THE YUGOSLAVIA CAPER - Charles T. Hight, Lt. Col. USAF Ret.

This is a transcription of "The Yugoslavia Caper" by Chuck Hight, Commander of the WWII Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Secret Intelligence (SI) / 19th Weather Squadron Parachute Detachment personnel that operated in Yugoslavia and the OSS HQ in Bari, Italy

Enjoy!

RESPECT

GBA

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April 12, 1999

Charles T. Hight, Lt. Col. USAF Ret.

THE YUGOSLAVIA CAPER

When I volunteered for Weather duty with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Yugoslavia, I was a member of the 19th Weather Squadron (1), and in command of the Base Weather Station at John Payne Field. Several of the people who had volunteered for service in Yugoslavia, including Capt. Cecil Drew and myself had opened the WX station at John Payne Field (2) in mid Oct. 1943. The fact that I kept losing good people to the OSS-WX project, and that several of them were good friends, was my chief motivation for volunteering.

For OSS to get personnel from the 19th, was a steal-we all were seasoned forecasters or observers, all had security clearances of Secret, or higher, and all were familiar with the types of cryptography used to transmit coded WX messages. Many had been over seas for two years or more.

Once accepted, we were assigned to U. S. Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME), who shipped us to Palestine to be trained at a British Jump School, near Haifa, Nazareth, and Mt. Carmel in Palestine. Major Orval N. Burroughs was in jump class designated #91, which graduated 15 Jan 1944. He was the ranking officer in the project, and the one who had been knowledgeable about the project from the beginning. I and several 19th WS personnel attended the class designated at #99, which lasted Feb. 9-23, approximately 2 weeks. During that time, we made 5 jumps, one at night at minimum altitude. Since we were flying in an under-powered British Bomber, "Wimpy", I felt that it was as safe to jump, as it was to land in one.

When our parachute training was completed, we went back to Cairo, where the OSS gave us tips on personal combat.

About 10 March 1944, I arrived in Bari, Italy, accompanied by 5 other 19th WS Personnel (3). At that time my plans were to check in with Maj. Orval Burroughs, the CO, to find out how soon I, with my team of a Weather Observer and a Radio Man, would be joining the Partisans in Yugoslavia. When I met the Maj., he told me that he was planning to drive to Brindisi that afternoon, and he asked me to join him. From Brindisi, he planned to depart for Yugoslavia to visit the Partisans forces. The Brindisi Airfield was used by both the U.S. and British Forces as a supply base and departure point for flights, dropping personnel and supplies to the Partisans in Yugoslavia. At this time there were mostly nighttime missions. U.S. Forces used C-47s exclusively for personnel and freight.

After a good meal at the Officers' Mess, Maj. Burroughs and I departed for Brindisi in a jeep. He had his parachute and a backpack. On the way, he told me the purpose of his trip to Yugoslavia. He was going there to discuss with the Partisans plans for future expansion of our Weather Reporting Network in Yugoslavia. At the time we had 2 teams in Yugoslavia, and 2 awaiting transportation.

When asked how soon I might expect to be dropped into Yugoslavia, Maj. Burroughs responded that it would not be before his return. As Senior Captain, I would be in command of the WX Detachment in Bari while he was gone. He planned to be in Yugoslavia for about a week, after which he was going to Washington, D.C. He gave me a few general instructions and the key to the safe, and told me that he would see me when he returned. I drove back to Bari, thinking that I would learn more later. That turned out to be the shortest OJT I have ever had. When Maj. Burroughs returned from Yugoslavia, he immediately took a flight to D.C. That was the last we ever heard from him.

The Headquarters for the Strategic Balkan Services of the OSS in Italy was located in a 4 or 5 story Bank Bldg. in downtown Bari. There were offices for OSS: Operations, Communications, Supply, Transportation, and one for our use. The Mess Hall in the building had excellent food. There was a Roof Garden and Bar, where Saturday night dances were held. The Motor pool was nearby. Their Radio Intercept Station was located away from the center of town. Messages were delivered by Courier.

Our office consisted of a room approximately 15' x 20', with a table or two, a few chairs, and our safe, with a key lock. The safe was used to store several cipher books (used to communicate with our units in Yugoslavia). It also contained the locations of all of our stations, and the personnel assigned to each. In addition, there was a bag of gold British Sovereigns. The gold was to be used by our men for whatever emergencies might occur, while with the Partisans. I don't remember how many people we had in Bari at the time, but I would guess a total of 8-10 people.

