awake now, raced to their deck gun, which was capable of sinking the destroyer. The crew of the O'Bannon had to think of a distraction fast. They are in a predicament. This is an issue.
00:22:32
Speaker
Luckily, there were bins of potatoes on deck and the crew began to hurl these potatoes at the sub and her crew and the funniest thing happened. The Japanese begin to throw these spuds back. See the Japanese believe the potatoes were actually grenades and it's easy to see why they might think that that wrong assumption. First, the battle occurs at night. And so the light is already an issue. Second.
00:23:03
Speaker
They're now just awakened. Some of them were asleep, so they're half asleep. So they're not really thinking clearly. And third, who in their right mind would attack a sub with spuds? Now, while this is going on, the destroyer and the sub begin to drift apart to a point in which the destroyer could actually lower its weapons and fire at the sub.
00:23:25
Speaker
The guns of the O'Bannon open up and score a hit on the sub, but don't sink it. And the sub will quickly escape underwater as the O'Bannon begins to drop depth charges, eventually finishing off the sub and ultimately winning the food fight. Now, the story is considered a legend by the Navy and not entirely accurate in its retelling, but don't all legendary stories in history have some truth to it? Thanks for listening and as always, stay hooked.