Southern France Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 1945, Nice, Alpes Cote D'Azur                                The stars and stripes july stars Earl Mazo stripes writer they sat around on ration boxes and bunks in the Oslo schoolhouse turned Barracks and let the wiry Bill Colby do most of the he was Tel Ling How 18 had parachuted into six weeks before be Day to tie up germans in the North and Tiow they stayed and eluded capture until arrival of our they called themselves the Torso norwegian special group every Cue of them was a specialist of commando ski a too eur and All were part of Lithe super secret special Ops Branch of economic and ail had made previous drops in some 200 Miles ahead of advancing american to organize Fri and to sabotage German plans for the invasion of Norway took shape in the Small with norwegian Liaison and underground work was to drop in play hell with German transport and everything in Gen eral for a then organize norwegians into a massed resistance army in Central seizing and holding As Large an area As was this operation was w continue until Germany or All germans in Norway were killed or weather conditions held up the show until match at Colby and in five dropped on Frozen Jae Vejo in the mountains about 100 Miles North of when we dropped the Snow was whip Ping around and the fog was so thick you  see Many inches sixteen of us dropped from four planes within a to Kilometre and five others in an other plane dropped Over in Colby it took two Days for 16 of is to find each other and to pour norwegian underground men had the drop area spotted with a but the fog was such that lighting a match was about As effective As a Bam and the americans groped around in the 44wte almost had trouble with one of the underground men because he forgot the when we came Lown we to ask is there Good fishing and the reply was supposed to Glenn  came across a standing alone so he covered him with is gun and asked the code the norwegian hell not this time of the Farnsworth his gun Forward and the norwegian calmly shrugged his then Farnsworth remembered that the name of the underground Leader who was to meet us was so he said do you know Hans the norwegian look decided to go ahead Aad blow tree de at him a shrugged his should ers and i know i am Hans led the Small group to a nearby farmhouse which was to be operational the americans made Snow tents of their broke Down their and began to sweat out the reinforcements which were to come before operations secret radio communications were established immediately with Torso Headquarters in for two weeks the 16 americans sat waiting and sweating out German patrols while repeated word came Back that the reinforcement drops had gone to Norway but always weather had prevented their coming finally Colby decided to begin work without the the first target was the vital Tangen Railroad Bridge some 75 Miles from the when the men set out for this supplemented by eight norwegian underground each carried about 50 pounds of demolitions and food on his Back and dragged a Toboggan with another 50 pounds of travel was entirely by it took almost three Days to reach the we expected to be greeted there by some Colby but there we rent any so we made a couple of we were either to Stop the first train that came along and kill All the germans or spill a train into the Canyon when we blew the the first train that came puff along was so full of germans that i  see our Small group tack Ling All of so we waited when we any longer we decided to go ahead and blow the Damn  continued from Page Iii of divisions trained properly will necessity be in the american general has no authority Over chinese troops As generals a Stilwell and Sultan had in North As chief of staff to the his position is purely adv in a country without Communia adequate or poli tical the requirements essential to make m Good chinese arty seem i decades by going Over the Stilwell Road from India to american troops could conceivably enter China through the Back door in Arder to engage the this would present still another difficulty impossible logistical Accord ing to authorities on the the heaviest tonnage hauled Over the old Burma Road before the fall of Rangoon was from to tons per estimates the Stilwell Road is composed of the new Road from India through North Banna plus 500 Miles of the old Burma Bond from wanting to with the this Road could no support the heavy two Way traffic essential to support of Large a even american combat Force in chivas in the strategic objective of tee Road was one of providing a Trace for a pipeline to pump various Petroleum products to the 14th Ait Force and to provide a Means for getting equip ment too heavy to Fly into according to Best available Here was never any intention of putting american ground combat troops into Chi Nas american strategy has appeared to be one of getting All possible sup plies to chinese troops in order that they might contain As Many japanese divisions As possible and to keep the 14th air Force flying to raid japanese China coast instal lations and japanese shipping in the China choosing where the major Eastern land Battles will be of pure Specula nobody knows and nobody should know exactly where american troops will engage the except those officials responsible for the operations that will the combination of a Little logic with certain known