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  Also by Albert Lulushi

  Operation Valuable Fiend: The CIA’s First Paramilitary Strike Against the Iron Curtain

  Copyright © 2016 by Albert Lulushi

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Lulushi, Albert, author.

  Title: Donovan’s Devils: OSS commandos behind enemy lines: Europe, World War II / Albert Lulushi.

  Description: First edition. | New York: Arcade Publishing, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015037691| ISBN 9781628725674 (hardcover: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781628726220 (Ebook ISBN)

  Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939-1945—Secret service—United States. | World War, 1939-1945—Commando operations—Europe. | United States. Office of Strategic Services—History. | Donovan, William J. (William Joseph), 1883-1959. | Holohan, William V.

  Classification: LCC D810.S7 L727 2016 | DDC 940.54/8673094—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015037691

  Cover design by Owen Corrigan

  Printed in the United States of America

  To Enit, Alex, Anna, and Tereza

  We were not afraid to make mistakes because we were not afraid to try things that had not been tried before.

  —William J. Donovan, Director of the Office of Strategic Services, September 28, 1945

  OSS was expected, much as we are now, to make sense of a world in turmoil and, where possible, to change it for the better. The methods to accomplish that mission were—and still are—as broad as the mission itself…. Whatever the means, the goal was always the same: To reach behind the battle lines, either to learn about the enemy or to attack him directly. To strike in any possible way, by giving our fighting forces the advantage of intelligence or by giving resistance movements the advantages of equipment, training, and—most of all—hope.

  —A. B. Krongard, Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, June 7, 2002

  Contents

  List of Maps and Documents

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  List of Acronyms

  Prologue

  1 Office of Strategic Services

  2 Irregular Warfare in the Early Years of World War II

  3 The OSS Operational Groups

  4 Special Operations in the Western Mediterranean

  5 Rescuing Escaped Prisoners of War

  6 Operations from Corsica

  7 The Ill-Fated Ginny Mission

  8 Operational Groups in France

  9 Americans in Vercors

  10 Mission Walla Walla in Italy

  11 Mission Mangosteen-Chrysler

  12 Rescue Missions in the Balkans

  13 Mission Peedee-Roanoke

  14 OSS Investigations into War Crimes

  15 Swift Justice for the Ginny Men

  16 No Justice for Major Holohan

  Epilogue

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  List of Maps and Documents

  Military order of July 11, 1941, appointed William J. Donovan as Coordinator of Information

  FDR letter to Donovan specifying compensation details as Coordinator of Information

  Military order creating the Office of Strategic Services

  Missions of the French OGs attached to the European and Mediterranean theaters of operations

  OSS map depicting Italian OG operations between August 1943 and May 1945

  Diagram and identification notes that OSS investigators made upon exhuming the bodies of the fifteen Ginny team members

  Copy of the Führerbefehl of October 18, 1942, ordering the killing of captured Allied commandos

  President Truman’s letter to General Donovan on September 20, 1945, informing him of the dissolution of the OSS

  Acknowledgments

  I am grateful to all those who made it possible for me to write this book. They include: employees at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and the US Army Military Institute in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, who helped me track hundreds of documents from their archives; Mr. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society, for his efforts in keeping the OSS spirit alive; and family members of OSS and OG personnel who shared memories of their fathers’ activities during World War II.

  I received tremendous help and encouragement from David Robarge, CIA chief historian, who patiently reviewed manuscript drafts and recommended numerous ways for improving it.

  A big thank you goes to my editors at Skyhorse Publishing: Cal Barksdale, who provided great guidance in defining the scope and focus of the book at the beginning and steered it throughout the publishing process; and Maxim Brown, who edited the manuscript meticulously.

  Finally, a big thank you to my family for contributing to the creation of this book and related content: Anna and Enit patiently scoured bookstores in France and Italy to collect numerous research materials; Alex provided invaluable contribution to the design of the apps associated with the book; Esmeralda graced the first Fan Club cover page with her image; and “Slim Shady” kept an eye on everyone. I could not have done it without your help!

  Introduction

  The Office of Strategic Services was a unique experiment in the history of the United States government’s agencies and institutions. It came to life thanks to the unwavering efforts of William J. Donovan, its founder and director, who was convinced that the president needed a central organization to collect, coordinate, and analyze intelligence and conduct secret operations or other activities in the interest of the country before and during World War II. In fulfilling Donovan’s vision, the OSS became the first central intelligence agency of the United States, the precursor to the CIA, which “has never looked more like its direct ancestor, the OSS, than it does right now,” in the words of General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA between 2006 and 2009. But the OSS was much more than an intelligence organization. It engaged in commando-type actions, special and paramilitary operations, psychological warfare, covert propaganda and morale operations, and other activities, which today we associate with the Special Operations forces. Using today’s concepts and vocabulary, the OSS of the 1940s pioneered the convergence of intelligence and military operations into one organization that provides full spectrum intelligence activities.

