Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force

In late February 1945,[1] when the defeat of Germany appeared imminent, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) was provided with a mandate for dispatching troops whose mission would be to secure the safety of Allied prisoners of war and to provide for their early evacuation.[2][3] Early in 1945 SHAEF approached UK Director Military Operations (MO1 SP) and US OSS to assemble a force of 120 parachuteable contact and reconnaissance teams "to assist existing maesures of relief for PW and after the collapse of GERMANY" - termed "Eclipse". The aim of these teams would be to:

  • Obtain information regarding conditions inside PW camps
  • Put PWs in touch with SHAEF via inserted radio sets
  • Facilitate liaison with other SHAEF forces approaching camps or concentrations of PW and Foreign workers.[4]

As a result of its mandate, SHAEF created, in March 1945, The Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force, or SAARF.

  1. ^ Minute from Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff to SHAEF Forward (for Eisenhower) Ref. No. WX-43767 dated 26 February 1945 (TOP SECRET) - part of declassified bundle ref HS 7/20 at UK National Archives
  2. ^ Hargreaves, Andrew L. (2013). Special Operations in World War II: British and American Irregular Warfare. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780806151250.
  3. ^ The National Archives, UK. "Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force: VICARAGE". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. SAARF. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  4. ^ Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force, History of the Force, Part I Formation of the Force, 1945, Copy No 19 of 30 (to DMO) - Part of HS 7/21 UK National Archive.