Operations Ginny I and II
Operations Ginny I and II were two ill-fated
Background
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed in June 1942 by
During the
- Instigation of the Italian population to carry out acts of resistance to German forces.
- Direct attack on communications and transport in that area of Italy now held by the enemy. Old raiding parties will make the attacks and remain to instruct and incite the local population to further and similar efforts.
- Destruction of enemy aircraft on the ground.
- Destruction of enemy supply drops.
One of the OSS' most important tasks was to cut vital German supply lines that reinforced the
Commandos
The OSS recruited
In Ginny II, most members from the previous mission were the same except four members—Sgt. Carmine Armando, T/5 John Lepore, T/5 Vittorio Amoruso, and T/5 Thomas Savino—were replaced by T/5 Joseph M. Farrell, T/5 Liberty J. Tremonte, T/5 Santoro Calcara, and Sgt Alfred L. De Flumeri for this mission.
Ginny I
The first mission of Ginny I occurred on February 27/28, 1944. A fifteen-man OSS Operational Group (OG) was put aboard two
The boats arrived at the disembarkation point at 0125 hrs and the sabotage team began using rubber boats and paddled northeastward.[3] Both the working and security parties landed at what they thought was the right spot and were properly dressed in U.S. Army uniforms and had no civilian clothes with them. However, Russo noticed that something was wrong. He heard the train northeast of him and realized he and his team had landed south of the objective instead. At 0245 hrs, he reported that it would take him and his team at least an hour and a half to reach its target—0415 hrs at least—and requested permission to stay and be picked up the following night. The senior officer afloat rejected this suggestion because according to the plan, the team had to complete the sabotage mission and rendezvous back to the PT boats by 0330 hrs—0400 hrs at the latest—in order to distance themselves from the Ligurian coast and to avoid German patrol before sunrise. Fearing that the team would not complete the mission on time, the senior officer ordered the team to return to the PT boats. The OSS team went back to the PT boats by 0315 hrs and returned to Bastia harbor at 0730 hrs.[4]
Ginny II
For Ginny II, the mission objective and planning remain unchanged from the previous mission. Four OSS members who previously took part in Ginny I were replaced by others (see above) for Ginny II and T/5 Joseph Noia was placed in the security party instead. First Lt. Russo still commanded the shore party and First Lt. Paul J. Traficante for the security party. A
On March 22, the OSS Operational Group (OG) team boarded the two U.S. Navy PT boats and the boats left Bastia harbor at 1800 hrs. The boats arrived at the disembarkation point in 2245 hrs, 300 yards southwest of the pinpoint, and the OSS team departed northward in three rubber boats at 2255 hrs (2245 hrs according to the one of the PT's boat report) to west of Stazione di Framura and landed what they believe was the exact spot. Like Ginny I, the OSS members were properly dressed in U.S. Army uniforms and had no civilian clothes on them.
At approximately 2345 hrs, a convoy of German torpedo boats was sighted returning from a mine-laying mission. One U.S. PT boat took diversionary action and got into a firefight, while the other idled along the coast on one engine and tried to keep in contact with the shore party. The radiomen on the U.S. boats kept trying to reach the shore party, but all was silent. At 0200 hrs, the two U.S. PT boats rendezvoused five miles out to sea because their radar indicated numerous targets along the shore, and they had to lie quietly until 0300 hrs. At that time, the U.S. boats moved in close to the rocky cliffs in an attempt to raise the mission party on the radio. One U.S. PT boat reported its main steering mechanism had malfunctioned, and it was 0400 hrs before it was repaired. No transmissions were heard from the mission party, and the two U.S. boats returned to base.
Hiding
Russo realized that he and his team were again in the wrong spot. He discovered that they had landed near the village of Carpineggio, about halfway between Bonassola and Stazione di Framura. The group had landed two miles from its intended initial point and about one mile from the target. Unable to contact the U.S. PT boats which had returned to base, Russo and his men then went to the contingency plan. They were to hide during the day, establish contact with their PT boats the following night, and then accomplish the mission. The team would not blow the tunnel until contact had been made.
They hid their rubber boats and explosives and demolition equipment under the trees as best they could and began moving up slope. They eventually found an empty barn on the edge of the locality of Carpeneggio and settled in. On the morning of March 23, two team members, 1st Lt. Russo and Sgt. Mauro, went out to get food and information at the nearest farm. An Italian farmer named Franco Lagaxo saw Russo and Mauro approaching his cottage who identified themselves as U.S. soldiers and was asked if he could buy food for them. He agreed to do so and later in the day guided them on reconnaissance which succeeded in locating access to the Genoa-La Spezia rail tunnel.
