Special Operations: AAF Aid to European Resistance Movements 1943-1945

Air Historical Office Headquarters
Army Air Forces, June 1947
Written by Major Harris G. Warren
Historica Reprint, 2003
190 pages, softbound
$30.00

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

Another new release from Historica, this title, while long, is definitely an interesting piece of history. The more I look through this, the more interested I get in these operations. This book has a total of seven chapters, with 23 appendixes, some of which have more than one section.

The first three chapters provide an overview of the various resistance movements in Europe, and the plans for Allied support of those movements. This includes sections on specific units used out of England, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans. These chapters also include an overview of the general difficulties experienced in reaching the target sites.

Following this introduction come the chapters dealing with specific operations, broken down by geography. Chapter IV outlines operations to Western Europe and Poland and includes Carpetbagger missions during 1944 and supply missions to the south of France. Chapter V moves to Italy and the Balkans, including aid to the Yugoslav Partisans in 1943 and missions to North Italy towards the end of the war. Chapter VI is an interesting chapter, as it deals with infiltration and evacuation, and includes a section on the large-scale evacuations requested by Tito. Finally, the main text finishes with a chapter on leaflet operations from both Italy and England.

The above section takes up roughly half of the entire manuscript. The remainder of the pages are made up by the extensive appendixes, and it is here where all the dry information is presented, generally in the form of charts and tables. But this information is probably the most interesting as well, as it gives an interesting glimpse into these secretive missions. For instance, Appendix 15 is split into nine sections and includes supply operations to Albania, Italy and Greece, and special operations to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Austria. In looking at the summary page, operations in the Mediterranean theater resulted in the extraction of over 20,000 personnel, 19,000 of which came from Yugoslavia alone.

Even though there are no photos in this monograph, the information presented here offers a great starting point for additional research for your next diorama project. The detailed text provides just about everything you'd need to track down photos of specific aircraft, and the interesting history behind the aircraft will make for a great conversation piece.

For ordering information, visit the Historica website. The site also lists currently available titles as well as upcoming releases. Our thanks to Historica for the review copy.