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The OSS Missions: Behind Enemy Lines | ||
The first OSS Operational Group (OG) unit dedicated to missions behind the lines in Italy was ready in the Spring of 1943. However, the OSS OGs played only a marginal role in the landings at Sicily and Salerno. They demonstrated their value for the first time during the landing at Anzio in January 1944 when they provided intelligence to the Allied Command about the German counterattack which gave the Allies time to organize and to resist on the beach-head. OSS support activities in Italy at that time proved important because until June 1944 the Italian front was the only one where OSS agents could actually operate behind the enemy lines. One of the OSS’ most important tasks was to cut vital German supply lines that reinforced the Gustav and later the Gothic Line. Because the railway that constituted the main German supply line was riddled with tunnels that ran through the mountainous coast between Genova and Livorno, Army Air Force bombings were not an effective way to disrupt the lines. Therefore, one of the OSS missions was to blow a tunnel, 15 miles northwest of La Spezia harbor, effectively cutting the important railway line which ran from north to south along the western shore. This was the objective of the ill-fated “Ginny Mission.” |
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