The function of our unit was simple:

• To supply personnel and equipment for new WX teams.
• To receive the WX transmissions from our Teams in Yugoslavia, to decipher them, and to make them available to 12th WX Central in Bari, for their use. They were glad to get all of the reports they could.
• To communicate with and respond to the requests of our people in Yugoslavia.

My main function, as I understood it, was:

a. To keep the unit in readiness to send new Teams to Yugoslavia

b. To coordinate our activities with OSS in Bari, with the 12th WS Weather Central, and the 19th WS.

When I visited the 12th WS Central attached to 15th AF, I found that a classmate of mine at Cal Tech, Maj. Gordon Wier, was chief forecaster in charge of the Center. Maj. Wier assured me that they would be happy to have all the information from Yugoslavia we could give them, and that they would treat the info as secret. At that time, Maj. Roy W. Nelson was Staff Weather Officer to the C. G. of the 15th AF.

Lt. Col. Joseph A. Miller, the RCO of the 12th WS, was another classmate at Cal Tech. When I told Col. Miller that I was working with the OSS to put WX teams in Yugoslavia, he cut me off abruptly, but politely. He said that he already knew too much classified information, and that he neither wanted nor needed to know any more about our operations. He assured me that Maj. Wier would be glad to receive any observations we might be able to provide. That was the last time I saw Col. Miller (4).

The following is a fairly accurate account of the dates our teams arrived in Yugoslavia and the people who manned the teams:

27 Feb. Capt Cecil Drew's Team, including SSgt Joseph Conaty and a Radio Operator, parachuted into an area near DRVAR, and were a part of a group of British and Americans, attached to Marshall Tito's Headquarters.

13 March. 1st Lt. Robert J. Schrader's team,5 SSgt Ralph Baker and SSgt. Joseph Newmeyer, parachuted into Yugoslavia, without Lt. Schrader, who had an ear infection. Lt. Schrader was able to join his team 14 June. I recall that they were near the Austrian border.

? March WO (jg) Harold Guth's Team of MSgt Mallen D. Ragus and SSgt Gordon Bremer established a station on Vis. They arrived by boat. SSgt John C. Gaffney replaced SSgt Bremer who rotated to the USA approximately 9 Jun 1944.

May 9 Capt James Armstrong's Team, including SSgt James W. Anderson and a Radio Operator, after several attempts, parachuted into Yugoslavia. (My memory says in Montenegro) (5).

Each team was provided with a rather standard set of weather instruments for taking surface weather, and upper wind observations. The most portable of these instruments were a hand-held anemometer, aneroid barometer, and a sling psychrometer. The mercurial barometers must have been well packed for them to survive the drop in all cases. The hydrogen generators for balloon runs were very cumbersome. These items were selected and packed by the 19th WS Supply.

Each day after Lt. Schrader left for Yugoslavia, we checked our messages to see if he had joined his Team. Several days passed before we heard from him. It was a written message, not a WX report. Slowly the message was decoded, a word or a letter at a time. It went something like this: "Urgent! Please send A S C O R B I C Acid tablets next drop." His Vitamin C Tablets were sent to Brindisi promptly, for shipment (6).

We all celebrated on June 6, when we learned that the Allied Forces had landed in France, and later, that the invasion had been a success. (With our support of Tito, in Yugoslavia, we had speculated that perhaps the invasion would be through the Balkans. Perhaps our sending out weather reports was part of a diversionary plan to keep the Germans guessing.)

Late in June, Col. Harold H. Bassett (7) arrived, unannounced, from the Air Weather Service. He asked some rather direct questions, as follows:

• What were we 19th WX personnel doing in Italy, supporting OSS?
• Who had authorized the operation?
• Who was in command?
• Who did we receive our orders from?
• Who decided where to establish new WX Stations?
• When would the operation end?

In answer to who had authorized 19th WX personnel from Egypt to be operating out of Italy, in Yugoslavia, I had to tell the Col. that I honestly did not know. I had never been told. I had assumed it had come from AWS Hq.

I explained that I had a short briefing from Col. Burroughs, when he left for Yugoslavia. I also explained that it was my understanding from Col. Burroughs that we were to establish as many new stations as we could, consistent with the assurance that they would be able to operate for a reasonable time.

I was the one, along with the OSS Operations Officer, who decided where the stations were to be located. These were to be with a fairly strong partisan group or OSS Personnel.

(I am sure Col. Bassett thought this was a loose cannon, or a very loose operation, which it was! Everything had been verbal orders, since we left Cairo.)

