After getting stranded in a war-torn nation, American bomber pilots who had been shot down thought they would never see freedom again. But word of their survival soon got out, and American forces assembled a team to attempt a seemingly impossible rescue. A team of operatives conducted Operation Halyard, the greatest rescue of American airmen in World War II.
A War Within a War
After Allied forces gained control of Italy in 1943, they started using the Italian air bases to conduct raids against Nazi forces. From the fall of 1943 through most of 1944, American forces concentrated bombing missions on German petroleum sources and refineries in Romania. Many of these bombing missions ultimately ended in American planes being shot down and their pilots being forced to eject with a parachute.
(L–R) Joint U.S.-Chetnik military ceremony in Pranjani on Sept. 6, 1944 after the successful rescue: Capt. Nick Lalich (OSS Halyard Mission), Gen. Dragoljub Mihailovic (Yugoslav Army in the Homeland), and Col. Robert McDowell (OSS Ranger Mission). Aleksandar Simic/CC BY-SA 4.0