facts certainly indicates that american ground forces at least will be fighting Only the Sot of China remains a pretty slim pos ii is again pure but it certainly seems logical that if invaded at will toe invaded after the fall of after that the United states Shoule be Able to decide much better whether a not the japanese army on the Mainland will turn in its collective suit and go we then left some Booby traps behind and headed out for that return trip to base was the most gruelling thing of the whole Norway my men did 70 straight hours of skiing Over mountains and Down valleys without we had to do we heard later that at least one German was killed by our Booby traps and at least one other broke a leg chasing but except for losing an average of 15 pounds in the 70 not one of my men was Ben Nadrine and Plain old guts kept the men you cant sit Down Here in Oslo and talk about those 70 hours and make somebody else feel like we the Only Way kept from breaking our legs or falling Over dead from exhaustion was to sit Down in the Snow for a minute or so at a time when we Felt we could go no wed get tired As hell when we but there was no other maybe the germans didst like the idea of us planting a Little american Flag at the Bridge site when we blew any Way they started chasing us and that Why we kept at the base of big Hill one Day from the Bridge site we had planned an eight hour but the germans were so hot on our heels that when we got to that Hill we All took a big dose of named the Hill Benz Adrine and went on Over the top of we heard later that the Ger Man patrols when they got to that Hill said to hell with it and turned i dont blame Back at the base the group Learned that two of the liberators bringing in reinforcements had crashed into Kil Ling 10 later they found 12 commando and air Crew bodies in the crashed remains of one of those planes about 20 Kilometres from the the men were buried after a simple while Colby group rested up from the Bridge blowing the five men had been dropped in Sweden that first night worked their Way Back into Norway and to tie and a few Days later the reinforced band set out this time to blow up a two mile Section of Railroad track about 50 Miles from the made a big Loop in our route to fool German Colby it was a rough Job because the Snow had a crust on it which broke with a noisy crunch on it which Brake with a noisy crunch when we stepped on and the Section of track we were to destroy was important enough for the germans to guard Well we broke up into Small each of which was to set off 15 charges Simul Tane although we had a Little argument with the who shot a helluva Tot and the show came off All the Only disappointment was that we Aad set up some Coffee to brew in a Shack near the tracks before we went hoping to get a hot cup on our Way but the germans in of up to 40 men came after us so fast i dont believe any of us had Lime to Dunk any Coffee we set off the charges on a night just before and by the next after fam at Lour we were Back at that what i Call fast the own had brought along enough k and Mountain rations for about when that gave out they began to Tom an old Montana was appointed Cook the first when the rations gave out he was officially made group that Day the group ate Reindeer meat and the next Day a Reindeer Herder came demand ing payment his the group on Reindeer meat and old cow until the War a few Days after the rail track blowing a fireman German patrol ambled into the american surround ing Maximus they shoved their machine pistols under his nose and Fie he them you had better not shot there Are 30 americans in the hut who will kill you if you make at that moment a norwegian came and the germans the germans said they sur the norwegian Lowe real the gun he was and immediately one of the germans riddled Colby by that time we poured out on them and took Good care that they never play a trick like that that was May a few Days later the German army sur rend and Colby band was ordered to sit after several we borrowed two american flags from a couple of norwegians who were american Lego Aires since they fought with yank armies in the first world and began a Long to Etc to the norwegians gave us terrific ovations in every town we it was during this Parade to trondheim that the americans got wind of a Tot of the results of their of until the end the germans had refused to admit that americans were responsible for any of the havoc this group was those were Clever a German officer told one norwegian after the track blow my after the Ger mans made hostage norwegians ride All their trains in that once the Ger mans announced that they had captured All the perpetrators of the terror Colby men Colby the Only thing they captured was one Toboggan which we had to leave behind at she in april a Rumor got around Rewt the German commander in the thinking the Colby operation much than it actually had sent out peace feelers the norwegian when the american group finally got trondheim Colby Learned that a coat Mission had come through Tor the of Ais Borge Colby Nad xxx amended him via underground to after the Bridge blowing totalling Colby reported that Tiia Only casualty was Oddberg banged his knee in the drop and evacuated to Sweden by a norwegian the horse milling that Farmers Wagon Cost Colby 20 it and Colby had out Ane men sure the operation that there no such thing As for