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80th anniversary - OPERATION GALIA - 13th - 22nd September
Apennine Range, also called the Apennines a series of mountain ranges bordered by narrow coast lands that form the physical backbone of peninsular Italy. On 27th December 1944, 33 soldiers of A Troop, 3 Squadron, 2 SAS jumped from a DC 47 ‘Dakota’, in broad daylight into the Rossano Valley in Northern Italy where they were met by a British Liaison Officer, Gordon Lett, and partisans of the International Battalion.
The parachutists and their equipment were dropped in daylight in an attempt to deceive enemy forces into believing that a much larger force of troops had been dropped behind their front line. The success of this deception along with the following offensive actions saw 6,000 German and Italian Fascist troops deployed to hunt down the 33 British parachutists, Liaison Officer and members of the International Battalion.
On February 10th 1945 the 33 soldiers of A Troop began their withdrawal, through hostile enemy territory, back towards the Allied front line, The Gothic Line, which was crossed in the early hours of 15th February 1945. During the ex-filtration/ evasion enemy forces constantly pursued them over extremely difficult ground and in very harsh winter weather. The operation officially ended on 24 April, by which time the main Allied armies had broken out onto the Po plains and the Germans were in full retreat away from the operational area.
During the Second World War Rossano had been the Headquarters of the International Battalion of Partisans who were led by Major Gordon Lett, an escapee from the POW camp near Veano. Rossano was also the base for the SAS Operations Galia; a gathering point for escapees from the POW camps after the Italian Armistice; and a starting point for the ex-filtration route for the SAS to the coast.
Follow in the footsteps of the SAS and Partisans of WW2 on Operation Galia. Re-trace the legendary ex-filtration route they took after operating in Northern Italy. Crossing the Gothic Line to arrive behind the Allied Lines at Seravezza in 6 days.
EXPEDITION COST
Includes full board, all transfers in country, expedition equipment and trekking guides for 10 days. Also includes SOE Major Gordon Lett DSO son's expertise from author and historian Brian Gordon Lett QC.
Does not include flights to Italy. £2495 which can be paid in 3 easy instalments.
Discover first hand accounts from those that were there.
Brian Lett is an author and historian of World War Two history, and a Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He has lectured extensively upon irregular warfare in World War Two, including to the British Army.
My father, Gordon Lett, had been a regular soldier before that war, and served in North Africa before being captured at Tobruk. He escaped from a prisoner of war camp in Italy in September 1943, and remained behind the lines fighting with the Italian partisans for eighteen months, based in the high valley of Rossano in Northern Tuscany. He was recruited in 1944, whilst still behind enemy lines, by the Special Operations Executive, Major General Colin Gubbins’ Secret Service.
When my father died in 1989, he left me an extraordinary inheritance amongst the people with whom he lived and fought in Italy. In the eyes of many of the older inhabitants of the Rossano valley and its surrounding villages, my father was a great hero, and many historical doors are open to me as a result that are closed to others.
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