  Much has been written over the years about the “Oh, So Secret” OSS—the cloak-and-dagger organization that conducted daring spying and intelligence activities against the Axis powers and their interests in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Many authors have focused on the “Oh, So Social” OSS—home to the well-connected elites, Donovan’s “PhDs who could win a bar fight,” star athletes, and entertainment personalities.

  When I set out to write Donovan’s Devils, I wanted to tell the story of a different OSS, that of ordinary soldiers, first- an
d second-generation immigrants, who volunteered for dangerous duty behind enemy lines and risked their lives in France, Italy, the Balkans, and elsewhere in Europe. They dropped in enemy territory by air or sea, often blind and in the dead of night, and then proceeded to operate for days, weeks, and even months, hundreds of miles away from the closest Allied troops. They were men of action who created havoc in the enemy’s rear, disrupted communication lines, organized the native resistance, and rescued downed flyers, nurses, and escaped prisoners of war. The enemy showed them no mercy and sometime even their closest friends betrayed them, but they carried out their assignments with honor.

  As I began sifting through OSS records at the National Archives to gather materials for the book, I quickly realized that it is impossible to provide a full recounting of these missions within the confines of one book. Thousands of personnel planned and carried out hundreds of special operations during World War II. Therefore, I limited the scope first by geography and focused on missions conducted in the Mediterranean and European theaters of operations. Then, I further narrowed the scope to focus primarily on missions conducted by teams of the OSS Operational Groups Command.

  The OGs bear a close resemblance in structure and style to the Special Operations teams of today. Like the Navy SEALs or the US Army Delta Force teams, they operated deep in enemy territory—not in disguise as secret agents but in full uniform like regular soldiers—lived off the land for extended periods, and conducted military-like actions against enemy objectives. They distinguished themselves everywhere they fought and yet their story has not received the attention it deserves. I hope Donovan’s Devils fills the gap by tracing the evolution of the OGs through a handful of missions they conducted in Europe.

  I expected the book to be a story of the OSS coming late to the party and having to learn quickly—the Germans and the British after all had conducted special operations and irregular warfare actions for almost four years by the time the first OG teams arrived in North Africa in 1943. I expected it to be a story of zealous neophytes—“the glorious amateurs,” Donovan called them affectionately—who had to show what they were worth and earn the respect of the military hierarchy, always skeptical of unorthodox warfare. Moreover, I expected it to be a story of baptism through the fire, sacrifice, determination to succeed, and significant accomplishments. Donovan’s Devils is all that.

  However, I was surprised that the story also became one of crimes committed during war for various reasons—blind obedience to orders, political motives, revenge, and greed. Donovan’s Devils describes such crimes as well as the attempts after the war to investigate them and bring the perpetrators to justice. The capture and execution of fifteen OGs of the Ginny team in March 1944 was the largest loss of life that the OSS suffered in any of its missions. The trial of German General Anton Dostler in October 1945 for ordering the execution of these men was the first war crimes trial after World War II. It established the legal precedent that obedience to superior orders is not a valid defense against war crime prosecutions, which opened the way to holding accountable other war criminals at the Nuremberg trials and other judicial proceedings that followed. The tragic death in December 1944 of Major William V. Holohan, commander of the OSS mission Mangosteen-Chrysler, led to a twelve-year-long saga in the United States and Italy to bring justice and closure to the case. In the end, it became an example of the importance we place on rule of law and due process, even when sometimes the cost is justice delayed or justice denied.

  Investigating and trying these cases raised many questions at the time. How to investigate war crimes when the perpetrators destroy the evidence? How to reconstruct what truly happened when all the witnesses to the crime were also involved in it? How to determine the degree of guilt and decide who to punish and who to let go free? How to render justice in a fair and expedient way? Should military commissions try suspects? Or should they receive the wider protections of military tribunals? What to do if justice cannot be rendered? Should the United States extradite intelligence officers to another country to face justice?

  With our military engaged around the world and intelligence operations as strong as ever overseas, questions like these come up today on a regular basis. By showing how the United States approached and answered these questions in the 1940s and 1950s, I hope that Donovan’s Devils can also help us answer them today.

