View source for Operation Pomegranate (SAS)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2015}}

'''Operation Pomegranate''' was a six-man raid in support of [[Operation Shingle]] by the [[Special Air Service]] designed to be conducted against [[Germany|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 [[United States Army Air Forces|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.{{efn|1=(MACR 24 January 1944 lists them as:{{bulleted list|  Pilot L/Col. R.A. Nowotny| Co-pilot Capt.J.J. McNeill Jr.| Navigator 1st Lt. J.J. Piatak| Pilot surgeon Capt.J.L.  Nocentini| Engineer T/Sgt. R.A. Holmes| Radio Operator Sgt. S. Singer}}}}

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|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.<ref>'Memorie del Monte - Il Tezio' by Mauro Bifani</ref>
<ref>WO 204/6856  National Archives</ref>

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Operation Pomegranate (Sas)}}
[[Category:World War II British special forces operations]]
[[Category:Battles and operations of World War II|Pomegranate]]
[[Category:British Army in World War II]]


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