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Operation Pomegranate was a six-man raid in support of Operation Shingle by the Special Air Service designed to be conducted against German aircraft based on the Italian airfield of Sant'Egidio, near Perugia, on the night of 12 January 1944. The commandos, aboard a C-47 of the USAAF, made their parachute jump on the slopes of Monte Tezio to the east of Lake Trasimeno, after which the plane on which they had been travelling crashed into the mountainside killing the entire crew. [lower-alpha 1]
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. The SAS was founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950. The unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action and hostage rescue. Much of the information and actions regarding the SAS is highly classified, and is not commented on by the British government or the Ministry of Defence due to the sensitivity of their operations.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
Perugia is the capital city of both the region of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the river Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about 164 kilometres north of Rome and 148 km southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. The region of Umbria is bordered by Tuscany, Lazio, and Marche.
Although all six paratroopers landed safely, the group split up after being challenged by a German sentry as they crossed the Tiber. Lance Corporal J. Malloy and Privates T. Cox, A. Todd, and S. McCormick did not take part in the attack on the airfield but rejoined their units down in Apulia, leaving Major Tony Widdrington and Lieutenant Jimmy Quentin Hughes to go ahead and reach the target, planting bombs on seven airplanes and destroying three. One of the remaining bombs exploded while being made safe, killing Widdrington and temporarily blinding Hughes in one eye. Hughes was taken to the German military hospital in Perugia, and was destined to be shot as a commando, but he enlisted the help of a German doctor with whom he struck up a friendship and managed to acquire the status of Prisoner of War, after which he was transferred to another military hospital in Florence. After escaping with two others from a POW transport train bound for Germany, he made his way south and rejoined the allied lines. [1] [2]
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres (252 mi) through Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio, where it is joined by the river Aniene, to the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Ostia and Fiumicino. It drains a basin estimated at 17,375 square kilometres (6,709 sq mi). The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, founded on its eastern banks.
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. The region comprises 19,345 square kilometers (7,469 sq mi), and its population is about four million.
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person, whether a combatant or a non-combatant, who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1660.