Col. Bassett thanked me and indicated he would take care of it when he returned to Washington.

The next significant event was the German bombing and paratroop attack on Gen. Tito's Hq at Drvar. It was 16 days after the attack that Capt. Drew, SSgt. Conaty, and their Radio Operator returned to Italy. Capt. Drew had lost about 20 pounds. They were returned to Cairo to the 19th WS almost immediately. SSgt. Conaty was hospitalized briefly before being returned to the States.

[ Note: The attack was on 25 May 1944. For more information about the German SS Paratroop unit that conducted the airborne assault, visit this website: http://www.wssob.com/500abtfsj.html ]

About 1 August 1944, I had a message directing me to return to 19th WS HQ. in Cairo, Egypt. Lt. Col. Donald C. House, the CO, told me that the project was ending.

We discussed what needed to be done in Bari to close out the project, and return classified documents and other property to OSS.

I returned to Bari and coordinated with OSS the permanent closing of the WX stations.

None of our people who were still in Yugoslavia objected to being returned to Italy and then to 19th WS in Cairo, Egypt.

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NOTES:

(1) The 19th WS had jurisdiction over Africa and the Middle East. It had two lead Wx stations, one at Accra, BWA on the Gold Coast, and the other at John Payne field on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt.

(2) John Payne Field, an American Air Base, built from the desert up, was activated mid Oct. 1943. Prior to the completion of J. P. F. the American AAF had shared the use of the Heliopolis AirField with the British. If you have ever landed at Cairo International, you have landed at John Payne Field.

(3) WOJG Harold F. Guth, WOJG Roy C. Dudley, WOJG Raymond A. Algatt, S. Sgt. George Hadfield, S. Sgt. Frank L. Shurter.

(4) Thor's Legions, Page 74: "Col. Miller was killed in action on Oct. 21, 1944, as an observer, aboard a B-26, destroyed by flak, on a bombing mission over Northern Italy."

(5) See "Guerilla Observer" by Sgt. T.A. Graham in Weather Service Bulletin, AAF Headquarters Weather Wing, Asheville, N.C. June 1945

(6) See Maj James H. Armstrong's "Yugoslavia", as told in WW 19, dated Nov. 1944.

(7) At that time, Col. Bassett was the ranking officer in the AAF Weather Service, serving on General Hap Arnold's staff

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To the best of my knowledge, the enclosed transcript of Special Orders, Number 92, issued by Headquarters, 19th Weather Squadron, Office of the Commanding Officer, includes most of the 19th WS personnel who were assigned for duty in Italy and/or Yugoslavia.

The only exceptions are Maj. Orval N. Burroughs, Capt. Cecil E. Drew, and SSgt. Gordon B. Bremer.

Transcript

C O N F I D E N T I A L

HEADQUARTERS

19TH WEATHER SQUADRON

Office of the Commanding Officer

Special Orders APO 788, U. S. Army,

Number 92 17 August 1944

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PAC Ltr O, HQ USAFIME, dtd 5 Aug 44, the following named O, WO and EM, this orgn, erroneously placed on DS with Office of Strategic Services, USAFIME, Cairo, Egypt, are eff 21 July 44, placed on DS, HQ USAFIME, and eff 5 Aug 44, are reld fr DS, HQ USAFIME:

MAJ CHARLES T HIGHT 0428115 AC

CAPT JAMES H ARMSTRONG 0436626 AC

1ST LT WOOLSEY M KANE 0856250 AC

1ST LT ROBERT J SCHRAEDER 0856277 AC

1ST LT ROBERT H ZARTH 0856292 AC

WOJG RAYMOND A ALGATT W2127232 USA

WOJG ROY C DUDLEY W2127228 USA

WOJG HAROLD F GUTH W2127221 USA

M Sgt Mallen D Ragus 6300616 AC

S Sgt James W. Anderson 35411129 AC

S Sgt Ralph C Baker 33182769 AC

S Sgt Archie D. Burford, Jr 18065113 AC

S.Sgt Joseph J Conaty, Jr 31091780 AC

S Sgt John C Gaffney 19063575 AC

S Sgt Harry J. Koehler 15337198 AC

S Sgt Frank L Shurter 12028405 AC

WP HQ, Payne Fld, Egypt. Travel by govt MT atzd.

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By order of Major MOONEY

J. C. BENDLER

2d Lt., Air Corps

Asst Adjutant

C O N F I D E N T I A L

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