{"id":12076,"date":"2016-02-18T19:27:46","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T01:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hcstx.org\/?p=12076"},"modified":"2016-02-18T19:27:46","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T01:27:46","slug":"world-war-ii-history-planting-dragons-teeth-in-the-enemys-garden-the-jedburghs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/18\/world-war-ii-history-planting-dragons-teeth-in-the-enemys-garden-the-jedburghs\/","title":{"rendered":"World War II History: Planting Dragon’s Teeth in the Enemy’s Garden, The Jedburghs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The SOE and OSS Operations during World War II have been a fascination of mine since I was a boy. In fact I am currently working on a trilogy of fictional short stories based on their amazing operations. The Jedburghs are an integral part of this history.-SF \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"jed-jump-300x163\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The low rumble of engines and the smell of hydraulic oil deadened the senses; or maybe it was the whisky. Just before take-off, each man had been given a \u201cHot Toddy\u201d with a much greater measure of whisky than was needed.<\/p>\n

The Dutch jump officer got word on the intercom that they would be over the target in five minutes. He patted the lead man on the head then showed him five fingers to let him know the drop was imminent.<\/p>\n

One long ring of the bell and the red light illuminated \u2013 the jump officer held up two fingers and mouthed the words \u201cTwoooo Minnnnutes!\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no point in trying to communicate verbally. Between the sound of the four huge engines and the air rushing in around the Lancaster\u2019s hastily installed, poorly sealed, jump door, it would have been lost in the cacophony of 1940\u2019s flight.<\/p>\n

Three rings of the bell; the Green Light illuminated and the three men simply scooched off the edge into the darkness. With any luck the Lanc\u2019s airspeed was slow enough and each jumper was heavy enough that he dropped straight down right through the slipstream.<\/p>\n

Both flight officers waited for the telltale thump-thump-thump of a jumper who didn\u2019t. It never came and the excited call of \u201cThree Canopies\u201d crackled in the pilots\u2019 headsets as the jump officer verified his charge had open parachutes and a ride to the ground.<\/p>\n

He whispered a prayer under his breath and shouted \u201cGODSPEED!\u201d out the hatch.\u00a0 The satisfaction of a successful drop gave way to a feeling of despair as the Dutchman accepted the probability he had just sent three brave men to die for their countries.<\/p>\n

When I was about eight, I found a Croix de Guerre<\/em> in my father\u2019s office in Rome. I had no clue what it was. Back in the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s foreign governments were in the habit of giving participation awards to U.S. Officials, mostly just expensive trinkets to gain favor.<\/p>\n

I got caught digging around his desk drawers and even though I fessed up and took the beating I deserved for it, he refused to tell me what it was, or where he got it.<\/p>\n

He just said \u201cit\u2019s from the War.\u201d The \u201cWar\u201d was never an acceptable topic of conversation with my dad.\u00a0 It was like he blanked it out of his mind.\u00a0 I understand now, and I wish I could apologize for pushing it \u2013 I was a bit of an idiot-child.<\/p>\n

Since he wouldn\u2019t talk, I developed a bad habit of cornering my father\u2019s visitors and basically demanding they tell me war stories. If an older man in uniform walked in, I was on him like a community organizer on a liberal voter.<\/p>\n

It was here that an old friend of my dad\u2019s told me tales of \u201cFLY\u201d teams who jumped in just hours before the D-Day Airborne drops.\u00a0 They paved the way \u2013 organized the resistance and set the stage for the allied invasion.<\/p>\n

He was one of my regulars and always had a piece of history to share with me. \u2013 I ate it up.<\/p>\n

He described his drop into France the night before D-day and how they had to hide day and night from the \u201cfat man\u201d \u2013 NAZI radio triangulation techs who wore equipment under an overcoats making them look very fat. They would walk around in teams of three triangulating, hunting for resistance radio transmitters.<\/p>\n

When I was about fifteen I found that Croix de Guerre<\/em><\/a> again, only this time, I just took it to a jewelry store and asked what it was. \u00a0After the owner tried to buy it, for a damn good price and I refused, I was told it was a medal given to Soldiers \u2013 mostly covert agents, who fought with the resistance in France in WW2. He said whoever earned it was a War Hero.<\/p>\n

Speechless and gape-mouthed, I put the medal back exactly where I found it and hoped the Old Man never learned of the disrespect I had shown by treating it like a cheap trinket. Still had no clue why he had it. In fact I never knew until my father\u2019s wake, when an older than dirt SAS<\/a> guy filled me in \u2013 but that\u2019s another story and the subject of my next book so we won\u2019t go there today.<\/p>\n

The internet didn\u2019t exist in the ancient times when I was a teenager so I spent hours in the 2 university libraries within hitchhiking distance, going through micro-fiche after micro-fiche<\/a> looking for anything of my dad\u2019s history that might explain why he would have been awarded a Croix de Guerre<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My efforts were a complete waste. \u00a0I found nothing of use, but I did come across a name I knew \u2013 John Singlaub.\u00a0 The very man who told me so many war stories when I was just a pup.<\/p>\n

Completely disappointed that I couldn\u2019t connect my father to the anything heroic, I decided to chase Gen. Singlaub\u2019s<\/a> trail, I even called his office but I think his aid thought it was a prank, he hung up on me.<\/p>\n

Eventually; I landed at Operation Jedburgh.<\/a><\/p>\n

It turns out \u201cFLY Teams\u201d was just group jargon. F<\/strong>rog \u2013 L<\/strong>imey \u2013 Y<\/strong>ank: FLY. Each team would include a Frenchman, a Brit and an American. The proper term is Jedburghs, so named for the last operation the OSS\/SOE ran in preparation for D-DAY \u2013 These guys were the real deal.<\/p>\n

