Hi all.
Pretty much as it says in the title. I was reading the following Wikipedia article about Joseph Beyrle . A very interesting character if you don't know about him. A US paratrooper who spent a short time fighting with a Russian Tank battalion.
Anyway. There's a bit in the article that interests me;
After nine months of training, Beyrle completed two missions in occupied France in April and May 1944, delivering gold to the French Resistance.
I've never heard of Allied paratroopers carrying out missions in occupied France prior to the invasion. I knew that supplies were airlifted to the resistance, and that spies were sometimes sent on covert operations. But not regular units.
Is this information correct? Do we have any examples of regular Allied forces carrying out small unit actions in France prior to 6th June 1944?
Thanks for any help in advance!
Beyrle was for the short duration of this mission not part of a regular Allied force but instead part of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the counterpart of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive). The OSS worked closely with the SOE in aiding the French resistance as well as other resistance movements all around the world. Thomas H. Taylor's book on Joseph Beyrle (that he was interviewed for) doesn't mention the reason as to why he was sent in and the way he is selected to work for the OSS is described very unconvincingly. This might of course be due to the fact that Taylor was only working with Beyrle's now distant memories.
It was common for the OSS to draw men who were already enlisted in other branches, based on whatever special skills they might deliver. Language skills in particular were attractive to OSS recruiters alongside soldiers with different ethnic backgrounds, knowledge about occupied areas or other speciality skills outside of languages. One particular man I'd like to highlight is Major Peter J. Ortiz, one of the few US Marines who fought against Nazi Germany during WWII.
After the evacuation of Dunkirk Winston Churchill formed the Commandos to carry out raids on mainly occupied France. Although they were not exclusively Paratroopers, they were more comparable to Marines as the majority of their missions relied on transportation from the Royal Navy. They carried out a considerable amount of missions to destroy industrial sites, ports, capture equipment and simply to scout sites of importance with varying amounts of success. A lot of the the British military units today that would be considerable elite or special forces trace their originals from the Commandos such as the Royal Marine Commandos, Parachute regiment, SAS and SBS