Churchill's Hellraisers by Damien Lewis

Author:Damien Lewis [Lewis, Damien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Citadel Press
Published: 2020-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

By his own admission, Roy Farran had developed a ‘profound contempt for the staff’ – those desk officers who stood in the way of getting the job done. Fortunately, he had connections in high places. Apart from the rock-solid backstop of Bob Walker-Brown, ‘chairborne’ in Florence, Farran had powerful top-cover in the form of Lt.Col. John ‘Jackie’ Profumo. The 5th Baron Profumo was then the youngest serving MP, and he’d been a vocal opponent of appeasing Hitler, becoming closely aligned with Churchill.

Having fought in the D-Day landings, Profumo had been transferred to Italy to serve on Field Marshal Alexander’s staff, winning an OBE ‘in recognition of gallant and distinguished service’. Farran was acquainted with Profumo – whose career had yet to be sullied by the sexual and political scandal that became known as the Profumo Affair – and knew him to be wholly supportive of special forces operations. Fortuitously, Profumo’s role was to liaise with the Americans overseeing air-missions, which would be all to Farran’s benefit.

By the second week of March 1945 the logjam appeared to be breaking. Among the first to be parachuted into the Secchia valley were several officers whom Farran desperately needed to boost the training of his Allied Battalion. Just days into his service with the SAS, virgin parachutist Lieutenant David Eyton-Jones plummeted towards the night-dark terrain, hopeful that he might survive the landing, and that his pre-war agricultural studies at Cambridge might help with the handling of stubborn mules in these hills.

Captain John ‘Jock’ Milne also jumped, a man who had last parachuted into these mountains to tend to the desperately sick on Walker-Brown’s Operation Galia mission. Milne was a battle-hardened war surgeon who’d served with Montgomery’s Eighth Army in North Africa, after which he’d experienced the bloody horrors of the Allied advance up the spine of Italy. The scion of a foremost farming clan from Angus, on Scotland’s eastern coast, the larger-than-life Milne was a gifted physician. Serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, he’d been seconded to the SAS, where his ebullient good humour helped him operate under terrible conditions.

Both men would prove huge assets to the Allied Battalion, and both landed well on the moon-washed snows. Less fortunate was a second Galia veteran – the grizzled Italian sailor, Luigi ‘Pippo’ Siboldi, who’d been Walker-Brown’s guide. A gust of wind caught his chute and he was dragged along the frozen ground, ending up dislocating his shoulder. Fortunately, Jock Milne was on hand to tend to him.

A massive quantity of supplies was delivered that night, as a squadron of Dakotas thundered overhead, threading long strings of parachutes across the dark skies. The scale and grunt of the drop sent a powerful message to the partisans, telegraphing that SAS Major Farran at least was blessed with the full backing of the Allies.

It was approaching midnight by the time the new arrivals had furled their parachutes and gathered up their kit for the trek to Tapignola. As they marched into the early hours, the young Eyton-Jones confessed that today was his birthday.

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