Wild Bill Donovan<\/a> fielded the first of his European theater OSS<\/a> teams early in the war. \u00a0Tasked with creating a covert network to operate independently behind enemy lines Donovan recruited, trained and organized the men and women who would be predecessors to most U.S. clandestine and covert operations.<\/p>\n

SOE\/OSS teams were dropped into France, Belgium and Holland to facilitate communications and organize the resistance into a fighting force that could be controlled and directed by the allied command structure. The term \u201cSpecial Forces\u201d originates with the Jedburgh agents.<\/p>\n

Active duty members wore a patch consisting of Wings with the letters SF in a red circle. \u00a0They would be saboteurs, teachers, medical officers, Pathfinders, lightning-slingers, engineers, weapons specialist or assassins depending what day of the war it might be.<\/p>\n

Lightning Slingers \u2013 OSS code officers, used a lateral key rather than a tap-key and could transmit Morse code at an unnatural speed. I can\u2019t find any information on why they chose the term \u201cSpecial Forces.\u201d I can only assume \u201cbaddest-sumbitch-in-the-valley\u201d was just too long to use as a military job title.<\/p>\n

The Jedburgh program included French Bureau Central de Renseignements et d\u2019Action<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(BCRA), Wild Bill\u2019s American OSS and British SOE.\u00a0 OSS agents were sent to Scotland where they were trained by the likes of Fairbairn and Sykes \u2013 Yes, I\u2019m talking about that<\/u> Sykes and that<\/u> Fairbairn \u2013 the ones who enjoy legendary status as \u201cThe two meanest bastards in the British Realm.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Fairbairn taught what he called \u201cGutter Fighting.\u201d He liked to introduce himself by telling his trainees:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to teach you how to fight from the gutter; there is no fair play, there are no rules except one: Kill or be killed.<\/u> Speed\u2026 Violence\u2026 Decisiveness\u2026\u00a0 Like two Shanghai gutter rats fighting over a dead baby for breakfast\u2026 <\/em><\/strong>That\u2019s how WE<\/u> fight!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

OSS and SOE agents were some of the best trained operatives in history.\u00a0 All were multilingual, usually conversational in 3 or 4 languages and fluent in at least 2.\u00a0 They ran mock operations around northern England and became experts in demolitions, light weapons, Morse code and Pathfinder operations.<\/p>\n

Each member was issued a Sykes knife and many were taught how to use it by Sykes himself. The Sykes combat knife isn\u2019t a survival knife and is relatively useless for anything but killing; but it is exceptionally well designed for that purpose.<\/p>\n

The blade design will punch through thick military overcoats and easily puncture the rib cage. Its diamond shape cross section leaves a wound that tends to bleed inward making it very hard to stop the bleeding and save the victim.<\/p>\n

In an effort to guarantee security wasn\u2019t breached, anyone who washed out or chose to be dropped from the program was confined until D-Day. Even the washouts were of very high quality.<\/p>\n

A total of 101 teams of two to five, including 83 Americans, jumped into France, Belgium and the Netherlands in the 48 hours prior to the D-Day drop. Other teams of Special Agents were dropped in as early as 2 years before D-Day to lay the foundation for the Jedburgh program.<\/p>\n

1940\u2019s kit was a bit different than todays \u2013 the \u201cshiny-ist\u201d thing they had was a bulky, tube powered wireless transceiver that had to be warmed up for 5 to 6 minutes before it would transmit and couldn\u2019t be moved until the tubes cooled or the cathodes would warp.<\/p>\n

Other standard weapons were the Colt 1911, the Grease gun, the Thompson, the M-1 Garand and the Welrod<\/em>, a suppressed pistol used to quietly dispatch enemy soldiers to meet their god.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There were no GPSs, no SAT-phones, no body armor, no Night Stalkers<\/a> with QRF to come to the rescue if things turned to crap. They had what they jumped in with. The mission, each other\u2026 and the acceptance of their fate was all they needed.<\/p>\n

All OSS wore civilian clothes in the U.S. and most wore civies in combat zones. Technically, they were spies and eligible for summary execution if caught.\u00a0 Things were usually not that pleasant if one of them got caught though \u2013 Summary execution would have been too merciful and un-entertaining for the Gestapo.<\/p>\n

Jedburgh\u2019s missions supported and bolstered existing operations. They would bring new intelligence, provide liaison between the advancing Allies and the Resistance. They participated in sabotage and other operations needed to cripple the German response to the invasion. Consequently the Nazis were forced to deplete resources to deal with the resistance leaving less than adequate assets to repel the allied invasion.<\/p>\n

Without Operation Jedburgh the D-day invasion would have never succeeded. These mostly unknown warriors were what Wild Bill called the \u201cDragon\u2019s Teeth\u201d and he sewed them freely.<\/p>\n

The man, code-named \u201cIntrepid\u201d, Gen. William Donovan, was tasked with creating a clandestine force to operate behind enemy borders.\u00a0 The U.S. has actively maintained and operated the force Donovan created ever since.<\/p>\n

Wild Bill referred to the OSS as his \u201cLeague of Gentlemen\u201d and OSS operations as \u201cSewing Dragon\u2019s teeth in the enemy\u2019s garden.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Jedburghs went on to win Pulitzers, Nobel prizes and become leaders in western society.<\/p>\n

Some old Jedburghs and OSS you might recognize include:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n