RAF Gun-Runners Drop Complete Offices to Balkan Patriots
Title
RAF Gun-Runners Drop Complete Offices to Balkan Patriots
Description
A newspaper cutting describing air supply of equipment and munitions of patriots in several countries.
Creator
Date
1944-09-26
Temporal Coverage
Language
Type
Format
One newspaper cutting
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
NAutonJ170119-02
Transcription
THE DAILY SKETCH, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1944
Page 3
R.A.F. GUN-RUNNERS DROP COMPLETE OFFICES TO BALKAN PATRIOTS
From AUBREY HAMMOND, Daily Sketch War Correspondent at Italy H.Q.
GUN-RUNNERS of the R.A.F. working from Italy have flown more than 5,000 tons of armament supplied to patriots in several European countries.
For security reasons their hazardous task has had little publicity, but some of the story can now be told.
In a normal night’s operations about 250 parachutes swing down from Halifaxes to the eager Partisans.
They contain packs for every purpose. There is even a complete office pack containing stationery, scissors, pens and pins. There are boot-repair packs and comforts packs.
Once when a special footwear supply was ordered – an urgent call for 30,000 pairs of boots – it was found that the mixture of normal sizes would be useless because the Partisans have bigger feet than the British.
No size less than nine would do, so there was a hectic hunt for adequate quantities of the larger sizes.
Four Liberators only were employed when supplies to the Balkan Underground Force first trickled in two years ago.
Now the steady flow of arms goes in nightly to help the Partisans to weaken still further the Germans’ enfeebled grip.
The targets for supplies are arranged by British military missions working inside the Balkans. The number of dropping points would astonish the Germans.
Greek Ports Lost
Clare Hollingworth, “Daily Sketch” correspondent in Cairo, cabled last night:
The Germans are finding it difficult to hold their line of communication from Salonica to Athens until they have evacuated their troops from the islands to Athens.
Already many parts in Southern Greece, with the exception of this line of communications, are in Greek hands, including the ports of the Southern Peloponnese and Igoumenitsa, the port of Corfu.
Those Germans trying to reach safety through Albania are suffering badly at the hands of Albania’s guerrillas.
The only safe way out is by air at night, and key personnel have priority.
[photograph]
Supplies at an Army depot in southeast Italy are packed in canisters ready for aircraft of B.A.F. to drop by parachute to Marshal Tito’s forces or to be landed on secret landing strips in enemy-occupied Europe.
Page 3
R.A.F. GUN-RUNNERS DROP COMPLETE OFFICES TO BALKAN PATRIOTS
From AUBREY HAMMOND, Daily Sketch War Correspondent at Italy H.Q.
GUN-RUNNERS of the R.A.F. working from Italy have flown more than 5,000 tons of armament supplied to patriots in several European countries.
For security reasons their hazardous task has had little publicity, but some of the story can now be told.
In a normal night’s operations about 250 parachutes swing down from Halifaxes to the eager Partisans.
They contain packs for every purpose. There is even a complete office pack containing stationery, scissors, pens and pins. There are boot-repair packs and comforts packs.
Once when a special footwear supply was ordered – an urgent call for 30,000 pairs of boots – it was found that the mixture of normal sizes would be useless because the Partisans have bigger feet than the British.
No size less than nine would do, so there was a hectic hunt for adequate quantities of the larger sizes.
Four Liberators only were employed when supplies to the Balkan Underground Force first trickled in two years ago.
Now the steady flow of arms goes in nightly to help the Partisans to weaken still further the Germans’ enfeebled grip.
The targets for supplies are arranged by British military missions working inside the Balkans. The number of dropping points would astonish the Germans.
Greek Ports Lost
Clare Hollingworth, “Daily Sketch” correspondent in Cairo, cabled last night:
The Germans are finding it difficult to hold their line of communication from Salonica to Athens until they have evacuated their troops from the islands to Athens.
Already many parts in Southern Greece, with the exception of this line of communications, are in Greek hands, including the ports of the Southern Peloponnese and Igoumenitsa, the port of Corfu.
Those Germans trying to reach safety through Albania are suffering badly at the hands of Albania’s guerrillas.
The only safe way out is by air at night, and key personnel have priority.
[photograph]
Supplies at an Army depot in southeast Italy are packed in canisters ready for aircraft of B.A.F. to drop by parachute to Marshal Tito’s forces or to be landed on secret landing strips in enemy-occupied Europe.
Collection
Citation
The Daily Sketch, “RAF Gun-Runners Drop Complete Offices to Balkan Patriots,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/23362.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.