  List of Acronyms

  AFHQ Allied Forces Headquarters

  CFLN Comité Français de Libération Nationale or French Committee of National Liberation

  CID Criminal Investigation Division

  CLN Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale or National Liberation Committee

  CLNAI Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale per l’Alta Italia or National Liberation Committee for Upper Italy

  COI Coordinator of Information

  CSDIC Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center

  EMFFI État-Major des Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur or General Staff of the French Forces of the Interior

  FFI Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur or French Forces of the Interior

  JAG Judge Advocate General

  JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff

  NCO Noncommissioned officer

  OG Operational Group

  OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the German Supreme Command of the Armed Forces

  OSS Office of Strategic Services

  OVRA Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell’Antifascismo or Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism.

  SAS Special Air Service

  SD Sicherheitsdienst or Security Service, the intelligence organization of the SS and the Nazi Party.

  SFHQ Special Forces Headquarters

  SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces

  SI Secret Intelligence

  SIM Servizio Informazioni Militare or Military Intelligence Service of Italy

  SO Special Operations

  SOE Special Operations Executive

  SS Schutzstaffel or Protection Squadron, the paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party.

  STO Service du Travail Obligatoire or Compulsory Work Service

  T/5 Technician Fifth Grade

  Prologue

  In the northeastern coast of Corsica only fifty-six miles from mainland Italy lies Bastia, the island’s ancient capital and its largest port. The city is nestled at the base of Cap Corse on a narrow strip of land between the Tyrrhenian Sea to the east and the Sierra di Pignu that rises over three thousand feet above the city to the west. On October 1943, Bastia had been the exit point for German troops and their Fascist allies as they evacuated Sardinia and Corsica. In the afternoon of February 27, 1944, signs of the pitched battle between the retreating Germans and the French resistance forces pursuing them were still very visible in Bastia’s streets and on the walls of its medieval citadel. Scars of tracer bullets and craters of artillery shells pockmarked the quays of the commercial port, known as Nouveau Port, and the cobblestone dock of the smaller and older Vieux Port, where local fishermen moored their boats.

  In the northernmost dock of the Nouveau Port, in an area cordoned off from the rest of the waterfront, the crews of two American patrol torpedo boats, PT 203 and PT 204, were preparing to put out to sea. Both vessels were seventy-eight-foot PT boats built by Higgins Industries of New Orleans in the second half of 1942 and commissioned on January 20, 1943, at the Municipal Yacht Basin in Lake Pontchartrain. Part of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Fifteen, also known as PTRon 15, they had been the first American PT boats to arrive in the Mediterranean at the end of April 1943 and operated as a unit of the British Coastal Forces.1 Since their arrival, they had participated in actions against the Axis forces across the western Mediterranean, in North Africa, Sicily, the southern Italian coast, and now in the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea along the Tuscan and Ligurian coast.

  Patrol torpedo boats were the fastest United States warships afloat at the time. They could take on everything from canoes to battleships and s
ubmarines. Enemy tanks and trucks occasionally appeared on their tally sheets, and shooting down enemy planes was one of the most satisfying tasks for the crews. The PT boat could attack the enemy whenever it was within reach, whether on or under the sea, on the land, and in the air.2 Its hull was constructed of two layers of crosshatched mahogany wood with a layer of canvas treated with antirot paint installed between the planking. The cabin exterior and interior compartments were plywood and mahogany. By design, the weight of the PT boats was kept to a minimum to maximize range of operations, speed, and maneuverability. In the words of John F. Kennedy, the most famous captain of a PT boat, they were “small, fast, versatile, strongly armed vessels.”3

  A PT boat carried along the port and starboard sides of the fantail—the after end of the main deck—two depth charges and four 21” Mark XIII torpedoes. Crewmembers called the torpedoes “fish,” but the torpedomen referred to them affectionately as the “lovely ladies.”4 Mounted on the fantail was a 40-millimeter Bofors cannon, which required four men to operate and was equally effective for antiaircraft and surface fire. It was a modified version of the M1 air-cooled cannon originally produced for the United States Army. Its maximum range was 10,750 yards, and the antiaircraft ceiling was 23,500 feet. The fire rate was 120 rounds per minute. The ammunition was loaded from the top in four-round clips. Each round weighed 4.75 pounds, and the projectile it fired weighed almost two pounds.5

  In the midsection there were two sets of twin Browning .50 caliber machine guns mounted on turrets on the port and starboard sides of the cockpit. The twin .50s were as much an icon of a PT boat’s image as its torpedoes and could unleash deadly fire against air and surface targets. They were the same version of machine guns mounted on aircraft and could feed ammunition either from the left side or the right using disintegrating link belts. They could fire ball, armor-piercing, incendiary, and tracer ammunition at a rate of 750–850 rounds per minute. The crews preferred to mix one armor-piercing to one tracer round because it combined lethal power with ease of aiming. Their maximum range was 7,200 yards and the effective range about 2,000 yards.6