On the evening of March 23, the U.S. PT boats were launched to accomplish the pickup per the contingency plan in order to make prearranged radio contact with the OSS team. However, they again ran into trouble as one had a mechanical breakdown on the trip from Corsica and had to return to base. The second spotted a radar trace which indicated enemy activity approaching the coast, and was also forced to turn back. As a result, the OSS team was forced into another day of hiding.[9]
Capture
An Italian fisherman noticed the rubber boats pulled up along the shore, and mentioned them to authorities at nearby Bonassola. Two Fascist Italian militiamen went with the fisherman to investigate and found the boats and explosive material. They alerted the local German command, formed a search party, and started sweeping the area. Lagaxo then discovered that the Italians and Germans had found the rubber boats and rushed in to warn the Americans. His warning came too late. All fifteen U.S. soldiers who were staying in the barn were captured after minor clashes with Italian Fascist and German soldiers. The captured OSS members were taken to the German headquarters of the 135th Fortress Brigade in La Spezia for interrogation. One of the U.S. officers revealed to the Germans that it was a commando raid to blow up tunnels critical to German supply routes.
Execution
On the next morning of March 25, the information about the capture of U.S. soldiers and the purpose of the mission was then sent to
On the morning of March 26, fifteen U.S. soldiers—still in U.S. Army uniforms—were marched and lined up by the German Army in Punta Bianca, above the sea on the rocky tip of Ameglia's peninsula. All were executed on the spot and buried in a mass grave that was then camouflaged.[10] None of the executed U.S. soldiers were given a previous trial.[6]
Aftermath
After Nazi Germany signed its instrument of surrender that effectively ended the war in Europe on May 8, 1945, Kesselring surrendered to the Americans at Saalfeld and was placed in confinement.[11] On October 6, 1945, he was interviewed in connection with the deaths of fifteen Americans. He stated that he did not recall receiving any information regarding the fifteen OSS members. He contended that he received many reports and that he was frequently away from his headquarters in Rome. Kesselring was also questioned about Hitler's Commando Order which was clearly unlawful. He replied that the order was not binding on him and that it could be interpreted in many different ways. Due to falsification and destruction of his records to hide this affair, he was not prosecuted for this crime.[12]
General Dostler was captured by U.S. forces on May 8, 1945, and brought to trial before an American
Four days later, the trial unanimously found General Dostler guilty of
Memorial
There is a memorial for the 15 executed American soldiers in Piazza della Liberta, Ameglia. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the mission in 2004, the American OSS Society and the Comune of Ameglia placed a commemorative plaque at Punta Bianca and erected a formal monument at Bocca di Magra.
References
- ISBN 978-0-87413-994-5.
- ^ "Russo, Vincent J., 1LT | TWS". army.togetherweserved.com.
- ISBN 978-0-87413-994-5.
- ISBN 978-0-87413-994-5.
- ^ "Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals" (PDF). 1. United Nations War Crimes Commission. 1947. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ a b International Military Tribunal (1946). The trial of German major war criminals: proceedings of the International military tribunal sitting at Nuremberg, Germany, Volume 4. H.M. Stationery. p. 8.
- ISBN 978-0-87413-994-5.
- ^ Nigel West (April 28, 2010). Historical Dictionary of Naval Intelligence (Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence). Scarecrow Press. pp. 101–102.
- ISBN 978-0-87413-994-5.
- ^ Raiber, Anatomy of Perjury, pp. 133–136.
- ISBN 1-57607-603-2.
- ISBN 0-7618-2496-0.
- ISBN 9780394723051.
- ^ "CONVENTION OF JULY 27, 1929, RELATIVE TO THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR". Avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
- ISBN 978-90-6704-867-5.
- Pittsburgh Press. October 12, 1945. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
External links
- OSS Operation Ginny met with a tragic end during the Italian Campaign.
- Office of Strategic Services Operational Group
- Liberation Day: The Ameglia Executions
- The Dostler Case
- Video: Italian Americans in the OSS
- Deflumeri Family Tree Archived 2014-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
- For our Soldiers: The Case of General Anton Dostler
- Behind Enemy the Lines