10th July 1944

Having taken a pounding in the battles around Caen and the D-Day Beachheads, mixed elements of SS Panzer and Heer troops are taking a well earned weekend rest to refit and re-arm in the Brittany Peninsula. Hidden away in the woods, they are tasked with some light training and ensuring that the French locals do not cause any trouble. They have a good set up, sleeping in proper tents for the first time in a month, with good food and warm fires, and not under constant threat of attack. For a few days it seems that the fortunes of war have turned in their favour.

Unknown to the Germans, their location has been found by some of the elite Jedburgh teams, who have been living behind the lines since before D-Day. Ruthless, resourceful and able to live off the land for months, these tough troops have no intention of letting the enemy recuperate. Hit and run is their chosen speciality, and it is not long before they can begin to pose a real threat; even in small numbers. With the additional resource of a nearby SAS group as well as the local knowledge of the Resistance they mean to cause trouble...

Situation hot

"4000 PARTISANS MUST RECEIVE HUNDRED BRENS, 1000 STENS, 1000 BATTLEDRESS. SITUATION HOT WILL EXPLODE IF ARMS NOT RECEIVED" So began the wireless telegraph message informing Special Force Headquarters in London on June 11 that Jedburgh team George was safely on the ground and operating. In a second message later that day the Jeds added an order for anti-tank weapons, carbines and equipment for an additional two thousand men.

Before the reception committee had cleared the drop zone of parachutes and bundles from team Frederick's landing Jed team George had jumped a few miles southeast. The two Stirlings carrying team George and the Dingson SAS party dropped their jumpers at little more than eight hundred feet. The men were anxious to leave the overcrowded bomber and when the green light glowed the Jed and SAS men spilled out as fast as the gaping bomb bay would allow...

The team and the SAS party had jumped into an area of scattered forests and isolated farms in the southeastern part of the Brittany peninsula.They walked to a farm called La Nouée just west of the hamlet of St-Marcel. This was to be the Dingson SAS base. The long barn was the headquarters of the St-Marcel maquis and they were in a festive mood. Girls showered them with kisses and poured them wine. And everyone acted as if the liberation had come. But eventually rational heads prevailed and the people worked through the remaining hours of darkness to bring the containers in from the drop zone...

The SAS had an efficient resupply system in place. Planes arrived - five to thirty per night - dumping arms, ammunition, explosives and more SAS men. By the fifteenth of June SAS Dingson and Jed team George had armed two thousand three hundred patriots, forming two large battalions. But inevitably the Germans came to know all about the farm called La Nouée and what went on there. The very success of the Dingson SAS enterprise with nightly air drops and endless radio communications was, in the end, its undoing.

By now the Allies were breaking out from their beachhead at Normandy and beginning their swift advance towards Germany. Several German divisions were headed towards Normandy as reinforcements but many more German units remained in place throughout France as reserves to maintain security in the rear and until the ground war came to them these units could devote much of their time and energy to hunting down guerrillas and Allied special forces. Eluding such units was the challenge now facing Jedburgh team Frederick.

Four thousand German troops moved into the area, surrounding it with roadblocks, motorised and foot patrols ravaged the countryside, raiding farms and homesteads. Troops combed every inch of forest during the well-planned operation. Germans began posting notices warning citizens that Allied parachutists were nothing but spies and terrorists and if captured such men would be shot immediately along with anyone else found helping them. But such treats had little effect on maquis operations and team Frederick's workload increased.

Relief began on the night of July 10th when Jedburgh teams Felix and Giles jumped. With more supplies to follow and more Jeds on the ground the maquis could be more efficiently coordinated for the campaign of patrol and truck convoy ambushes, attacking enemy fuel dumps, blowing rail lines, and sabotaging German communications...